learning outcomes for critical thinking

Essential Learning Outcomes: Critical/Creative Thinking

• Civic Responsibility
• Critical/Creative Thinking
• Cultural Sensitivity
• Information Literacy
• Oral Communication
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Written Communication
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Description

Guide to Critical/Creative Thinking

Intended Learning Outcome:

Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information in order to consider problems/ideas and transform them in innovative or imaginative ways (See below for definitions)

Assessment may include but is not limited to the following criteria and intended outcomes:

Analyze problems/ideas critically and/or creatively

• Formulates appropriate questions to consider problems/issues
• Evaluates costs and benefits of a solution
• Identifies possible solutions to problems or resolution to issues
• Applies innovative and imaginative approaches to problems/ideas

Synthesize information/ideas into a coherent whole

• Seeks and compares information that leads to informed decisions/opinions
• Applies fact and opinion appropriately
• Expands upon ideas to foster new lines of inquiry
• Synthesizes ideas into a coherent whole

Evaluate synthesized information in order to transform problems/ideas in innovative or imaginative ways

• Applies synthesized information to inform effective decisions
• Experiments with creating a novel idea, question, or product
• Uses new approaches and takes appropriate risks without going beyond the guidelines of the assignment
• Evaluates and reflects on the decision through a process that takes into account the complexities of an issue

From Association of American Colleges & Universities, LEAP outcomes and VALUE rubrics:   Critical thinking  is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.

Creative thinking  is both the capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.

Elements, excerpts, and ideas borrowed with permission form Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and tools for Using Rubrics , edited by Terrel L. Rhodes. Copyright 2010 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

How to Align - Critical/Creative Thinking

• Critical/Creative Thinking ELO Tutorial

Critical/Creative Thinking Rubric

Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information in order to consider problems/ideas and transform them into innovative or imaginative ways.

Elements, excerpts, and ideas borrowed with permission form  Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and tools for Using Rubrics , edited by Terrel L. Rhodes. Copyright 2010 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Sample Assignments

• Cleveland Museum of Art tour (Just Mercy) Assignment contributed by Chris Wolken, Matt Lafferty, Luke Schuleter and Sara Clark.
• Disaster Analysis This assignment was created by faculty at Durham College in Canada The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate students’ ability to think critically about how natural disasters are portrayed in the media.
• Laboratory Report-Critical Thinking Assignment contributed by Anne Distler.
• (Re)Imaginings assignment ENG 1020 Assignment contributed by Sara Fuller.
• Sustainability Project-Part 1 Waste Journal Assignment contributed by Anne Distler.
• Sustainability Project-Part 2 Research Assignment contributed by Anne Distler.
• Sustainability Project-Part 3 Waste Journal Continuation Assignment contributed by Anne Distler.
• Sustainability Project-Part 4 Reflection Assignment contributed by Anne Distler.
• Reconstructed Landscapes (VCPH) Assignment contributed by Jonathan Wayne
• Book Cover Design (VCIL)) Assignment contributed by George Kopec

Ask a Librarian

• << Previous: Civic Responsibility
• Next: Cultural Sensitivity >>
• Last Updated: Jan 8, 2024 12:20 PM
• URL: https://libguides.tri-c.edu/Essential

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking

• Share article

(This is the first post in a three-part series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?

This three-part series will explore what critical thinking is, if it can be specifically taught and, if so, how can teachers do so in their classrooms.

Today’s guests are Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

You might also be interested in The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom .

Current Events

Dara Laws Savage is an English teacher at the Early College High School at Delaware State University, where she serves as a teacher and instructional coach and lead mentor. Dara has been teaching for 25 years (career preparation, English, photography, yearbook, newspaper, and graphic design) and has presented nationally on project-based learning and technology integration:

There is so much going on right now and there is an overload of information for us to process. Did you ever stop to think how our students are processing current events? They see news feeds, hear news reports, and scan photos and posts, but are they truly thinking about what they are hearing and seeing?

I tell my students that my job is not to give them answers but to teach them how to think about what they read and hear. So what is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom? There are just as many definitions of critical thinking as there are people trying to define it. However, the Critical Think Consortium focuses on the tools to create a thinking-based classroom rather than a definition: “Shape the climate to support thinking, create opportunities for thinking, build capacity to think, provide guidance to inform thinking.” Using these four criteria and pairing them with current events, teachers easily create learning spaces that thrive on thinking and keep students engaged.

One successful technique I use is the FIRE Write. Students are given a quote, a paragraph, an excerpt, or a photo from the headlines. Students are asked to F ocus and respond to the selection for three minutes. Next, students are asked to I dentify a phrase or section of the photo and write for two minutes. Third, students are asked to R eframe their response around a specific word, phrase, or section within their previous selection. Finally, students E xchange their thoughts with a classmate. Within the exchange, students also talk about how the selection connects to what we are covering in class.

There was a controversial Pepsi ad in 2017 involving Kylie Jenner and a protest with a police presence. The imagery in the photo was strikingly similar to a photo that went viral with a young lady standing opposite a police line. Using that image from a current event engaged my students and gave them the opportunity to critically think about events of the time.

Here are the two photos and a student response:

F - Focus on both photos and respond for three minutes

In the first picture, you see a strong and courageous black female, bravely standing in front of two officers in protest. She is risking her life to do so. Iesha Evans is simply proving to the world she does NOT mean less because she is black … and yet officers are there to stop her. She did not step down. In the picture below, you see Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a Pepsi. Maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal, except this was Pepsi’s weak, pathetic, and outrageous excuse of a commercial that belittles the whole movement of people fighting for their lives.

I - Identify a word or phrase, underline it, then write about it for two minutes

A white, privileged female in place of a fighting black woman was asking for trouble. A struggle we are continuously fighting every day, and they make a mockery of it. “I know what will work! Here Mr. Police Officer! Drink some Pepsi!” As if. Pepsi made a fool of themselves, and now their already dwindling fan base continues to ever shrink smaller.

