GE and BD Requirement Area Outcomes
Courses carrying GE and BD designations must fulfill the course-level learning outcomes for each requirement area. Utah Code R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes defines course-level learning outcomes for the GE requirement areas. The University of Utah defines course-level learning outcomes for the BD requirement areas.
General Education Core Designations
*
Writing
*
Writing
*
American Institutions
*
Quantitative Literacy
*Utah Code R470 limits courses that can carry these designations.
General Education Breadth Designations
Fine Arts
Humanities
Life Science
Physical Science
Social/Behavioral Science
Baccalaureate Degree Designations
Diversity
International
Communication and Writing
Disciplinary Inquiry
Quantitative Intensive
*
Language Requirement
*The Department of World Languages & Cultures oversees courses that carry the LR designation.
GE Requirement Area Learning Outcomes
Fine Arts
Upon successful completion of the General Education Arts requirement, students will be able to:
Understand: Explain the creative artistic process as an iterative and recursive practice culminating in an expression of human experience and emotion through a medium;
Appreciate: Apply artistic concepts and ideas drawn from traditions of artistic creation and theory to better engage with, analyze and understand a creative work;
Connect: Examine connections between art and society and articulate how the arts are a historical and cultural phenomenon.
Humanities
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the humanities, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Humanities requirement, students will be able to:
Examine: Examine how humanities artifacts (such as oral narratives, literature, philosophy, media, and artworks) express the human condition;
Explain: Explaine how humanities artifacts take on meaning within networks or systems (such as languages, cultures, values, and worldviews) that account for for the complexities and uncertainties of the human condition;
Analyze: Analyze humanities artifacts according to humanities methodologies, such as a close analysis, questioning, reasoning, interpretation, and critical thinking;
Compare and Contrast: Compare and contrast diverse humanisitic perpectives across cultures, communities, and/or time periods to explain how people make meaning of their lives;and
Apply: Using humanities perspectives, reflect on big questions related to aesthetics, values, meaning, and ethics and how those apply to their own lives.
Life Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the life sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Life Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Apply Scientific Methods: Describe and apply approaches to scientific discovery and interpretation of experimental data;
Understand: Demonstrate understanding of matter, energy, and their influence on biological systems;
Apply Knowledge: Descirbe and apply evolutionary concepts in terms of inheritance, adaptation, and diversity of life;
Explain: Explain the mechanisms of information storage, expression, and exchange in living organisms or eco-systems; and
Reflect: Reflect on the relevance of life sciences in a broader context.
Physical Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the physical sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Physical Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Explain scientific methods: Explain science as a process and as a way of understanding the physical world;
Understand: Demonstrate understanding of matter, energy, and their influence on physical systems;
Evaluate: Evaluate the credibility of various sources of information about science-related issues; and
Apply: Describe how the Physical Sciences utilize their foundational principles to confront and solve pressing loval and global challenges, shaping historical, ethical, or social landscapes in the process.
Social/Behavioral Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the social sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Social and Behavioral Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Examine: Examine institutions and human behavior through social and behavioral concepts, methods, or theories;
Analyze: Identify diverse perspectives to explore and examine social and behavioral phenomena; and
Apply: Apply discipline-relevant and scientific theories and methods to make inferences about or applications to sical and behavioral phenomena at personal, instututional, or cultural levels.
BD Requirement Area Learning Outcomes
Diversity
The diversity requirement reflects the University’s commitment to proactively and consistently support a positive campus climate in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Courses that fulfill this requirement provide opportunities for students to critically explore society and culture in the United States — its norms, laws, public policies, cultural practices, and discourses — in the context of the rich and varied cultural diversity that has shaped it. All students in courses fulfilling this requirement will grapple with theoretical approaches to discrimination, privilege, and social justice. Race, ethnicity, sex, gender, socioeconomic status, age, religion, ability status, or sexual orientation will be the crux of these classes.
