Record of Student Development

Does Your Degree Tell Your Story?

Your experience at Nipissing University is more than just the time spent learning great things in lectures, labs, and seminars. Your experience is also about the activities you are involved in outside of the classroom: the causes you champion to make change on campus, the clubs you organize, the awards you receive for being a student leader, the workshops you participate in, the volunteering you do, and all of the learning that occurs outside of the classroom.

The Record of Student Development (RSD) is Nipissing University’s way of recognizing that learning happens everywhere on campus. It is a formal record otherwise known as a co-curricular transcript, where students can include workshops, volunteer experiences, awards, and activities they have participated in throughout their time at Nipissing.

Thanks for your interest in becoming an RSD Supervisor! We're glad you're here!

RSD Supervisors are individuals who host opportunities for Nipissing University students to build competencies outside of the classroom. These opportunities may be volunteer roles, student employment positions, workshops, awards, or other co-curricular opportunities. 

RSD Supervisors are the ones who fill up the RSD Database with all the great skill-building opportunities happening across campus. 

RSD Supervisors are responsible for:

1. Reviewing the RSD Policy 
2. Adding their opportunity to the RSD Database 
3. Choosing the Competencies (skills) best suited to their opportunity 
4. Keeping track of participants and their competency development via a shared folder & spreadsheet. 

RSD Competencies

In order for an activity, award, or employment opportunity to be added to the RSD Database, it must provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate and develop one or more of the following competencies:

• Collaboration: Working with others toward a common objective(s) through sharing of ideas, knowledge, and responsibilities.
• Commitment and Accountability: Assuming responsibility for and following through on actions, decisions, and/or policies.
• Communication: Using verbal, nonverbal, auditory and/or visual formats to effectively convey and interpret information.
• Conflict Negotiation: Managing conflict by focusing on the issues at hand, balancing the needs and interests of others, and finding common ground.
• Critical Thinking: Engaging in reflective and independent thinking by making use of information, drawing logical connections between ideas, evaluating arguments, solving problems and seeking relevant sources to inform thinking.
• Decision Making: Making each decision appropriate to the context it is situated in.
• Digital Literacy: Confidently and critically navigating existing and emerging technologies with the goal and result of producing quality work.
• Environmental Consciousness: Demonstrating a commitment to the environment including: promoting and advocating for environmental sustainability and/or acting in ways that help not harm the earth.
• Emotional and Interpersonal Intelligence: Understanding and expressing emotions in a way that is appropriate to the context of the situation including: being aware of personal strengths, and weaknesses, being open to feedback and new perspectives; and striving for self-development and continuous learning.
• Empathy: Being aware of and being sensitive to others by attempting to understand thoughts and feelings from their frame of reference.
• Engaging Arts and Culture: Exploring the world of arts and culture including: engaging in cultural and artistic expression and/or developing an appreciation for the value and meaning of art in society.
• Ethical Practice: Acting in ways that promote ethical practice including: adhering to policies, procedures, agreements, codes of conduct, and/or contracts.
• Equity and Diversity: Connecting and building meaningful relationships with others while recognizing that people hold various and interconnecting identities stemming from different backgrounds, beliefs and/or experiences.
• Excellence: Demonstrating exceptional and quality work.
• Functioning Independently: Functioning without the assistance or guidance of others.
• Goal Setting: Laying out a course of action to complete an intended goal by identifying tasks and setting deadlines for completion.
• Health and Wellness: Promoting and encouraging actions and conditions that enable healthy self, individuals, communities and/or groups including: physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and mental health.
• Idea Generation: Creating, and developing ideas by expanding one’s thinking beyond convention.
• Inclusion: Engaging in ways to cultivate a welcoming environment that includes others. Fostering a greater sense of belonging and/or shared commitment to community.
• Initiative: Taking action and/or taking charge.
• Intercultural Fluency: Demonstrating a commitment to engaging with and learning from others through diverse and meaningful cultural interactions.
• Leadership: Motivate, empower and mobilize individuals and/or groups to accomplish a mission, goal and/or task.
• Organization: Developing processes, strategies and tools that allow one to effectively manage, monitor, and utilize information, resources and materials.
• Providing Feedback: Offering respectful feedback in a manner that is timely in an effort to improve another person’s or group’s decisions, productivity, and/or interactions.
• Receiving Feedback: Considering feedback from others in a constructive and respectful manner.
• Research: Using effective research skills, strategies and/or tools.
• Responding to Change: Smoothly adapting to instances of change and transition.
• Social Responsibility: Demonstrating an awareness of social issues and developing a sense of active citizenship to the benefit and welfare of society and its members.

The Record of Student Development (RSD) Transcript is recognizes and categorizes activities into one of four areas:

1. Awards and Recognition: This category recognizes Nipissing University awards bestowed upon students for extracurricular involvement or academic awards not recognized on the Academic Transcript.
2. Leadership and Self-Development:  This category recognizes activities where a student takes on a leadership role on-campus or participates in a self-development training/learning experience that contributes to their overall growth and development.
3. Involvement and Outreach: This category recognizes participation in a volunteer or community service initiative on-campus or in the North Bay community. Participation may be individual or as part of a student group or club.
4. Student Employment: This category recognizes on-campus student employment opportunities approved by Human Resources at Nipissing University.

Each RSD approved activity that students engage with and submit through the RSD Student Portal, will be organized and recognized within one of four categories. The RSD Transcript reflects when students engaged with the opportunity, what the activity was titled, and the associated competencies developed through participation with the activity. 

The RSD Transcript also provides the list of competencies and definitions the program is focused on developing.