R - Reframe your thoughts by choosing a different word, then write about that for one minute

You don’t know privilege until it’s gone. You don’t know privilege while it’s there—but you can and will be made accountable and aware. Don’t use it for evil. You are not stupid. Use it to do something. Kendall could’ve NOT done the commercial. Kendall could’ve released another commercial standing behind a black woman. Anything!

Exchange - Remember to discuss how this connects to our school song project and our previous discussions?

This connects two ways - 1) We want to convey a strong message. Be powerful. Show who we are. And Pepsi definitely tried. … Which leads to the second connection. 2) Not mess up and offend anyone, as had the one alma mater had been linked to black minstrels. We want to be amazing, but we have to be smart and careful and make sure we include everyone who goes to our school and everyone who may go to our school.

As a final step, students read and annotate the full article and compare it to their initial response.

Using current events and critical-thinking strategies like FIRE writing helps create a learning space where thinking is the goal rather than a score on a multiple-choice assessment. Critical-thinking skills can cross over to any of students’ other courses and into life outside the classroom. After all, we as teachers want to help the whole student be successful, and critical thinking is an important part of navigating life after they leave our classrooms.

‘Before-Explore-Explain’

Patrick Brown is the executive director of STEM and CTE for the Fort Zumwalt school district in Missouri and an experienced educator and author :

Planning for critical thinking focuses on teaching the most crucial science concepts, practices, and logical-thinking skills as well as the best use of instructional time. One way to ensure that lessons maintain a focus on critical thinking is to focus on the instructional sequence used to teach.

Explore-before-explain teaching is all about promoting critical thinking for learners to better prepare students for the reality of their world. What having an explore-before-explain mindset means is that in our planning, we prioritize giving students firsthand experiences with data, allow students to construct evidence-based claims that focus on conceptual understanding, and challenge students to discuss and think about the why behind phenomena.

Just think of the critical thinking that has to occur for students to construct a scientific claim. 1) They need the opportunity to collect data, analyze it, and determine how to make sense of what the data may mean. 2) With data in hand, students can begin thinking about the validity and reliability of their experience and information collected. 3) They can consider what differences, if any, they might have if they completed the investigation again. 4) They can scrutinize outlying data points for they may be an artifact of a true difference that merits further exploration of a misstep in the procedure, measuring device, or measurement. All of these intellectual activities help them form more robust understanding and are evidence of their critical thinking.

In explore-before-explain teaching, all of these hard critical-thinking tasks come before teacher explanations of content. Whether we use discovery experiences, problem-based learning, and or inquiry-based activities, strategies that are geared toward helping students construct understanding promote critical thinking because students learn content by doing the practices valued in the field to generate knowledge.

An Issue of Equity

Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at The Possible Project, an out-of-school program that collaborates with youth to build entrepreneurial skills and mindsets and provides pathways to careers and long-term economic prosperity. She has been in the field of education for over 25 years as a middle and high school teacher, school coach, college professor, regional director of N.Y.C. Outward Bound Schools, and director of external research with EL Education:

Although critical thinking often defies straightforward definition, most in the education field agree it consists of several components: reasoning, problem-solving, and decisionmaking, plus analysis and evaluation of information, such that multiple sides of an issue can be explored. It also includes dispositions and “the willingness to apply critical-thinking principles, rather than fall back on existing unexamined beliefs, or simply believe what you’re told by authority figures.”

Despite variation in definitions, critical thinking is nonetheless promoted as an essential outcome of students’ learning—we want to see students and adults demonstrate it across all fields, professions, and in their personal lives. Yet there is simultaneously a rationing of opportunities in schools for students of color, students from under-resourced communities, and other historically marginalized groups to deeply learn and practice critical thinking.

For example, many of our most underserved students often spend class time filling out worksheets, promoting high compliance but low engagement, inquiry, critical thinking, or creation of new ideas. At a time in our world when college and careers are critical for participation in society and the global, knowledge-based economy, far too many students struggle within classrooms and schools that reinforce low-expectations and inequity.

If educators aim to prepare all students for an ever-evolving marketplace and develop skills that will be valued no matter what tomorrow’s jobs are, then we must move critical thinking to the forefront of classroom experiences. And educators must design learning to cultivate it.

So, what does that really look like?

Unpack and define critical thinking

To understand critical thinking, educators need to first unpack and define its components. What exactly are we looking for when we speak about reasoning or exploring multiple perspectives on an issue? How does problem-solving show up in English, math, science, art, or other disciplines—and how is it assessed? At Two Rivers, an EL Education school, the faculty identified five constructs of critical thinking, defined each, and created rubrics to generate a shared picture of quality for teachers and students. The rubrics were then adapted across grade levels to indicate students’ learning progressions.

At Avenues World School, critical thinking is one of the Avenues World Elements and is an enduring outcome embedded in students’ early experiences through 12th grade. For instance, a kindergarten student may be expected to “identify cause and effect in familiar contexts,” while an 8th grader should demonstrate the ability to “seek out sufficient evidence before accepting a claim as true,” “identify bias in claims and evidence,” and “reconsider strongly held points of view in light of new evidence.”

When faculty and students embrace a common vision of what critical thinking looks and sounds like and how it is assessed, educators can then explicitly design learning experiences that call for students to employ critical-thinking skills. This kind of work must occur across all schools and programs, especially those serving large numbers of students of color. As Linda Darling-Hammond asserts , “Schools that serve large numbers of students of color are least likely to offer the kind of curriculum needed to ... help students attain the [critical-thinking] skills needed in a knowledge work economy. ”

So, what can it look like to create those kinds of learning experiences?

Designing experiences for critical thinking

After defining a shared understanding of “what” critical thinking is and “how” it shows up across multiple disciplines and grade levels, it is essential to create learning experiences that impel students to cultivate, practice, and apply these skills. There are several levers that offer pathways for teachers to promote critical thinking in lessons:

1.Choose Compelling Topics: Keep it relevant

A key Common Core State Standard asks for students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.” That might not sound exciting or culturally relevant. But a learning experience designed for a 12th grade humanities class engaged learners in a compelling topic— policing in America —to analyze and evaluate multiple texts (including primary sources) and share the reasoning for their perspectives through discussion and writing. Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care about and connect with can ignite powerful learning experiences.

