Assessment Advisory Committee

---

OVERVIEW - General Education Goals and Objectives

Part I - WRITTEN, ORAL, AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

Written Communication

Goal
Students will communicate clearly in written English, demonstrating their comprehension, analysis and critical interrogation of a variety of written texts.

Objectives
Students' writing will demonstrate/reflect:

• Knowledge of the subject.
• Awareness of the reader.
• Organization appropriate to the purpose and to the interaction between writer and reader.
• Format appropriate to the writing situation.
• Use of punctuation to establish and clarify meaning.
• Control of sentence structure to establish and clarify meaning.
• Style, personal voice, and coherence as a communicator.
• Description, analysis, and synthesis of data, ideas or information appropriate to the purpose.

Oral Communication

Goal
Students will communicate orally in a manner that unites theory, criticism, and practice to produce an effective communicator.

Objectives
Students' oral communication will demonstrate:

• Knowledge of the subject.
• Awareness of the audience/group.
• Organization appropriate to the purpose and to the interaction between speaker and audience.
• Vocal delivery which encourages listening.
• Physical presentation, use of body, appropriate to the speaking situation.
• Appropriate sentence structure and word choice.
• Skill in listening and extracting information and meaning from oral communication.

Electronic Communication

Goal
Students will be able to use computers and other technology to perform tasks appropriate to their major fields.

Objectives
Students will use computers to:

• Create, edit and revise written texts.
• Analyze quantitative data.
• Access information and data bases.
• Integrate graphical, visual and statistical information into written presentations.
• Send and receive electronic communication.

Part II - MATH AND SCIENCE

Math

Goal
Students will perform basic mathematical manipulations, display facility with the use of mathematics in framing concepts for mathematical analysis and interpret data intelligently.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Understand the role and value of quantitative reasoning.
• Understand the language of mathematics and basic mathematical concepts and operations.
• Apply basic mathematical operations to problem-solving in their personal and working life.
• Accurately comprehend and draw appropriate inferences from numeric data in various forms and in various disciplines.

Science

Goal
Students will demonstrate an understanding of physical and/or life science phenomena and understand the uses of scientific methods and theories.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Understand the role and nature of scientific inquiry.
• Understand scientific theories and perspectives.
• Critically evaluate various approaches to research by identifying sound and unsound reasoning in scientific and lay contexts.
• Understand different research designs and approaches and their application.
• Formulating and testing hypotheses or research questions as part of the scientific process.
• Use systematic, empirical approaches to address questions as part of the scientific process.
• Identify and collect appropriate information as part of the scientific process.
• Draw appropriate conclusions from empirical results in quantitative and qualitative formats.

Part III - SOCIAL/BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Goal
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the processes of human behavior, social and cultural interaction and the use of social and behavioral science perspectives to interpret them.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Understand theories in the social/behavioral sciences.
• Understand cultural, social and political structures and processes and their effects on individual, group and societal behaviors.
• Understand and critically evaluate, interpret and draw of inferences from social/behavioral science data.

Part IV - HUMANITIES/CULTURAL

Goal
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development of culture over time and its relation to the present

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Understand the construction of history and how history is written
• Understand broad outlines of history and make accurate connections between developments separated in time and place.
• Recognize the contribution of historical antecedents to the understanding of current personal, social, and political situations and developments.

Goal
Students will become familiar with the diversity of a global culture marked by racial, ethnic, gender and regional differences.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Recognize multiple perspectives and appreciate perspectives which produce a world view different from one's own.
• Use another perspective to analyze current or historical social and cultural events and practices.

Goal
Students will communicate orally (with the exception of Latin and Ancient Greek) and in writing in another language.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Read in one foreign language and comprehend the topic and main ideas in written texts.
• Understand spoken discourse and converse in a foreign language on familiar subjects.

Goal
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the contribution of the literary, visual or performing arts and their cultural context and express informed personal responses to artistic creations.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Develop an aesthetic response to at least one of the arts.
• Express a personal response to works of art and relate the part(s) to the work(s) as a whole, using appropriate concepts and relevant information.
• Relate art to the wider cultural context from which it emerges.

Goal
Students will integrate insights from several disciplines and apply them to value choices and ethical decisions.

Objectives
Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Identify ethical dilemmas.
• Apply understandings from several disciplines to clarify ethical conflicts; articulate reasoned personal responses based on expressed values.

Drafted March 1994

Revised August 1999