Tips for incorporating the academic competencies in your major(s) and for
completing the review process:
1) Your department might already be offering students many of the learning experiences
that address the learning objectives of the academic competencies, so start by conducting
a content analysis of the courses in your department. Below is a table with all the learning
objectives that you can utilize for the course review process.
2) Some departments will spread training in the competency areas across the major
curriculum, whereby students will accomplish the learning objectives of one or more
areas of competency after completing a series of courses. Other departments will utilize
an advanced seminar or capstone-type course to assure that their students achieve the
learning objectives. Each department will need to determine what works best in their
major(s). If you elect to use a capstone model, it is fine to change the content of the
course as it is taught by different instructors and/or during different semesters. However,
the "architecture" of the course must remain constant such that the learning objectives
continue to be addressed no matter who is teaching the course or when it is taught.
3) At the heart of the advanced writing learning objectives is the notion of feedback on
writing and multiple writing experiences, not the number of pages students write in any
one assignment. So long as a department can demonstrate that students are getting
feedback on writing and then have opportunities for revision or additional writing
assignments either in the same course or across a series of courses, the students will
experience the advanced writing learning objectives.
4) When you submit your syllabi as part of the supplemental material packet, please be
sure that they reflect your plans for your major. For example, if you identify a set of
courses for the oral discourse requirement, the syllabi you submit must have an oral
discourse assignment in them. For existing courses, departments needn’t just include
syllabi from courses already taught, as they were taught last time students took them, but
departments can draft the syllabi as proposals for how the courses will be taught in the
future.
5) We recommend that you complete the form for the Critical Thinking academic
competency last. Once you address the other competency areas you are likely to find that
there are multiple courses in your major(s) in which your students already learn to think
critically.
Learning Objectives Table
Oral Discourse
1. communicate ideas effectively
appropriate to a specific context and
according to a specific set of criteria
2. establish and maintain an appropriate
performer/audience relationship in a
given oral exercise, and actively engage
with listeners/audience
3. respond to, and where appropriate,
incorporate listener’s comments and
questions
4. evaluate, orally or in writing, an oral
performance
5. regularly practice communication skills
through questions, discussions, debates
and/or presentations (both formal and
informal)
Information Literacy
1. understand the information
environment and information needs in
the discipline in today’s society,
including the organization of and
access to information, and select the
most appropriate strategies, search
tools, and resources for each unique
information need
2. demonstrate the ability to evaluate
content, including dynamic, online
content if appropriate
3. conduct ethical practices in the use of
information, in ways that demonstrate
awareness of issues of intellectual
property and personal privacy in
changing technology environments
4. produce, share, and evaluate
information in a variety of
participatory environments
5. integrate learning and research
strategies with lifelong learning
processes and personal, academic, and
professional goals
In what course(s) and how
Critical Thinking
1. formulate complex questions, problems,
and hypotheses clearly and precisely,
and apply familiar and new concepts in
developing solutions and conclusions
2. 2.gather and assess relevant
information/data
3. test hypotheses against relevant criteria
and standards, accounting for the facts
4. develop well-reasoned arguments and
communicate them effectively to others
5. demonstrate habits of reflection upon
their own and others’ thinking—
identifying, analyzing, and evaluating
their own and others’ arguments; and
challenging conclusions with
alternative explanations or points of
view
Advanced Writing in the Major
1. demonstrate increasingly sophisticated
writing according to the conventions of
their academic discipline
2. be able to communicate clearly in
writing, employing fundamental rules
of usage, style, and mechanics in the
context of their discipline
3. be able to evaluate critically a variety of
appropriate written texts, including
their own
4. demonstrate the ability to incorporate
critical feedback on their writing,
coming to understand that revision and
rewriting are an integral part of the
writing process