2. Make Local Connections: Keep it real

At The Possible Project , an out-of-school-time program designed to promote entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, students in a recent summer online program (modified from in-person due to COVID-19) explored the impact of COVID-19 on their communities and local BIPOC-owned businesses. They learned interviewing skills through a partnership with Everyday Boston , conducted virtual interviews with entrepreneurs, evaluated information from their interviews and local data, and examined their previously held beliefs. They created blog posts and videos to reflect on their learning and consider how their mindsets had changed as a result of the experience. In this way, we can design powerful community-based learning and invite students into productive struggle with multiple perspectives.

3. Create Authentic Projects: Keep it rigorous

At Big Picture Learning schools, students engage in internship-based learning experiences as a central part of their schooling. Their school-based adviser and internship-based mentor support them in developing real-world projects that promote deeper learning and critical-thinking skills. Such authentic experiences teach “young people to be thinkers, to be curious, to get from curiosity to creation … and it helps students design a learning experience that answers their questions, [providing an] opportunity to communicate it to a larger audience—a major indicator of postsecondary success.” Even in a remote environment, we can design projects that ask more of students than rote memorization and that spark critical thinking.

Our call to action is this: As educators, we need to make opportunities for critical thinking available not only to the affluent or those fortunate enough to be placed in advanced courses. The tools are available, let’s use them. Let’s interrogate our current curriculum and design learning experiences that engage all students in real, relevant, and rigorous experiences that require critical thinking and prepare them for promising postsecondary pathways.

Critical Thinking & Student Engagement

Dr. PJ Caposey is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, consultant, and author of seven books who currently serves as the superintendent of schools for the award-winning Meridian CUSD 223 in northwest Illinois. You can find PJ on most social-media platforms as MCUSDSupe:

When I start my keynote on student engagement, I invite two people up on stage and give them each five paper balls to shoot at a garbage can also conveniently placed on stage. Contestant One shoots their shot, and the audience gives approval. Four out of 5 is a heckuva score. Then just before Contestant Two shoots, I blindfold them and start moving the garbage can back and forth. I usually try to ensure that they can at least make one of their shots. Nobody is successful in this unfair environment.

I thank them and send them back to their seats and then explain that this little activity was akin to student engagement. While we all know we want student engagement, we are shooting at different targets. More importantly, for teachers, it is near impossible for them to hit a target that is moving and that they cannot see.

Within the world of education and particularly as educational leaders, we have failed to simplify what student engagement looks like, and it is impossible to define or articulate what student engagement looks like if we cannot clearly articulate what critical thinking is and looks like in a classroom. Because, simply, without critical thought, there is no engagement.

The good news here is that critical thought has been defined and placed into taxonomies for decades already. This is not something new and not something that needs to be redefined. I am a Bloom’s person, but there is nothing wrong with DOK or some of the other taxonomies, either. To be precise, I am a huge fan of Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance Framework. I have used that as a core element of my practice for years, and it has shaped who I am as an instructional leader.

So, in order to explain critical thought, a teacher or a leader must familiarize themselves with these tried and true taxonomies. Easy, right? Yes, sort of. The issue is not understanding what critical thought is; it is the ability to integrate it into the classrooms. In order to do so, there are a four key steps every educator must take.

• Integrating critical thought/rigor into a lesson does not happen by chance, it happens by design. Planning for critical thought and engagement is much different from planning for a traditional lesson. In order to plan for kids to think critically, you have to provide a base of knowledge and excellent prompts to allow them to explore their own thinking in order to analyze, evaluate, or synthesize information.
• SIDE NOTE – Bloom’s verbs are a great way to start when writing objectives, but true planning will take you deeper than this.

QUESTIONING

• If the questions and prompts given in a classroom have correct answers or if the teacher ends up answering their own questions, the lesson will lack critical thought and rigor.
• Script five questions forcing higher-order thought prior to every lesson. Experienced teachers may not feel they need this, but it helps to create an effective habit.
• If lessons are rigorous and assessments are not, students will do well on their assessments, and that may not be an accurate representation of the knowledge and skills they have mastered. If lessons are easy and assessments are rigorous, the exact opposite will happen. When deciding to increase critical thought, it must happen in all three phases of the game: planning, instruction, and assessment.

TALK TIME / CONTROL

• To increase rigor, the teacher must DO LESS. This feels counterintuitive but is accurate. Rigorous lessons involving tons of critical thought must allow for students to work on their own, collaborate with peers, and connect their ideas. This cannot happen in a silent room except for the teacher talking. In order to increase rigor, decrease talk time and become comfortable with less control. Asking questions and giving prompts that lead to no true correct answer also means less control. This is a tough ask for some teachers. Explained differently, if you assign one assignment and get 30 very similar products, you have most likely assigned a low-rigor recipe. If you assign one assignment and get multiple varied products, then the students have had a chance to think deeply, and you have successfully integrated critical thought into your classroom.

Thanks to Dara, Patrick, Meg, and PJ for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign—new ones won’t be available until February). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first nine years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below.

• This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts
• Race & Racism in Schools
• School Closures & the Coronavirus Crisis
• Classroom-Management Advice
• Best Ways to Begin the School Year
• Best Ways to End the School Year
• Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning
• Implementing the Common Core
• Facing Gender Challenges in Education
• Teaching Social Studies
• Cooperative & Collaborative Learning
• Using Tech in the Classroom
• Student Voices
• Parent Engagement in Schools
• Teaching English-Language Learners
• Reading Instruction
• Writing Instruction
• Education Policy Issues
• Differentiating Instruction
• Math Instruction
• Science Instruction
• Advice for New Teachers
• Author Interviews
• Entering the Teaching Profession
• The Inclusive Classroom
• Learning & the Brain
• Administrator Leadership
• Teacher Leadership
• Relationships in Schools
• Professional Development
• Instructional Strategies
• Best of Classroom Q&A
• Professional Collaboration
• Classroom Organization
• Mistakes in Education
• Project-Based Learning

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Sign Up for EdWeek Update

Edweek top school jobs.

Sign Up & Sign In

Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Core outcomes.

