Leadership Skills and Competencies Through the Co-Curriculum – The Singapore Management University Study

Abstract

Student affairs professionals and those who work with students directly know in their hearts that students learn in the co-curricular arena. Unfortunately, they do not always have a way to show that to others. Once learning outcomes have been developed, the appropriate assessment measures have to be developed because stakeholders are interested in what students are able to do in college as well as what they will do when they enter the work world. Many of the skills that employers want are the very skills that student affairs professionals teach students, such as communication, problem solving, and working with others who are different from themselves. In this current environment, there are calls for student learning assessment and documentation, both in and out of the classroom. Professional associations (ACPA, 2006; ACPA/NASPA, 2010) recognize the importance of student affairs professionals’ ability to assess student learning using multiple methods. Direct and Indirect Measures of measurements are used in this study to measure learning especially leadership skills and competencies. The paper will introduce examples of how these direct and indirect measures, namely a structured questionnaire and a semi-structured interview respectively, were implemented and how the results were obtained and analyzed showing evidence of learning. This research and data gleaned will make student leadership learning in higher education more robust, especially in a Singapore context.