Academics
General Education Requirements
Skills Areas
1. COMMUNICATION
Goal: To develop students’ effective use of the English language and quantitative and other symbolic systems essential to their success in school and in the world. Students should be able to read and listen critically and to write and speak with thoughtfulness, clarity, coherence, and persuasiveness.
Suggested Competencies:
- analyze and evaluate their own and others’ speaking and writing
- conceive of writing and speaking as a recursive process that involves many strategies, including generating materials, evaluating sources when used, drafting, rehearsing, revising, and editing
- make formal written and oral presentations employing correct diction, syntax, usage, grammar, and mechanics
- focus on a purpose (e.g., explaining, problem solving, persuading) and vary approaches to writing and speaking based on that purpose
- respond to the needs of different venues and audiences and choose words for appropriateness and effect
- communicate effectively interpersonally by using active listening, self-disclosure, appropriate conflict and anger management skills and recognizing the difference between content and relational forms and the importance of non-verbal elements when communicating
- communicate effectively in groups by listening, reflecting, responding appropriately and in context, and using leadership skills and decision-making strategies
- use mathematical, statistical models, standard quantitative symbols, and various graphical tactics to present information with clarity, accuracy, and precision
2. HIGHER-ORDER THINKING
Goal: To develop students’ ability to distinguish among opinions, facts, and inferences; to identify underlying or implicit assumptions; to make informed judgments; and to solve problems by applying evaluative standards.
Suggested Competencies:
- recognize the problematic elements of presentations of information and argument and formulate diagnostic questions to resolve issues and solve problems
- use linguistic, mathematical or other symbolic approaches to describe problems, identify alternative solutions, and make reasoned choices among those solutions
- analyze and synthesize information from a variety of sources and apply the results to resolving complex situations and problems
- defend conclusions using relevant evidence and reasoned argument
- reflect on and evaluate their critical-thinking processes
- identify fallacies of formal and informal logic
3. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Goal: To develop students’ abilities to locate, organize, store, retrieve, evaluate, synthesize and annotate information from print, electronic, and other sources in preparation for solving problems and making informed decisions.
Suggested Competencies:
- assess and/or generate information from a variety of sources, including the most contemporary technological information services
- demonstrate proficiency in the use of computer operating systems, data bases, word processing, and spread-sheets and their application in major fields of study
- evaluate information for its currency, usefulness, truthfulness, and accuracy
- organize, store, and retrieve information efficiently
- reorganize information for an intended purpose, such as research projects and web pages
- present information clearly and concisely, using traditional and contemporary technologies
4. THE VALUING PROCESS
Goal: To develop students’ abilities to understand the moral and ethical values of a diverse society and to understand that many courses of action are guided by value judgments about the way things ought to be. Students should be able to make informed decisions through identifying personal values and the values of others and through understanding how such values develop. They should be able to analyze the ethical implications of choices made on the basis of these values.
Suggested Competencies:
- compare and contrast historical and cultural ethical perspectives and belief systems
- use cultural, behavioral, and historical knowledge to clarify and articulate a personal value system
- recognize the ramifications of one’s value decisions on self and others
- recognize conflicts within and between value systems and recognize and analyze ethical issues as they arise in a variety of contexts
- consider multiple perspectives, recognize biases, and deal with ambiguity