• Core Outcomes: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Think Critically and Imaginatively

• Engage the imagination to explore new possibilities.
• Formulate and articulate ideas.
• Recognize explicit and tacit assumptions and their consequences.
• Weigh connections and relationships.
• Distinguish relevant from non-relevant data, fact from opinion.
• Identify, evaluate and synthesize information (obtained through library, world-wide web, and other sources as appropriate) in a collaborative environment.
• Reason toward a conclusion or application.
• Understand the contributions and applications of associative, intuitive and metaphoric modes of reasoning to argument and analysis.
• Analyze and draw inferences from numerical models.
• Determine the extent of information needed.
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently.
• Evaluate information and its sources critically.
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base.
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Problem-Solve

• Identify and define central and secondary problems.
• Research and analyze data relevant to issues from a variety of media.
• Select and use appropriate concepts and methods from a variety of disciplines to solve problems effectively and creatively.
• Form associations between disparate facts and methods, which may be cross-disciplinary.
• Identify and use appropriate technology to research, solve, and present solutions to problems.
• Understand the roles of collaboration, risk-taking, multi-disciplinary awareness, and the imagination in achieving creative responses to problems.
• Make a decision and take actions based on analysis.
• Interpret and express quantitative ideas effectively in written, visual, aural, and oral form.
• Interpret and use written, quantitative, and visual text effectively in presentation of solutions to problems.
• AB: Auto Collision Repair Technology
• ABE: Adult Basic Education
• AD: Addiction Studies
• AM: Automotive Service Technology
• AMT: Aviation Maintenance Technology
• APR: Apprenticeship
• ARCH: Architectural Design and Drafting
• ASL: American Sign Language
• ATH: Anthropology
• AVS: Aviation Science
• BA: Business Administration
• BCT: Building Construction Technology
• BI: Biology
• BIT: Bioscience Technology
• CADD: Computer Aided Design and Drafting
• CAS/OS: Computer Applications & Web Technologies
• CG: Counseling and Guidance
• CH: Chemistry
• CHLA: Chicano/ Latino Studies
• CHN: Chinese
• CIS: Computer Information Systems
• CJA: Criminal Justice
• CMET: Civil and Mechanical Engineering Technology
• COMM: Communication Studies
• Core Outcomes: Communication
• Core Outcomes: Community and Environmental Responsibility
• Core Outcomes: Cultural Awareness
• Core Outcomes: Professional Competence
• Core Outcomes: Self-Reflection
• CS: Computer Science
• CTT: Computed Tomography
• DA: Dental Assisting
• DE: Developmental Education – Reading & Writing
• DE: Developmental Education – Reading and Writing
• DH: Dental Hygiene
• DS: Diesel Service Technology
• DST: Dealer Service Technology
• DT: Dental Lab Technology
• DT: Dental Technology
• EC: Economics
• ECE/HEC/HUS: Child and Family Studies
• ED: Paraeducator and Library Assistant
• EET: Electronic Engineering Technology
• ELT: Electrical Trades
• EMS: Emergency Medical Services
• ENGR: Engineering
• ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages
• ESR: Environmental Studies
• Exercise Science (formerly FT: Fitness Technology)
• FMT: Facilities Maintenance Technology
• FN: Foods and Nutrition
• FOT: Fiber Optics Technology
• FP: Fire Protection Technology
• GD: Graphic Design
• GEO: Geography
• GER: German
• GGS: Geology and General Science
• GRN: Gerontology
• HE: Health Education
• HIM: Health Information Management
• HR: Culinary Assistant Program
• HST: History
• ID: Interior Design
• INSP: Building Inspection Technology
• Integrated Studies
• ITP: Sign Language Interpretation
• J: Journalism
• JPN: Japanese
• LAT: Landscape Technology
• LIB: Library
• Literature (ENG)
• MA: Medical Assisting
• MCH: Machine Manufacturing Technology
• MLT: Medical Laboratory Technology
• MM: Multimedia
• MP: Medical Professions
• MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• MSD: Management/Supervisory Development
• MT: Microelectronic Technology
• MTH: Mathematics
• MUC: Music & Sonic Arts (formerly Professional Music)
• NRS: Nursing
• OMT: Ophthalmic Medical Technology
• OST: Occupational Skills Training
• PCC Core Outcomes/Course Mapping Matrix
• PE: Physical Education
• PHL: Philosophy
• PHY: Physics
• PL: Paralegal
• PS: Political Science
• PSY: Psychology
• Race, Indigenous Nations, and Gender (RING)
• RAD: Radiography
• RE: Real Estate
• RUS: Russian
• SC: Skill Center
• SOC: Sociology
• SPA: Spanish
• TA: Theatre Arts
• TE: Facilities Maintenance
• VP: Video Production
• VT: Veterinary Technology
• WLD: Welding Technology
• Writing/Composition
• WS: Women’s and Gender Studies

Teaching Commons Conference 2024

Join us for the Teaching Commons Conference 2024 –  Cultivating Connection. Friday, May 10.

Creating Learning Outcomes

Main navigation.

A learning outcome is a concise description of what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. Having clearly articulated learning outcomes can make designing a course, assessing student learning progress, and facilitating learning activities easier and more effective. Learning outcomes can also help students regulate their learning and develop effective study strategies.

Defining the terms

Educational research uses a number of terms for this concept, including learning goals, student learning objectives, session outcomes, and more. 

In alignment with other Stanford resources, we will use learning outcomes as a general term for what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. This includes both goals and objectives. We will use learning goals to describe general outcomes for an entire course or program. We will use learning objectives when discussing more focused outcomes for specific lessons or activities.

For example, a learning goal might be “By the end of the course, students will be able to develop coherent literary arguments.” 

Whereas a learning objective might be, “By the end of Week 5, students will be able to write a coherent thesis statement supported by at least two pieces of evidence.”

