Connections: General Education Outcomes and the 21st Century
The mission of Santa Rosa Junior College states:
SRJC passionately cultivates learning through the creative, intellectual, physical, social, emotional, aesthetic and ethical development of our diverse community.
One way that SRJC carries out its mission is to offer a wide range of General Education courses as part of the Associate degree and transfer program. These Liberal Arts and Sciences courses do far more than meet requirements of a major. They provide avenues for the development of broad, integrative knowledge and abilities that distinguish a college education, preparing the “whole student” for the complex social interactions, workplace problem-solving, and civic engagement that extend beyond the academic life.
The GE Student Learning Outcomes relate to SRJC’s Institutional Learning Outcomes and also include more specific degree-level SLOs.
SRJC General Education Outcomes
Upon completion of the General Education courses within the Associates degree or transfer program, students will have the following abilities:
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Written Communication
Present substantially error-free prose in both argumentative and narrative forms to identified audiences. - Oral Communications
Listen actively; speak coherently and effectively; and practice respectful interpersonal and intercultural communication. (Institutional SLO)
- Analytic Inquiry
Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize relevant ideas and information; draw reasonable conclusions in order to make decisions and solve problems. (Institutional SLO)
- Quantitative Fluency
Apply accurate calculations and symbolic operations in his/her specific field of study or in interpreting social and economic trends.
- Civic Learning
Demonstrate critical and reflective civic engagement and thoughtful participation in diverse local and global communities.
- Engaging Diverse Perspectives
- Reflect critically on his/her own cultural background including its origins and development, assumptions, and predispositions.
- Use knowledge from different cultural perspectives to analyze and interpret prominent issues, ideas, and problems in politics, society, the arts, and/or global relations.
- Use of Information Resources
Locate, categorize, evaluate, and cite multiple information resources necessary to engage in projects, papers, or performance.
- Applied Learning
- Apply academic skills and knowledge to real world situations.
- Utilize technology appropriate to the discipline or field of study. (Institutional SLO)
- Broad, Integrative Knowledge in the Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Humanities
- Describe how existing knowledge or practice is advanced, tested, and revised
- Analyze a range of perspectives on key debates and their significance both within the field and in society
- Illustrate core concepts of the field while executing analytical, practical, or creative tasks
- Select and apply recognized methods of the field in interpreting discipline-based problems
- Assemble evidence relevant to characteristic problems in the field, describe the significance of the evidence, and use the evidence in analysis of these problems
Degree Outcomes
The ACCJC accreditation standards require assessment of degree SLOs. An associate degree consists of a General Education pattern plus a major. Thus, if a student meets the expected General Education SLOs and the SLOs for the major, the student has met the degree outcomes.