The Academic Core ExperienceDRIVE Logo

At Midland University each student progresses through an academic core experience during their four years of study. The DRIVE framework puts the student in the driver’s seat of their future. The student journey begins on day one as they navigate their personalized roadmap. This university-wide framework is designed to develop skills, create experiences and prepare students to set their course for success. The DRIVE framework is built on five key attributes – Digital Fluency, Research & Critical Thinking, Innovation, Vocation & Leadership, and Engagement & Expression.

Goal

Outcomes

D: Digital Fluency

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Demonstrating technological skills and information literacy through the use of a wide variety of digital tools; using current technology to enhance and showcase skills and solve complex problems with creative solutions.

  1. Students will apply technology in customizing their personal learning environment.

  2. Students will construct knowledge through active exploration of real-world concepts using technology.

  3. Students will analyze data using digital tools in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

  4. Students will communicate complex ideas through digital objects such as visualizations, models, or simulations.

  5. Students will experiment with collaborative technologies to connect with their peers and community members.

R: Research and Critical Thinking

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Engaging in analysis and reflection, developing arguments using data; engaging in critical evaluation of information from a variety of sources; demonstrating quantitative, qualitative, and scientific reasoning skills; and completing a discipline specific capstone experience.

  1. Students will describe a problem or issue.

  2. Students will create a hypothesis for further study.

  3. Students will synthesize information from a variety of relevant sources that represent various points of view.

  4. Students will follow the methodology of the specific discipline to collect and record data.

  5. Students will state implications about their research after a careful analysis of the data.

I: Innovation

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Recognizing the need for creative and innovative solutions, developing new ways of thinking and problem solving, with the ability to see things differently than the rest of the world.

  1. Students will seek out unique and/or novel approaches to completing an assignment.

  2. Students will formulate a deliberate design process of developing, testing, and refining a prototype.

  3. Students will revise existing ideas into new forms.

  4. Students will integrate contradictory perspectives or ideas fully into their mental models.

V: Vocation and Leadership

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Developing professional identity and work ethic, discerning personal vocation and strengths, cultivating professional identity, professional skills and work ethic; working closely and collaborating with individuals, teams and institutions with diverse experiences toward a common goal, with the ability to negotiate and manage conflict.

  1. Students will demonstrate collaboration in a team environment.

  2. Students will articulate their strengths for leading and being led by others.

  3. Students will demonstrate work ethic in their work and professional relationships.

  4. Students will collect artifacts to create an academic and professional portfolio.

E: Engagement and Expression

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Participating in professional and community experiences with integrity, engaging in ethical reflection, and developing personal agency; recognizing and responding to the culturally and religiously diverse world around us, and demonstrating global and intercultural fluency; connecting personal vocation with the broader world.

Using both oral and written communication to effectively express attitudes, beliefs, and values; engaging in creative and artistic expression; developing clear analyses and adapting creative and appropriate messages to the diverse needs of individuals, groups, and contexts; becoming an engaged, lifelong learner.

  1. Students will demonstrate their cultural self-awareness through adapting their communication to the diversity of the global environment.

  2. Students will evaluate the ethical elements of multilayered issues.

  3. Students will engage with contemporary issues on local, national and/or global levels.

  4. Students will analyze their own and others' assumptions when presenting a position.

  5. Students will strategically employ situationally appropriate messages.

Writing

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  1. Students will demonstrate appropriate use of discipline-specific writing processes and skills.