Learning outcomes benefit instructors

Learning outcomes can help instructors in a number of ways by:

• Providing a framework and rationale for making course design decisions about the sequence of topics and instruction, content selection, and so on.
• Communicating to students what they must do to make progress in learning in your course.
• Clarifying your intentions to the teaching team, course guests, and other colleagues.
• Providing a framework for transparent and equitable assessment of student learning. 
• Making outcomes concerning values and beliefs, such as dedication to discipline-specific values, more concrete and assessable.
• Making inclusion and belonging explicit and integral to the course design.

Learning outcomes benefit students 

Clearly, articulated learning outcomes can also help guide and support students in their own learning by:

• Clearly communicating the range of learning students will be expected to acquire and demonstrate.
• Helping learners concentrate on the areas that they need to develop to progress in the course.
• Helping learners monitor their own progress, reflect on the efficacy of their study strategies, and seek out support or better strategies. (See Promoting Student Metacognition for more on this topic.)

Choosing learning outcomes

When writing learning outcomes to represent the aims and practices of a course or even a discipline, consider:

• What is the big idea that you hope students will still retain from the course even years later?
• What are the most important concepts, ideas, methods, theories, approaches, and perspectives of your field that students should learn?
• What are the most important skills that students should develop and be able to apply in and after your course?
• What would students need to have mastered earlier in the course or program in order to make progress later or in subsequent courses?
• What skills and knowledge would students need if they were to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• What values, attitudes, and habits of mind and affect would students need if they are to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• How can the learning outcomes span a wide range of skills that serve students with differing levels of preparation?
• How can learning outcomes offer a range of assessment types to serve a diverse student population?

Use learning taxonomies to inform learning outcomes

Learning taxonomies describe how a learner’s understanding develops from simple to complex when learning different subjects or tasks. They are useful here for identifying any foundational skills or knowledge needed for more complex learning, and for matching observable behaviors to different types of learning.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model and includes three domains of learning: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. In this model, learning occurs hierarchically, as each skill builds on previous skills towards increasingly sophisticated learning. For example, in the cognitive domain, learning begins with remembering, then understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and lastly creating. 

Taxonomy of Significant Learning

The Taxonomy of Significant Learning is a non-hierarchical and integral model of learning. It describes learning as a meaningful, holistic, and integral network. This model has six intersecting domains: knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. 

See our resource on Learning Taxonomies and Verbs for a summary of these two learning taxonomies.

How to write learning outcomes

Writing learning outcomes can be made easier by using the ABCD approach. This strategy identifies four key elements of an effective learning outcome:

Consider the following example: Students (audience) , will be able to label and describe (behavior) , given a diagram of the eye at the end of this lesson (condition) , all seven extraocular muscles, and at least two of their actions (degree) .

Audience 

Define who will achieve the outcome. Outcomes commonly include phrases such as “After completing this course, students will be able to...” or “After completing this activity, workshop participants will be able to...”

Keeping your audience in mind as you develop your learning outcomes helps ensure that they are relevant and centered on what learners must achieve. Make sure the learning outcome is focused on the student’s behavior, not the instructor’s. If the outcome describes an instructional activity or topic, then it is too focused on the instructor’s intentions and not the students.

Try to understand your audience so that you can better align your learning goals or objectives to meet their needs. While every group of students is different, certain generalizations about their prior knowledge, goals, motivation, and so on might be made based on course prerequisites, their year-level, or majors. 

Use action verbs to describe observable behavior that demonstrates mastery of the goal or objective. Depending on the skill, knowledge, or domain of the behavior, you might select a different action verb. Particularly for learning objectives which are more specific, avoid verbs that are vague or difficult to assess, such as “understand”, “appreciate”, or “know”.

The behavior usually completes the audience phrase “students will be able to…” with a specific action verb that learners can interpret without ambiguity. We recommend beginning learning goals with a phrase that makes it clear that students are expected to actively contribute to progressing towards a learning goal. For example, “through active engagement and completion of course activities, students will be able to…”

Example action verbs

Consider the following examples of verbs from different learning domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy . Generally speaking, items listed at the top under each domain are more suitable for advanced students, and items listed at the bottom are more suitable for novice or beginning students. Using verbs and associated skills from all three domains, regardless of your discipline area, can benefit students by diversifying the learning experience. 

For the cognitive domain:

• Create, investigate, design
• Evaluate, argue, support
• Analyze, compare, examine
• Solve, operate, demonstrate
• Describe, locate, translate
• Remember, define, duplicate, list

For the psychomotor domain:

• Invent, create, manage
• Articulate, construct, solve
• Complete, calibrate, control
• Build, perform, execute
• Copy, repeat, follow

For the affective domain:

• Internalize, propose, conclude
• Organize, systematize, integrate
• Justify, share, persuade
• Respond, contribute, cooperate
• Capture, pursue, consume

Often we develop broad goals first, then break them down into specific objectives. For example, if a goal is for learners to be able to compose an essay, break it down into several objectives, such as forming a clear thesis statement, coherently ordering points, following a salient argument, gathering and quoting evidence effectively, and so on.

State the conditions, if any, under which the behavior is to be performed. Consider the following conditions:

• Equipment or tools, such as using a laboratory device or a specified software application.
• Situation or environment, such as in a clinical setting, or during a performance.
• Materials or format, such as written text, a slide presentation, or using specified materials.

The level of specificity for conditions within an objective may vary and should be appropriate to the broader goals. If the conditions are implicit or understood as part of the classroom or assessment situation, it may not be necessary to state them. 

When articulating the conditions in learning outcomes, ensure that they are sensorily and financially accessible to all students.

Degree 

Degree states the standard or criterion for acceptable performance. The degree should be related to real-world expectations: what standard should the learner meet to be judged proficient? For example:

• With 90% accuracy
• Within 10 minutes
• Suitable for submission to an edited journal
• Obtain a valid solution
• In a 100-word paragraph

The specificity of the degree will vary. You might take into consideration professional standards, what a student would need to succeed in subsequent courses in a series, or what is required by you as the instructor to accurately assess learning when determining the degree. Where the degree is easy to measure (such as pass or fail) or accuracy is not required, it may be omitted.

Characteristics of effective learning outcomes

The acronym SMART is useful for remembering the characteristics of an effective learning outcome.

