General Education Goals and
Learning Objectives for the BA and the BFA Degrees

Approved by the Faculty of HCLAS May 9, 2007

Goal 1. Students will demonstrate the ability to think critically and creatively.

Learning Objectives:

1a. Clearly and accurately summarize and evaluate the facts, presumptions, viewpoints, values, and arguments presented in a text or creative work.

1b. Gather and assess relevant information, and apply appropriate cognitive methods in solving problems or answering questions raised in a text or creative work.

1c. Construct well-reasoned solutions or conclusions; test and defend conclusions against relevant criteria and standards.

1d. Critically analyze one's own thinking by identifying one's presumptions, values, and viewpoints as well as problems, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions.

1e. Conceive and defend alternative hypotheses and viewpoints; offer and explain reasons for provisionally rejecting or accepting them.

Goal 2. Students will apply analytical reasoning across academic disciplines.

Learning Objectives:

2a. Read with comprehension, and critically interpret written work in discipline-specific contexts.

2b. Critically interpret and analyze aesthetic qualities of works in literature and the fine or performing arts.

2c. Apply quantitative, inductive, and deductive reasoning.

2d. Apply abstract thinking and conceptual modeling.

2e. Apply scientific methods to investigate and analyze the natural world.

2f. Apply the methods of social science to ethically investigate and analyze human social behavior.

2g. Describe, comprehend, and analyze the role of philosophical ideas, historical movements, or ethical debates in the development of civilizations.

Goal 3. Students will demonstrate proficiency in written communication.

Learning Objectives:

3a. Compose grammatical sentences.

3b. Use various sentence forms to effectively modulate style and tone.

3c. Compose a sequence of paragraphs that develop a point.

3d. Summarize, quote, and respond to reliable texts to support and develop claims; apply relevant standards for citation.

3e. Write an effective argumentative essay.

3f. Respond to writing assignments using appropriate style, structure, and voice.

3g. Apply editing, proofreading, and revising strategies.

Goal 4. Students will demonstrate proficiency in oral communication.

Learning Objectives:

4a. Demonstrate skill in oral communication for purposes such as informing, persuading, and/or defending.

4b. Compose and deliver effective, audience-appropriate oral presentations that develop and support a point; or participate in formal debates; or lead or participate in collaborative discussion of a question or a text.

4c. When appropriate, use visual, auditory, and/or technological aids.

Goal 5. Students will develop an awareness of and sensitivity to global issues.

Learning Objectives:

5a. Provide and understand information on simple concrete subjects in a language other than English in both oral and written form.

Courses in classical languages stress written rather than oral forms.

5b. Demonstrate knowledge of the intellectual, social, political, economic, or cultural practices of at least one of the peoples in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, or of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australia.

Goal 6. Students will demonstrate information literacy.

Learning Objectives:

6a. Conduct research using the variety of information sources available to them.

6b. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate the relevance and utility of different sources.

6c. Integrate sources effectively and ethically through proper citation.

Goal 7. Students will demonstrate technological competency.

Learning Objective:

7a. Demonstrate the ability to use general or discipline-specific technologies to identify, retrieve, analyze, and communicate ideas and information.

6/15/07