RATE™

 

Every CLA student develops the ten Core Competencies, but each student does it differently. RATE™ helps a student tell the story of exactly how they did it. RATE connects what a student experienced across their liberal arts education and helps them translate its value into any professional context. 
 

RATE: Reflect, Articulate, Translate, Evaluate

This explanatory video (geared toward a student audience) demonstrates RATE's purpose and how to use it.

The heart of the Career Readiness Initiative is to develop our students' awareness of what they are learning and their ability to articulate the value of what they are learning in a variety of career contexts. RATE™ is a digital self-assessment tool developed by CLA that helps students practice these reflective skills. RATE coaches them in how to view their course assignments and co-curricular activities as career readiness experiences by asking them to:

  • Reflect on the experience
  • Articulate how the experience helped them develop competencies 
  • Translate how those competencies are of value in professional contexts
  • Evaluate their level of readiness in those competencies

Using RATE not only allows students to practice articulating their Core Competencies in a clear and compelling way but also provides a log of their career readiness experiences (along with the impact and value of these experiences) for future reference in preparing for job interviews and career networking opportunities. We have conducted a survey about RATE over the last five years to track the impact of RATE on students' perceptions of their liberal arts education.  

RATE as a Tool for Faculty and Instructors

In this video, CLA professors discuss how they use RATE for teaching and learning.

RATE is based on the premise that students are on a developmental path, so asking them to complete a RATE connected to an assignment, in relation to an activity in a course, or about the experience of a course as a whole can:

  • Prompt students to reflect on and articulate what competencies they are developing, and help them draw out those connections by giving them practical suggestions on how to continue to build on those competencies
  • Provide a stimulus for instructors to have deeper conversations with students about their development, helping them translate what they’re learning in class into critical skills they will employ in other contexts, will describe in an interview, or will list on their résumé
  • Encourage students to build a longitudinal record of the breadth and depth of their undergraduate learning experiences and their liberal arts advantage

RATE does not evaluate the instructor or the course. However, our faculty report that the feedback generated from a RATE assignment can help in:

  • Understanding what students are taking away from the course
  • Finding ways to express course aims and assignment objectives more clearly
  • Providing a new perspective on student learning and development, such as by highlighting where in a course or assignment students are struggling and/or discovering important things
  • Engaging in reflective teaching practice and considering ways to better support student learning and development

We have developed a RATE Instructor Guide to help faculty and instructors create meaningful RATE assignment experiences in their courses. It demonstrates how to use RATE to strengthen a course, prepare students to complete a RATE, set up a RATE in Canvas, and debrief a RATE with students.

RATE Demonstration

This screen-capture video provides a tour of RATE.

Use RATE on Your Campus!

Interested in using RATE at your institution? The information about licensing RATE and next steps can be found on our Partner page.