• Specific : clear and distinct from others.
• Measurable : identifies observable student action.
• Attainable : suitably challenging for students in the course.
• Related : connected to other objectives and student interests.
• Time-bound : likely to be achieved and keep students on task within the given time frame.

Examples of effective learning outcomes

These examples generally follow the ABCD and SMART guidelines. 

Arts and Humanities

Learning goals.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to apply critical terms and methodology in completing a written literary analysis of a selected literary work.

At the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate oral competence with the French language in pronunciation, vocabulary, and language fluency in a 10 minute in-person interview with a member of the teaching team.

Learning objectives

After completing lessons 1 through 5, given images of specific works of art, students will be able to identify the artist, artistic period, and describe their historical, social, and philosophical contexts in a two-page written essay.

By the end of this course, students will be able to describe the steps in planning a research study, including identifying and formulating relevant theories, generating alternative solutions and strategies, and application to a hypothetical case in a written research proposal.

At the end of this lesson, given a diagram of the eye, students will be able to label all of the extraocular muscles and describe at least two of their actions.

Using chemical datasets gathered at the end of the first lab unit, students will be able to create plots and trend lines of that data in Excel and make quantitative predictions about future experiments.

• How to Write Learning Goals , Evaluation and Research, Student Affairs (2021).
• SMART Guidelines , Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• Learning Taxonomies and Verbs , Center for Teaching and Learning (2021).

Essential Learning Outcomes Resources

• Stockton's ELO Resources
• Adapting to Change
• Communication Skills
• Creativity and Innovation

Critical Thinking

• Ethical Reasoning
• Global Awareness
• Information Literacy and Research Skills
• Program Competence
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Teamwork and Collaboration

The ability to formulate an effective, balanced perspective on an issue or topic.

• Bezanilla, María José, et al. (2019). Methodologies for teaching-learning critical thinking in higher education: The teacher’s view
• Bjerkvik, Liv ; Hilli, Yvonne. (2019). Reflective writing in undergraduate clinical nursing education: A literature review
• Cooke, Lori, Stroup, Harrington. (2019). Operationalizing the concept of critical thinking for student learning outcome development
• D’alessio, Fernando A. et al. (2019). Studying the impact of critical thinking on the academic performance of executive MBA students
• Janssen, Eva M., et al. (2019). Training higher education teachers’ critical thinking and attitudes towards teaching it
• Morris, Richard, et al. (2019). Effectiveness of two methods for teaching critical thinking to communication sciences and disorders undergraduates
• Plotnikova, N. F. ; Strukov, E. N. (2019). Integration of teamwork and critical thinking skills in the process of teaching students
• Stephenson, Norda, et al. (2019). Impact of peer-led team learning and the science writing and workshop template on the critical thinking skills of first-year chemistry students
• Venugopalan, Murali. (2019). Building critical thinking skills through literature
• Yusuf, Nur Muthmainnah. (2019). Optimizing critical thinking skill through peer editing technique in teaching writing
• Zucker, Andrew. (2019). Using critical thinking to counter misinformation
• Center for Teaching Thinking (CTT)
• Foundation for Critical Thinking
• Critical Thinking Value Rubrics (AAC&U)
• Stockton Institute for Faculty Development

• << Previous: Creativity and Innovation
• Next: Ethical Reasoning >>
• Last Updated: Sep 13, 2023 8:31 AM
• 101 Vera King Farris Drive
• Galloway, NJ 08205-9411
• (609) 652-4346
• Find us on Google Map
• A-Z Databases
• Subject Guides
• Subject Librarians
• Opening Hours
• Ask Us & FAQ
• Study Rooms
• Library Instruction
• Streaming Video
• Course Reserves
• ELO Resources
• My Library Account
• Website Feedback
• Staff Login

• The Key is Being Metacognitive
• The Big Picture
• Learning Outcomes
• Test your Existing Knowledge
• Definitions of Critical Thinking
• Learning How to Think Critically
• Self Reflection Activity
• End of Module Survey
• Test Your Existing Knowledge
• Interpreting Information Methodically
• Using the SEE-I Method
• Interpreting Information Critically
• Argument Analysis
• Learning Activities
• Argument Mapping
• Summary of Anlyzing Arguments
• Fallacious Reasoning
• Statistical Misrepresentation
• Biased Reasoning
• Common Cognitive Biases
• Poor Research Methods - The Wakefield Study
• Summary of How Reasoning Fails
• Misinformation and Disinformation
• Media and Digital Literacy
• Information Trustworthiness
• Summary of How Misinformation is Spread

Critical Thinking Tutorial: Learning Outcomes

Why learn to interpret information.

As the Critical thinking and reading video suggests, you want to have a good understanding of the topic you're writing about so you can present it in a way that makes sense to the reader.

This module will help you in two important ways:

• Interpret information methodically, using a strategy like the SEE-I method, to make sense of abstract terms and concepts, so you can write about (or explain) them in ways that others can understand.
• Interpret information critically , so you can extend your understanding of the text and make judgments about how a text is argued.

  Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you should be able to

• Define comprehension and interpretation in relation to information
• Recognize why interpreting information is essential for critical thinking
• Employ a methodical approach like the SEE-I method to comprehend and interpret information
• Assess the value of using the SEE-I method to recognize and clarify abstract information
• Apply critical reading to actively and accurately analyze and evaluate a passage of text
• << Previous: The Big Picture
• Next: Test Your Existing Knowledge >>
• Library A to Z
• Follow on Facebook
• Follow on Twitter
• Follow on YouTube
• Follow on Instagram

The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on  Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

© University of Saskatchewan Disclaimer | Privacy

• Last Updated: Dec 14, 2023 3:51 PM
• URL: https://libguides.usask.ca/CriticalThinkingTutorial

• Augsburg.edu
• Inside Augsburg

Search Strommen Center for Meaningful Work

• Faculty & Staff
• Graduate Students
• First Generation
• International
• Students With Disabilities
• Undocumented
• Business & Finance
• Culture and Language
• Environmental Sustainability
• Government, Law & Policy
• Health Professions
• Human & Social Services
• Information Technology & Data
• Marketing, Media & Communications
• Resumes and Cover Letters
• Expand Your Network / Mentor
• Explore Your Interests / Self Assessment
• Negotiate an Offer
• Prepare for an Interview
• Prepare for Graduate School
• Search for a Job / Internship
• Job Fair Preparation
• Start Your Internship
• Choosing a Major
• Career Collaborative
• Travelers EDGE
• Meet the Team

Critical Thinking: A Simple Guide and Why It’s Important

• Share This: Share Critical Thinking: A Simple Guide and Why It’s Important on Facebook Share Critical Thinking: A Simple Guide and Why It’s Important on LinkedIn Share Critical Thinking: A Simple Guide and Why It’s Important on X

Critical Thinking: A Simple Guide and Why It’s Important was originally published on Ivy Exec .

