General Education Competency Areas

Humanistic and Artistic Ways of Knowing

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate at least five (5) of the following competencies:

• Recognize and describe humanistic, historical, or artistic works within problems and patterns of the human experience.
• Distinguish and apply terminologies, methodologies, processes, epistemologies, and traditions specific to the discipline(s).
• Perceive and understand formal, conceptual, and technical elements specific to the discipline.
• Analyze, evaluate, and interpret texts, objects, events, or ideas in their cultural, intellectual or historical contexts.
• Interpret artistic and/or humanistic works through the creation of art or performance.
• Develop critical perspectives or arguments about the subject matter, grounded in evidence-based analysis.
• Demonstrate self-reflection, intellectual elasticity, widened perspective, and respect for diverse viewpoints.

AA & AS (2 different disciplines) (6 hours)

Mathematical Ways of Knowing

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, a student is able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Read, interpret, and communicate mathematical concepts.
• Represent and interpret information/data.
• Select, execute and explain appropriate strategies/procedures when solving mathematical problems.
• Apply quantitative reasoning to draw and support appropriate conclusions.

AA & AS (3 hours)

AAS (3 hours)

Oral Communication

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Research, discover, and develop information resources and structure spoken messages to increase knowledge and understanding.
• Research, discover, and develop evidence-based reasoning and persuasive appeals for ethically influencing attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
• Adapt spoken messages to the diverse personal, ideological, and emotional needs of individuals, groups, or contexts.
• Employ effective spoken and nonverbal behaviors that support communication goals and illustrate self-efficacy.
• Listen in order to effectively and critically evaluate the reasoning, evidence, and communication strategies of self and others.
• Understand key theories, perspectives, principles, and concepts in the Communication discipline, as applied to oral communication.

AA, AS, AAS (3 hours)

Scientific Ways of Knowing

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, a student is able to demonstrate at least four (4) of the following competencies:

• Apply foundational knowledge and models of a natural or physical science to analyze and/or predict phenomena.
• Understand the scientific method and apply scientific reasoning to critically evaluate arguments.
• Interpret and communicate scientific information via written, spoken and/or visual representations.
• Describe the relevance of specific scientific principles to the human experience.
• Form and test a hypothesis in the laboratory or field using discipline-specific tools and techniques for data collection and/or analysis.

AA & AS (2 different disciplines/1 lab) (7-8 hours)

Social and Behavioral Ways of Knowing

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate at least four (4) of the following competencies:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of a particular Social Science discipline.
• Develop an understanding of self and the world by examining the dynamic interaction of individuals, groups, and societies as they shape and are shaped by history, culture, institutions, and ideas.
• Utilize Social Science approaches, such as research methods, inquiry, or problem solving, to examine the variety of perspectives about human experiences.
• Evaluate how reasoning, history, or culture informs and guides individual, civic, or global decisions.
• Understand and appreciate similarities and differences among and between individuals, cultures, or societies across space and time.

AA & AS (2 DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES) (6 hours)

AAS (3 hours)

Written Communication

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Use flexible writing process strategies to generate, develop, revise, edit, and proofread texts.
• Adopt strategies and genre appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
• Use inquiry-based strategies to conduct research that explores multiple and diverse ideas and perspectives, appropriate to the rhetorical context.
• Use rhetorically appropriate strategies to evaluate, represent, and respond to the ideas and research of others.
• Address readers’ biases and assumptions with well-developed evidence-based reasoning.
• Use appropriate conventions for integrating, citing, and documenting source material as well as for surface-level language and style.
• Read, interpret, and communicate key concepts in writing and rhetoric.

AA & AS (6 hours)

AAS (3 hours)

Institutionally Designated

AA & AS (5 hours)

Wellness

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Identify: Define the purpose of lifelong wellness.
• Plan: Create individual goal(s) addressing at least one dimension of wellness.
• Practice: Apply wellness knowledge to act on individual goals addressing at least one dimension of wellness.
• Reflect: Demonstrate the ability to engage in careful thought about beliefs and behaviors impacting lifelong wellness.

AA & AS (2 hours)

Introduction to General Education

Competencies

Upon completion of a course in this category, students are able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• VALUE: This course provides an environment in which students can discover their own value of general education and recognize their own achievements in that pursuit. At the end of the course, students will be able to explain the value of general education and their own progress as a generally-educated learner.
• PERSPECTIVE: This course introduces students to multiple perspectives (what we call “ways of knowing”) from which to view problems, issues, society, and themselves. At the end of the course, students will be able to describe how a way of knowing generates a unique perspective and how the distinct ways of knowing are at the same time interconnected.
• INTEGRITY: This course emphasizes the importance of integrity toward self and others, both inside and outside the context of the college. At the end of course, students will be able to appraise the implications of acting with or without integrity.
• ENGAGEMENT: This course introduces students to the skills, strategies and campus resources necessary for engaged learning. At the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate how the use of these resources impacts engaged learning.
• COMMUNITY: This course builds community and provides an environment of inclusiveness and support. At the end of the course, students will be able to explain the impact of community on engaged learning.

AA & AS (3 hours)