• WRITTEN COMMUNICATION.
• ORAL COMMUNICATION.
• QUANTITATIVE REASONING.
• REASONING ABOUT ETHICAL QUESTIONS.
• CRITICAL THINKING.
• DIVERSITY.
• CENTRAL IDEAS, ISSUES AND METHODS OF INQUIRY.
• INFORMATION LITERACY

1. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
   
   As a writer…
   
   A. Adapt and structure messages and their presentation to the audience, situation, purpose and occasion.
   
   B. Include, either explicitly or implicitly, a central idea, focus or thesis throughout the text as appropriate to the audience, situation, purpose, and occasion.
   
   C. Use a variety of credible sources, as appropriate to the genre, to support contentions with relevant and adequate evidence.
   
   D. Use and cite the work of others appropriately, avoiding plagiarism, misquoting, and misreading.
   
   E. Use a variety of academic and professional documentation formats appropriately.
   
   F. Follow standard practices in sentence structure usage, vocabulary, and word choice as appropriate to the genre.
   
   G. Effectively use and offer peer critique and other feedback in revision and/or future work.
   
   H. Demonstrate an understanding of the multiple uses of writing, such as improving learning and critical thinking and enhancing self-expression and reflection.
   
   I. Use writing technologies such as word processing and writing for the Web effectively and appropriately.
   
   As a reader…
   
   J. Identify a writer's purpose, ideas, and goals.
   
   K. Apply critical thinking strategies to analyze the validity of arguments and assumptions in texts.
   
   L. Analyze critically coherence, structure, clarity and style in a written or oral text.
   
   

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2. ORAL COMMUNCATION
   
   A. Introduce the speech by gaining attention, stating a central idea, and previewing main points.
   
   B. Structure messages for effectiveness utilizing connectives and a logical, appropriate organizational pattern.
   
   C. Cite a variety of sources in the speech that are recent, relevant, verifiable, unbiased, and consistent with known facts to support one's contentions.
   
   D. Adapt messages and their delivery to the audience and situation.
   
   E. Use principles designed to influence attitudes, beliefs and actions.
   
   F. Conclude the speech by signaling an end to the presentation, summarizing the main points, and providing a memorable/vivid ending.
   
   G. Deliver messages extemporaneously using effective eye contact, body movements and vocal qualities (volume, rate, and fluency).
   
   H. Feel comfortable when delivering speeches.
   
   I. Use language appropriately for the audience and situation.
   
   

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3. QUANTITATIVE REASONING
   
   A. Interpret mathematical models such as formulas, graphs, tables, and schematics and draw inferences from them.
   
   B. Represent mathematical information symbolically, visually, numerically, and verbally.
   
   C. Use a variety of mathematical methods (algebraic, geometric and/or statistical methods) to solve problems.
   
   

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4. REASONING ABOUT ETHICAL QUESTIONS
   
   A. Explain and evaluate several key moral principles and ethical theories.
   
   B. With respect to a particular moral issue, evaluate alternative positions using appropriate principles or theories and articulate the ramifications and consequences both of alternative courses of action and of the acceptance of different moral principles and ethical theories.
   
   C. Engage in moral discussions constructively and effectively.
   
   

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5. CRITICAL THINKING
   
   A. Evaluate the quality of arguments and evidence, and the accuracy of claims.
   
   B. Evaluate the quality of statistical evidence.
   
   C. Identify logical errors and fallacies.
   
   D. Distinguish among facts, inferences, opinions, and, value assertions.
   
   E. Recognize alternative approaches and conflicting viewpoints.
   
   

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6. DIVERSITY
   
   A. Explain how a person’s social status (e.g., race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, origin, and disability) shapes his/her perspective.
   
   B. Identify significant variations and commonalities among peoples of different cultural groups.
   
   C. Evaluate how a person’s own cultural context influences how he or she perceives people of a different cultural context.
   
   D. Recognize how personal and systemic discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes impact lives and relationships.
   
   

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7. CENTRAL IDEAS, ISSUES AND METHODS OF INQUIRY.
   
   
   1. ARTS AND HUMANITIES
      • Student learning outcomes in the Arts
        
        1. Students will identify the basic formal elements, principles, compositional structures, and stylistic characteristics of a field of art (e.g. theater, music, the visual arts, creative writing).
        
        2. Students will provide examples of the ways in which the arts affect individuals as well as groups, making reference to specific works of art.
        
        3. Students will describe specific works of art within the context of the artist’s life experiences, as well as the social, cultural and historical influences of the time.
        
        4. Students will analyze a work of art using basic formal elements, principles, compositional structures, and stylistic features.
        
        5. Students will analyze the results of the creative process after attending a creative event, performing, or creating a work of art.
        
        
      • Student learning outcomes in the Humanities
        
        1. Students will define the humanities.
        
        2. Students will explain three ways in which the context that led to its creation influenced an important contribution to the humanities.
        
        3. Students will describe three characteristics of a text which explain why it is considered an important contribution to the humanities.
        
        4. Students will describe the impact of an important contribution to the humanities using three specific examples.
        
        5. Students will identify two similarities and two differences between their perspective and that of an important contribution to the humanities.
        
        
   2. NATURAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES
      
      
      1. Understand the role of empirical data in establishing scientific knowledge.
      
      
      
      2. Understand that, in addition to empirical evidence, science involves skepticism and rational arguments; that it is not opinion but is rather a reasoned consensus among informed experts which improves over time.
      
      
      
      3. Understand several paradigm examples of the fundamental conceptual models in at least two separate disciplines of the natural sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geoscience) which underlie our current understanding of the physical world. Examples include (but are not limited to): conservation of energy, evolution, place tectonics, oxidation, etc.
      
      
      
   3. SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
      
      
      1. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of two important theories and/or interpretations in one or more disciplines in the social sciences (for the purposes of general education, the social sciences include history, political science, psychology, sociology, journalism, criminal justice, economics and human geography.)
      
      
      
      2. Students will be able to explain three specific ways in which the social sciences have contributed to our understanding of society in the contemporary or historical context.
      
      
      
      3. Students will be able to evaluate and reach a conclusion about an argument or an explanation based on factual information provided in an assigned reading.
      
      
      

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