General Education Learning Outcomes

Mission

The mission of the General Education program at Bay State College is to provide students with an interdisciplinary core curriculum that focuses on skills in written and oral communication; critical thinking; and analytical reasoning, as well as an understanding of historical and social concepts that can be applied in academic, professional and life situations.

Learning Objectives

AS-Level

• To develop students’ critical thinking/analytical skills so they can evaluate and synthesize information from multiple sources.
• To develop students’ computer/research and information literacy skills so that they are proficient at using software and the Internet and thus are able to locate and convert information into practical/useful knowledge.
• To develop students’ reading and writing skills at the college level.
• To develop students’ mathematical literacy skills so that they are proficient with consumer and career applications of mathematics, while also preparing them for further study in mathematics and quantitative reasoning.
• To develop students’ appreciation for historical and contemporary human behavior.
• To develop students’ listening/oral/computer-based presentation skills.
• To develop students’ sense of personal and civic ethics and help them to understand the basic ethical questions that confront all human beings.

BS-Level

• To develop students’ reading skills so that they can analyze and evaluate readings from a variety of texts and apply that learning to academic, personal, and professional contexts.
• To develop students’ writing skills so that they may express themselves with clarity, coherence, and persuasiveness.
• To develop students’ critical thinking skills, allowing them to think independently and creatively, so that they can make informed and logical judgments of the arguments of others, arrive at reasoned and meaningful arguments and positions, and formulate and apply ideas to new contexts.
• To develop students’ information literacy skills so that they can locate, access, analyze, and utilize information that facilitates learning and critical inquiry and to adhere to the standards of academic honesty in their use of that information.
• To develop students’ understanding of the human condition through investigation, appreciation, and evaluation of the aesthetic, historical, philosophical and literary dimensions of human experience.
• To develop students’ ability to comprehend and to apply the basic principles of science and methods of scientific inquiry.
• To develop student’s awareness and appreciation of the necessity for strong values, ethical conduct, and social responsibility, especially the importance of personal, academic, and professional integrity.
• To develop students’ quantitative literacy skills, allowing them to critically and effectively analyze and solve complex mathematical problems, interpret numerical and statistical data, and utilize quantitative reasoning in decision making.