Strong critical thinking skills are crucial for career success, regardless of educational background. It embodies the ability to engage in astute and effective decision-making, lending invaluable dimensions to professional growth.

At its essence, critical thinking is the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information in a logical and reasoned manner. It’s not merely about accumulating knowledge but harnessing it effectively to make informed decisions and solve complex problems. In the dynamic landscape of modern careers, honing this skill is paramount.

The Impact of Critical Thinking on Your Career

☑ problem-solving mastery.

Visualize critical thinking as the Sherlock Holmes of your career journey. It facilitates swift problem resolution akin to a detective unraveling a mystery. By methodically analyzing situations and deconstructing complexities, critical thinkers emerge as adept problem solvers, rendering them invaluable assets in the workplace.

☑ Refined Decision-Making

Navigating dilemmas in your career path resembles traversing uncertain terrain. Critical thinking acts as a dependable GPS, steering you toward informed decisions. It involves weighing options, evaluating potential outcomes, and confidently choosing the most favorable path forward.

☑ Enhanced Teamwork Dynamics

Within collaborative settings, critical thinkers stand out as proactive contributors. They engage in scrutinizing ideas, proposing enhancements, and fostering meaningful contributions. Consequently, the team evolves into a dynamic hub of ideas, with the critical thinker recognized as the architect behind its success.

☑ Communication Prowess

Effective communication is the cornerstone of professional interactions. Critical thinking enriches communication skills, enabling the clear and logical articulation of ideas. Whether in emails, presentations, or casual conversations, individuals adept in critical thinking exude clarity, earning appreciation for their ability to convey thoughts seamlessly.

☑ Adaptability and Resilience

Perceptive individuals adept in critical thinking display resilience in the face of unforeseen challenges. Instead of succumbing to panic, they assess situations, recalibrate their approaches, and persist in moving forward despite adversity.

☑ Fostering Innovation

Innovation is the lifeblood of progressive organizations, and critical thinking serves as its catalyst. Proficient critical thinkers possess the ability to identify overlooked opportunities, propose inventive solutions, and streamline processes, thereby positioning their organizations at the forefront of innovation.

☑ Confidence Amplification

Critical thinkers exude confidence derived from honing their analytical skills. This self-assurance radiates during job interviews, presentations, and daily interactions, catching the attention of superiors and propelling career advancement.

So, how can one cultivate and harness this invaluable skill?

✅ developing curiosity and inquisitiveness:.

Embrace a curious mindset by questioning the status quo and exploring topics beyond your immediate scope. Cultivate an inquisitive approach to everyday situations. Encourage a habit of asking “why” and “how” to deepen understanding. Curiosity fuels the desire to seek information and alternative perspectives.

✅ Practice Reflection and Self-Awareness:

Engage in reflective thinking by assessing your thoughts, actions, and decisions. Regularly introspect to understand your biases, assumptions, and cognitive processes. Cultivate self-awareness to recognize personal prejudices or cognitive biases that might influence your thinking. This allows for a more objective analysis of situations.

✅ Strengthening Analytical Skills:

Practice breaking down complex problems into manageable components. Analyze each part systematically to understand the whole picture. Develop skills in data analysis, statistics, and logical reasoning. This includes understanding correlation versus causation, interpreting graphs, and evaluating statistical significance.

✅ Engaging in Active Listening and Observation:

Actively listen to diverse viewpoints without immediately forming judgments. Allow others to express their ideas fully before responding. Observe situations attentively, noticing details that others might overlook. This habit enhances your ability to analyze problems more comprehensively.

✅ Encouraging Intellectual Humility and Open-Mindedness:

Foster intellectual humility by acknowledging that you don’t know everything. Be open to learning from others, regardless of their position or expertise. Cultivate open-mindedness by actively seeking out perspectives different from your own. Engage in discussions with people holding diverse opinions to broaden your understanding.

✅ Practicing Problem-Solving and Decision-Making:

Engage in regular problem-solving exercises that challenge you to think creatively and analytically. This can include puzzles, riddles, or real-world scenarios. When making decisions, consciously evaluate available information, consider various alternatives, and anticipate potential outcomes before reaching a conclusion.

✅ Continuous Learning and Exposure to Varied Content:

Read extensively across diverse subjects and formats, exposing yourself to different viewpoints, cultures, and ways of thinking. Engage in courses, workshops, or seminars that stimulate critical thinking skills. Seek out opportunities for learning that challenge your existing beliefs.

✅ Engage in Constructive Disagreement and Debate:

Encourage healthy debates and discussions where differing opinions are respectfully debated.

This practice fosters the ability to defend your viewpoints logically while also being open to changing your perspective based on valid arguments. Embrace disagreement as an opportunity to learn rather than a conflict to win. Engaging in constructive debate sharpens your ability to evaluate and counter-arguments effectively.

✅ Utilize Problem-Based Learning and Real-World Applications:

Engage in problem-based learning activities that simulate real-world challenges. Work on projects or scenarios that require critical thinking skills to develop practical problem-solving approaches. Apply critical thinking in real-life situations whenever possible.

This could involve analyzing news articles, evaluating product reviews, or dissecting marketing strategies to understand their underlying rationale.

In conclusion, critical thinking is the linchpin of a successful career journey. It empowers individuals to navigate complexities, make informed decisions, and innovate in their respective domains. Embracing and honing this skill isn’t just an advantage; it’s a necessity in a world where adaptability and sound judgment reign supreme.