Students will also critically reflect on their own identities and relationships with institutions that maintain and/or challenge the status quo. The goal of this requirement is to extend cross-cultural understanding; to interrogate current and historical narratives of equality, justice, progress, and freedom; to open possibilities for meaningful communication across social boundaries; and to allow students to consider ethical and social decisions from multiple perspectives. This requirement, together with other institutional practices, also signals to students that their distinctive traditions, opinions, and insights enrich our community and are valued at the University.
How does the course focus on the culture, history, or current circumstances of one or more groups of people in the U.S. who have experienced sustained systemic discrimination (e.g., institutional racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, ableism, or classism)?
How does the course critically examine and grapple with one or more factors supporting and sustaining the systemic discrimination of groups of people in the U.S. (e.g. institutional racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, ableism, or classism)?
How does the course incorporate disciplinary methods for analyzing and/or applying real-world strategies of moving toward a more equitable society and challenging patterns of sustained systemic discrimination?
How does the course challenge students to reflect on their own identities (including both the places where they hold privilege and the places where they experience sustained systemic discrimination) in order to apply the concepts of inclusion, equity, and social justice to their interactions?
International
The international requirement provides students with a broad base of knowledge about global issues and perspectives in a comparative context by exploring big questions both contemporary and enduring. It will introduce students to international frames of reference so that they may think critically about long-standing and newly emerging international issues. These courses will help students accept and appreciate the interdependence of nations and the viewpoints of other nations and give them the ability to communicate with people across international borders.
How does the course focus on international, transnational, or comparative issues?
How does the course include significant content from non-U.S. perspectives and authors?
How does the course focus on cross-border phenomena (i.e.borders conceived in the broadest sense such as language, cultural, economic, political, etc.)?
How will the course be relevant to students in the major or discipline?
Upper Division Communication/Writing
The upper-division communication/writing requirement provides students with advanced instruction in speaking and writing with the understanding that these skills will continue to develop throughout the educational program while completing their degree. This requirement prepares students to communicate clearly and effectively within the standards and conventions established by a specific discipline, to incorporate feedback and criticism into multiple revisions, and to tailor written or oral communication to the needs of particular audiences. Because research and national best practices strongly suggest that enrollment in CW courses not exceed thirty students, these courses should maintain appropriately small enrollments.
How does the course provide direct instruction in how to write and/or communicate according to disciplinary standards or genre-specific conventions?
How does the course require students to use multiple forms of writing and/or communication in ways that are adapted to the particular needs of different audiences?
How does the course require students to use feedback to revise their work for at least one writing assignment?
Clearly identify how at least 50% of the final grade is dependent upon students’ ability to write and/or communicate.
Disciplinary Inquiry
Courses carrying the disciplinary inquiry designation build students’ abilities to develop questions, design investigations, collect and analyze information, and report findings in a compelling fashion using methods germane to a particular discipline. As a result, students will not only become better-informed interpreters and evaluators of information, they will also learn how to apply newly acquired analytical skills and methods in ways that address practical issues, solve real-world problems, or model phenomena, according to disciplinary standards and conventions.
What methods of inquiry are covered in the course?
How do they build students’ abilities to develop questions, design investigations, collect and analyze information, and report findings in a compelling fashion?
How will the course provide experiences in solving practical problems or addressing real-world issues, or model phenomena, according to disciplinary standards and conventions?
Quantitative Intensive
Courses carrying the quantitative intensive designation build upon students’ prior quantitative foundations by further developing analytical reasoning skills and deepening knowledge of quantitative methods that are specific to a particular discipline. As a result, students will not only become better-informed interpreters and evaluators of quantitative data, they will also learn how to apply newly acquired quantitative skills and methods in ways that address practical issues, solve real-world problems, or model phenomena according to disciplinary standards and conventions.
What quantitative methods are covered in the course and how do they build on quantitative skills learned in lower division quantitative coursework?
How will the course provide experiences in solving practical problems or addressing real-world issues?
How will the course be relevant to students in the major or discipline?