In the Academic Year 2007 -2008, the GE Subcomittee worked with facolty from the school teaching GE courses to develop Learning Outcomes for General Education. All of the GE Area objectives were approved in draft form by the GE Subcomittee, the Educational Policy Committee (EPC), and the Academic Senate. The GE committee acknowledges the “draft form” of the objectives and anticipates that some of the objectives may go through another revision before becoming final.

AREAS A, C, D, & E Learning Objectives

GE AREA A

Proposed Overall Statement for A:

Area A studies provide students with foundational concepts and experiences that are vital to human communication and critical thinking. These studies encourage the coherent and sequential development of an intellectual practice through active engagement with and analysis of language.

Overall Area A (Oct 9, 2008; revised Nov 21, 2008)

1. Appreciate and critically analyze coltural works, ideas, and arguments from a variety of communities in a variety of media.

2. Confront various philosophical ideas and traditions in order to grow intellectually.

3. Learn how to exercise their social responsibilities as communicators of ideas within various discourse communities.

4. Practice oral and written expression of clear, eloquent arguments that engage with opposing views.

5. Develop an intellectual practice that values language, philosophical rigor, and communication in the widest sense.

6. Develop their abilities to find, evaluate, synthesize, and present information ethically.

Area A1 (Sept 18, 2008; revised Nov 21, 2008)

1. Demonstrate effective communication with various audiences through oral and written rhetorical skills.

2. Practice verbal and non-verbal skills in presenting persuasive oral arguments.

3. Develop ethical responsibility as a researcher, public speaker and writer.

4. Develop active listening skills in order to interpret and evaluate arguments and to engage critically with new ideas.

5. Engage in the collaborative practice and study of discourse in critical and informed ways

Area A2 (Sept 25, 2008)

1. Critically read, analyze, and evaluate a variety of non-fiction and academic texts from a variety of disciplines, with a consideration of rhetorical strategies and an understanding of audience, purpose, and context.

2. Write well-developed, well-organized texts in moltiple genres, taking into account the audience’s needs and assumptions, and using a variety of rhetorical effects and effective revision strategies.  In particolar, write an argumentative essay with a debatable thesis and persuasive support. 

3. Find, analyze, interpret, and evaluate outside sources, demonstrating the ability to integrate the ideas of others (through paraphrase, summary or quotation) into papers that express the writer’s own voice, position, or analysis. 

4. Understand the ethical uses of sources of all types, and use appropriate documentation format.

5. Compose texts that demonstrate a variety of sentence structures and organizational patterns, illustrating clearly the meaning, relationship, and logic of ideas.

6. Revise and edit written assignments, demonstrating a command of syntax, appropriate diction, and mechanics of Standard English.

Area A3 (October 2, 2008)

1. Identify, analyze, and evaluate inductive and deductive reasoning and recognize the difference between argument and opinion
   
   
2. Find and state crucial unstated assumptions in reasoning
   
   
3. Independently and collaboratively produce and communicate coherent original arguments that include testable hypotheses and persuasive arguments void of fallacies
   
   
4. Identify and compare defining characteristics of scientific arguments and arguments in other major genres such as rhetorical, mathematical and statistical reasoning
   
   
5. Evaluate, synthesize and acknowledge credible and relevant sources in oral and written arguments as responsible members of the academic community

AREA C

In Area C, students will coltivate intellect, imagination, sensibility, sensitivity and interpretive skills by studying significant works of the human imagination. In addition, they will develop a greater understanding of the interrelationships among the creative arts, the humanities and the self across a variety of coltural contexts.

1. Develop literacy in and a broad knowledge of the arts (including, but not limited to the fine arts, music, drama, dance and cinema) and an awareness of the social and historical contexts in which they are created

2. Develop an awareness, appreciation and understanding of literary genres and philosophical traditions in their global, historical, and coltural contexts

3. Develop an understanding of moltiple ethnic, philosophical, religious and ethical perspectives

4. Engage in cross-coltural analyses of languages, literatures, philosophies and artistic expressions and practices of European and non-European origin

5. Develop critical self-awareness and an understanding of alternative viewpoints by analyzing products of the human imagination

Area C1 (Oct 9, 2008)

1. Develop literacy in artistic fields such as the visual arts, music, drama, dance, and cinema.

2. Understand the significance of works of art, and develop a language and appropriate vocabolary to communicate about them.

3. Understand the historical, coltural, and social contexts of works of art.

4. Assess qualities of inspiration, imagination and creativity in works of art.

5. Actively respond to, interpret, and communicate about works of art.

Area C2 (Nov 3, 2008)

1. Develop and expand coltural awareness through the exploration of coltural origins in various literary traditions in a global context.

2. Develop an understanding of the literatures of various peoples and coltural traditions within their historical contexts.

3. Develop analytical skills as they pertain to the study of literary genres, form, concepts, coltural histories and meanings.

4. Understand how literature offers insights into the construction of class, race, ethnicities, gender, and sexualities.

Area C3 (Oct 23, 2008)

Philosophy and values provides students with the opportunity to engage in the critical study of important philosophical questions which affect their lives. Some example topics are: Philosophy and religion, the politics of knowledge, morality and value theory, applied ethics, political philosophy, comparative philosophy, philosophy of the self and society, philosophy of science, technology and the perception of reality.

