Learning Outcomes for General Education

Each area of the General Education curriculum has specific learning outcomes. As students progress through the curriculum, they will be asked to demonstrate mastery of these skill and knowledge areas. Identifying the learning outcome of a particular curricular area, helps students understand what they are expected to learn and why. The learning outcomes for each area of John Jay’s general education program are identified below. 

PART I. REQUIRED CORE

A. English Composition

  • Read and listen critically and analytically, including identifying an argument’s major assumptions and assertions and evaluating its supporting evidence.
  • Write clearly and coherently in varied, academic formats (such as formal essays, research papers, and reports) using standard English and appropriate technology to critique and improve one’s own and others’ texts.
  • Demonstrate research skills using appropriate technology, including gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources.
  • Support a thesis with well-reasoned arguments, and communicate persuasively across a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and media.
  • Formulate original ideas and relate them to the ideas of others by employing the conventions of ethical attribution and citation.

B. Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning

  • Interpret and draw appropriate inferences from quantitative representations, such as formulas, graphs, or tables.
  • Use algebraic, numerical, graphical, or statistical methods to draw accurate conclusions and solve mathematical problems.
  • Represent quantitative problems expressed in natural language in a suitable mathematical format.
  • Effectively communicate quantitative analysis or solutions to mathematical problems in written or oral form.
  • Evaluate solutions to problems for reasonableness using a variety of means, including informed estimation.
  • Apply mathematical methods to problems in other fields of study.

C. Life and Physical Sciences

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a life or physical science.
  • Apply the scientific method to explore natural phenomena, including hypothesis development, observation, experimentation, measurement, data analysis, and data presentation.
  • Use the tools of a scientific discipline to carry out collaborative laboratory investigations.
  • Gather, analyze, and interpret data and present it in an effective written laboratory or fieldwork report.
  • Identify and apply research ethics and unbiased assessment in gathering and reporting scientific data.

II. FLEXIBLE CORE

All flexible core courses must include the following three learning outcomes and at least three others from the list in the category in which the course resides.

  • Gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view. 
  • Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically. 
  • Produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.

A. World Cultures and Global Issues

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring world cultures or global issues, including, but not limited to, anthropology, communications, cultural studies, economics, ethnic studies, foreign languages (building upon previous language acquisition), geography, history, political science, sociology, and world literature.
  • Analyze culture, globalization, or global cultural diversity, and describe an event or process from more than one point of view.
  • Analyze the historical development of one or more non-U.S. societies.
  • Analyze the significance of one or more major movements that have shaped the world’s societies.
  • Analyze and discuss the role that race, ethnicity, class, gender, language, sexual orientation, belief, or other forms of social differentiation play in world cultures or societies.
  • Speak, read, and write a language other than English, and use that language to respond to cultures other than one’s own.

B. US Experience in its Diversity

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the U.S. experience in its diversity, including, but not limited to, anthropology, communications, cultural studies, economics, history, political science, psychology, public affairs, sociology, and U.S. literature.
  • Analyze and explain one or more major themes of U.S. history from more than one informed perspective.
  • Evaluate how indigenous populations, slavery, or immigration have shaped the development of the United States.
  • Explain and evaluate the role of the United States in international relations.
  • Identify and differentiate among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government and analyze their influence on the development of U.S. democracy.
  • Analyze and discuss common institutions or patterns of life in contemporary U.S. society and how they influence, or are influenced by, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, belief, or other forms of social differentiation.

C. Creative Expression

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring creative expression, including, but not limited to, arts, communications, creative writing, media arts, music, and theater.
  • Analyze how arts from diverse cultures of the past serve as a foundation for those of the present, and describe the significance of works of art in the societies that created them.
  • Articulate how meaning is created in the arts or communications and how experience is interpreted and conveyed.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the skills involved in the creative process.
  • Use appropriate technologies to conduct research and to communicate.

D. Individual and Society

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the relationship between the individual and society, including, but not limited to, anthropology, communications, cultural studies, history, journalism, philosophy, political science, psychology, public affairs, religion, and sociology.
  • Examine how an individual’s place in society affects experiences, values, or choices.
  • Articulate and assess ethical views and their underlying premises.
  • Articulate ethical uses of data and other information resources to respond to problems and questions.
  • Identify and engage with local, national, or global trends or ideologies, and analyze their impact on individual or collective decision-making.

E. Scientific World

  • Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the scientific world, including, but not limited to: computer science, history of science, life and physical sciences, linguistics, logic, mathematics, psychology, statistics, and technology-related studies.
  • Demonstrate how tools of science, mathematics, technology, or formal analysis can be used to analyze problems and develop solutions.
  • Articulate and evaluate the empirical evidence supporting a scientific or formal theory.
  • Articulate and evaluate the impact of technologies and scientific discoveries on the contemporary world, such as issues of personal privacy, security, or ethical responsibilities.
  • Understand the scientific principles underlying matters of policy or public concern in which science plays a role.

III. JOHN JAY COLLEGE OPTION

A. Justice and the Individual 

1. Justice and the Individual (100-level)

  • Identify issues of justice and analyze them using evidence.
  • Identify, apply, and reflect on effective collaboration strategies with people of diverse views and backgrounds.
  • Employ effective planning strategies and utilize campus resources  in order to achieve academic and personal goals.
     

2. Justice and the Individual (200 level)

  • Analyze issues of justice using methodologies appropriate to course subject matter/discipline.
  • Understand one’s own role in the creation of knowledge as it relates to academic and professional goals.
  • Develop active collaborative relationships with people of diverse backgrounds to accomplish shared course-related goals.
  • Develop understanding of opportunities, resources, and services available in the campus community.

 

B. The Struggle for Justice and Equality in the U.S. and Global Perspective (300-level)

  • Contextualize and analyze struggles for justice.
  • Discover, gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources, intellectual perspectives, and approaches.
  • Analyze and explain a text or work using methods appropriate for the genre, medium, and/or discipline.
  • Organize and synthesize information and ideas into a coherently structured, thesis‐driven, evidence‐based argument in oral and written form.

C. Learning from the Past

  • Demonstrate knowledge of formative events, ideas or works in the arts, humanities, mathematics, natural sciences or social sciences.
  • Analyze the significance of major developments in U.S. and World History.
  • Differentiate multiple perspectives on the same subject.

D. Communications

  • Express oneself clearly in one or more forms of communication, such as written, oral, visual, or aesthetic.
  • Maintain self-awareness and critical distance.
  • Work collaboratively.
  • Listen, observe, analyze, and adapt messages in a variety of situations, cultural contexts, and target audiences in a diverse society.