So, as you traverse your career path, remember that the ability to think critically is not just an asset but the differentiator that propels you toward excellence.

Sarah T. Brooks,  Madison Foundations   Coordinator

Madison Foundations is the cornerstone of General Education: The Human Community    at JMU, with course work requiring students to demonstrate:

• Critical thinking skills
• Effective oral presentation skills
• Effective writing skills
• Competency in information literacy

Students will be able to use reading, writing, human communication, critical thinking, and information literacy skills for inquiring, learning, thinking and communicating in their personal, academic and civic lives. Competence in these areas is fundamental to subsequent study in major and professional programs. Therefore, all students complete Madison Foundations requirements during their first academic year, including their first summer, at JMU. 

Madison Foundations Learning Outcomes

After completing Madison Foundations, students should be able to use reading, writing, human communication, critical thinking and information literacy skills for inquiring, learning, thinking and communicating in their personal, academic and civic lives.

Critical Thinking

After completing a Critical Thinking course students will be able to:

• Identify the basic components of arguments, including premises, supporting evidences, assumptions, conclusions and implications;
• Evaluate claims and sources for clarity, credibility, reliability, accuracy and relevance;
• Evaluate arguments for soundness, strength and completeness;
• Demonstrate an intellectual disposition to be fair-minded in considering evidence, arguments and alternative points of view. 

Human Communication

After completing a Human Communication   course students will be able to:

• Explain the fundamental processes that significantly influence communication.
• Construct messages consistent with the diversity of communication purpose, audience, context and ethics.
• Respond to messages consistent with the diversity of communication purpose, audience, context and ethics.
• Utilize information literacy skills expected of ethical communicators.

After completing a Writing course students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an awareness of rhetorical knowledge, which includes the ability to analyze and act on understandings of audiences, purposes and contexts in creating and comprehending texts.
• Employ critical thinking, which includes the ability through reading, research and writing, to analyze a situation or text and make thoughtful decisions based on that analysis.
• Employ writing processes, which include prewriting, drafting, engaging with feedback, and revising.
• Recognize the many characteristics of effective messages and how these may vary according to genres, situations, and audiences.
• Show flexibility in composition strategies by applying information literacy and other modern literacies.​

Information Literacy

Information Literacy is developed in all courses within Madison Foundations . Additionally, the Human Communication courses incorporate targeted learning modules with graded quizzes. After this broad, holistic curricular development of research skills and information literacy, students will be able to:

• Recognize the components of scholarly work and that scholarship can take many forms. 
• Demonstrate persistence and employ multiple strategies in research and discovery processes. 
• Identify gaps in their own knowledge and formulate appropriate questions for investigations in academic settings. 
• Evaluate the quality of information and acknowledge expertise. 
• Use information effectively in their own work and make contextually appropriate choices for sharing their scholarship. 
• Use information ethically and legally.

Madison Foundations Structure

Madison Foundations consists of nine credits distributed across four program requirements: Critical Thinking , Human Communication , Writing  and Information Literacy . These requirements are satisfied with the completion of three courses: one each specifically for Critical Thinking , Human Communication , and Writing . These three courses collectively satisfy the Information Literacy requirement as well.

Completion of all requirements in Madison Foundations is required of students in their first academic year at JMU, and the courses may be taken in any order. Madison Foundations courses are not repeatable without permission, which is given based on course availability. There are no overrides available in Madison Foundations  courses during the Fall and Spring semesters. Summer term is an additional opportunity to complete Madison Foundations coursework.

Completion of all courses in Madison Foundations is required of students in their first academic year at JMU.

Each of the courses satisfying the Critical Thinking requirement presents students with various techniques and approaches to critical thinking such as analyzing and evaluating information, arguments, premises and concepts. Critical thinking fosters inquiry and problem-solving abilities. Depending upon the course, the content focuses on the function of language, basic business principles, issues in recent history, mediated communication, informal logical reasoning or problem-solving in science and technology.

Choose one of the following:

• BUS 160. Business Decision Making in a Modern Society [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• EDUC 102. Critical Questions in Education [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• HIST 150. Critical Issues in Recent Global History [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• ISAT 160. Problem Solving Approaches in Science and Technology [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• PHIL 120. Critical Thinking [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• PHIL 150. Ethical Reasoning [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 150. Mediated Communication: Issues and Skills [C1CT] Credits: 3.00
• UNST 300. Integrative General Education [C1CT] Credits: 3.00

Additional Information

Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree may not use either PHIL 120    or PHIL 150    to fulfill the B.A. philosophy course requirement.

Students who have received credit for one Critical Thinking class are not eligible to receive credit for a second Critical Thinking class without permission.

Each of the courses satisfying the  Human Communication  requirement introduces students to the study of human communication as a process. Emphasis is on examining the role of self-concept, perception, culture, verbal and nonverbal dimensions in the communication process; applying critical listening skills; and developing skills in oral presentations. Depending upon the course, the content focuses on an overview of the principles and practices of interpersonal, small group and public communication, or constructing informative and persuasive speeches with an emphasis on individual public speaking contexts, or constructing informative and persuasive group presentations.

• SCOM 121. Fundamental Human Communication: Presentations [C1HC] Credits: 3.00
• SCOM 122. Fundamental Human Communication: Individual Presentations [C1HC] Credits: 3.00
• SCOM 123. Fundamental Human Communication: Group Presentations [C1HC] Credits: 3.00

Students who have received credit for one Human Communication  class are not eligible to receive credit for a second Human Communication  class.

The course that satisfies the  Writing  requirement provides students with the tools to study the role of the writer, the purpose of documents, and the contexts and audience expectations within which documents are produced. Writing is taught as a process involving invention, collaboration, research and revision. Students read, analyze and create texts in multiple genres using traditional and digital communication tools. Content areas may include public and professional discourse, culture, humanities, and technology.

Complete the following:

• WRTC 103. Rhetorical Reading and Writing [C1W] Credits: 3.00

Students may not repeat WRTC 103    for credit.