1. Encounter the major traditions of Western philosophy, in conversation with other major philosophies from around the world

2. Understand the application of philosophy to ethical problems.

3. Gain an understanding of the development of religions, beliefs, ethics, and values in relation to physical, social and coltural contexts.

4. Learn to use ethics, religion and philosophy to understand their lives and contemporary social issues.

Area C4 (Oct 30, 2008)

1. Demonstrate greater understanding of diverse coltures through their languages, literature, art, or other coltural expressions.
   
   
2. Demonstrate coltural and/or linguistic competency through the study of diverse coltures and ethnicities, including those of non-European origin.
   
   
3. Engage in critical cross-coltural analysis in order to better understand their own colture in relation to other coltures.

AREA D (May 9, 2008)

The social sciences concentrate on the description and explanation of organization, variation and change in social practices and institutions.  Courses in this area examine the diversity, variety and complexity of human life at every scale from the individual to the global.  Courses instill an appreciation of the moltiple perspectives and methodologies that social science disciplines offer for understanding the human experience.

1. Apply the principles, methodologies, value systems and ethics employed in social scientific inquiry to construct evidence-based arguments and to express them in writing.

2. Develop knowledge of discipline-based methods of reasoning and research in the social sciences. 

3. Examine social, political, economic, and environmental issues in temporal and spatial settings and in a variety of coltural contexts.  

4. Understand how coltural diversity and complexity influence individuals, institutions, and societies. 

5. Gain an understanding of United States and California history and government. 

Area D1 (Mar 20, 2008; revised Nov 18, 2008)

1. Demonstrate understanding of how coltural diversity and social factors influence the individual, society, and social institutions.
   
   
2. Demonstrate understanding of the interchange among individuals and social systems and institutions, and how these develop.
   
   
3. Apply social science perspectives to social issues and problems as manifested in individuals, groups, societies, and/or internationally.
   
   
4. Demonstrate understanding of the factors influencing inequality and social justice among individuals, groups, societies, and/or across nations.

Area D2 (Apr 3, 2008; rev May 19, 2008)

TITLE CHANGE: Nature and development of complex societies

This subject area examines the emergence of complex societies and their diversity across time and space. Courses examine the ways in which societies and aspects of them function and interact, and the theoretical constructs that have been developed to explain these interactions and their social and environmental consequences.

1. Learn a variety of conditions in which complex social systems have emerged and in which they have transformed.
   
   
2. Acquire an appreciation for a significant range and diversity of societies across a broad temporal and geographic span.
   
   
3. Attain a basic geographical and historical literacy. Students will be able to identify the locations and the basic chronological framework of the coltures studied.
   
   
4. Study the ways in which aspects of these societies function and interact. These aspects include belief systems, social stratification, differential access to resources, gender, exchange, and conflict.
   
   
5. Learn current theoretical constructs that explain these phenomena.
   
   
6. Study ways in which societies interact with their physical environment. These include adaptations to, and modifications of, the environment as well as reactions to change in the environment.

Area D3 (April 10, 2008)

1. Gain an understanding of significant historical events and their contexts, including both domestic events and foreign relations, in the history of the entire area now included in the United States of America over a period of at least 100 years.

2. Explore the role of major ethnic and social groups in the history of the United States for the period covered by this course.

3. Develop an appreciation for both the continuity of the American experience and its connections with other coltures in the areas of economics, society, colture, politics, and geography.

4. Gain a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, historical debate and controversy and will learn to analyze and use primary and secondary sources to develop historical arguments.

Area D4 (Apr 21, 2008)

1. Gain an understanding of the nature and character of the US constitution and its amendments.

2. Develop an appreciation of the role of the major branches of American national government, including congress, the presidency and the federal courts; they will develop an appreciation of the checks and balances system and also of American federalism.

3. Understand the organizations that act as intermediaries between government and people, such as interest groups, political parties, and mass media.

4. Gain a greater understanding of elections, voting behavior and the nature of mass public thought and behavior.

5. Be introduced to the topics of California state and local government structures become familiar with some of the major issues of California politics

Area D5 (April 24, 2008; rev May 19, 2008)

1. Understand various social, political and economic systems across societies and nations, and how those systems are interrelated.

2. Understand how social, political and economic systems affect access to wealth, power, and social and natural resources within and among nations.

3. Understand how the distribution and access to natural resources, wealth, and power affects the development of social, political, and economic systems.

4. Compare and contrast differing moral, ethical and ideological perspectives on the distribution of economic, political, social, and natural resources within and among nations.

AREA E (Apr 30, 2008; revised Nov 3, 2008)

Integrated person courses are designed to study both processes affecting the individual, such as psychological, social, or physiological changes throughout the human life cycle, and the interactions between the individual and society. Focus is on the integration of disciplinary knowledge and personal experience with an appreciation of the duties and rights of a citizen with a rich public and personal life.”

1. Develop knowledge of themselves as psychological, social and physiological beings as they experience life.

2. Understand the dynamic interactions and reciprocal relationships between individuals and social systems.

3. Use pertinent disciplinary knowledge to understand how their own actions affect the world.

4. Learn the importance of active engagement in their communities for the betterment of personal and public life.