Academic Foundations Requirements
The baccalaureate degree includes three distinct and required areas of study: Academic Foundations, concentration (major), and electives.
Academic Foundations (previously referred to as general education) provides for breadth of study across many areas of knowledge. All students are required to complete the Academic Foundations program as an essential component of the baccalaureate degree.
An area of concentration provides for depth of study within a chosen discipline (major). Students choose their major, but the specialized, in-depth courses they take are determined by the department which is responsible for the major.
Electives guarantee that students have the opportunity to study areas of personal interest in their own academic pursuits. Students are allowed to choose courses (electives) from any discipline that interests them.
The Purpose of Academic Foundations
Objectives
The objectives of Academic Foundations are to help students develop and demonstrate an understanding of humanity and what it means to be members of the global community. Students completing Academic Foundations will reflect upon the evolution of culture, and learn to identify and value responsible roles for the human being in the physical, social, and intellectual worlds.
Structure
Academic Foundations is structured to fulfill the objectives by addressing essential components of human development: (1) Skills Development and Application, (2) Cultural Development, and (3) Intellectual Growth and Development. Specific courses applicable to Academic Foundation are arranged in categories and selected to ensure that students completing Academic Foundation are intellectually engaged in each of these areas of human development.
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Skills Development and Application ensures that students will develop effective writing, mathematical, reading and oral communication skills.
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Cultural Development ensures that students will develop an understanding of the evolution of human culture and social organizations, and an appreciation of cultural diversity.
- Intellectual Growth and Development ensures that students will pursue knowledge, integrate knowledge among disciplines, apply knowledge to the identification and solving of problems, understand the importance of personal and societal ethics, and reflect on and appreciate the diversity of human endeavors.
In addition, the structure incorporates Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking. Bloom characterizes thinking as increasing in complexity as one progresses. Students must progress beyond the ability to recall factual information and learn to interpret, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge. The structure is illustrated below:
Evaluation
Judgement: the ability to make decisions and support views; requires understanding of values
Synthesis
Combining information to form a unique product; requires creativity and originality
Analysis
Identification of component parts; determination of arrangement, logic, semantics
Application
Use of information to solve problems; transfer of abstract or theoretical ideas into practical solutions
Interpretation
Identification of connections and relationships
Translation
Restatement in one’s own words; paraphrase; summarize
Recall
Verbatim information; memorization with no evidence of understanding |
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Again, specific courses applicable to Academic Foundations must utilize this system as a method of ensuring intellectual rigor and meaning. The structure is inextricably linked to outcomes and assessment methods and forms the basis for the Outcomes Assessment Framework. |
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