General Education Requirements
The Maryland Higher Education Commission stipulates that in order to receive associate degrees, students must fulfill not only the requirements of their specific program of study but also those of a general education.
Specific General Education requirements vary with the type of program and associate degree. Meet with an academic advisor or program coordinator to select the appropriate General Education sequence.
CCBC Definition of General Education:
The General Education program at The Community College of Baltimore County is a coherent program of study that provides the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and perspectives that enable students to achieve their academic, career, and life goals. As a learning-centered institution, CCBC offers a General Education program designed to provide students with the basic skills, core content, and distribution content essential to pursue study in academic disciplines. In addition, CCBC’s General Education program will assist students to grow and respond to new worklife situations, to manage their own learning and to encourage learning in others, and to expand their understanding of and ability to function within the diversity of the contemporary world.
CCBC General Education Program Goals:
- Introduce students to the fundamental principles, concepts, vocabulary, and methods essential for the acquisition of knowledge and skills basic to the field of study.
- Prepare students to communicate effectively using written and oral or signed communication skills.
- Provide a variety of learning experiences that encourage students, independently and in collaboration with others, to use those fundamental principles and methods to acquire, analyze, and use information for purposes of inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, and creative expression in a diverse environment.
- Prepare students to adapt to change, including the increasing integration of information technology, in all fields of knowledge and expression.
- Provide students with the knowledge and skills to understand themselves and others from various cultural, social, aesthetic, political, and environmental perspectives.
- Provide the experience that will allow students to become independent learners, the skills to analyze their strengths and weaknesses as learners, and the knowledge to accomplish the tasks involved in learning.
- Use appropriate assessment tool(s) to demonstrate the degree to which students have achieved the objectives of the course.
General Education Course Requirements:
Degrees:
PLEASE NOTE: For AA and AS degrees in the Biological and Physical Sciences category, students must take 7-8 credits. The courses must come from two different disciplines or be two sequential courses (these courses are labeled I and II in their titles) from one discipline. One of the courses must be a lab.
A special exemption would be made for students who have taken BIOL 220 and BIOL 221 as program prerequisites and then change their major. In this case, these students would continue to substitute the combination of BIOL 220 and BIOL 221 as the general education equivalent to BIOL 109 , giving them one, 4-credit General Education Science course. The other General Education Science class should be BIOL 110 . Because anatomy and physiology builds upon concepts learned in General Biology, these courses can serve as a “sequence” for general education purposes.
General Education Courses
CCBC Core Competencies
CCBC has identified four core competencies (Communication, Problem Solving, Global Perspective and Social Responsibility; and Independent Learning and Personal Management) that will help students develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors to be successful as intentional learners; to be productive as workers; and to be thoughtful, engaged citizens. These core competencies will be evidenced throughout students’ learning experiences at CCBC. All courses outside the General Education curriculum, using specific course content as the vehicle, will include activities that encourage the development of one or more of the indicated abilities associated with the core competencies. A variety of assessment tools can be used to gather evidence of student achievement in the learning activities where students will be developing these competencies.
1. Communication
Definition: ability to use reading, writing, oral, or signed communication skills to organize, express, and absorb ideas and information in interpersonal, group, organizational, and presentational settings
Students will be able to:
- Read, retain, restate, and apply ideas for a variety of purposes, to include: informing, persuading, enjoying, and appreciating.
- Write clearly, concisely, and accurately in a variety of contexts and formats.
- Speak clearly, concisely, and accurately in a variety of contexts and formats.
- Demonstrate active listening skills.
2. Problem Solving
Definition: ability to think critically and to solve problems using data, analysis, interpretation, and reasoning skills
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate observation skills.
- Identify a problem to be solved, a task to be performed, or a decision to be made.
- Determine the nature and extent of needed information.
- Access information effectively and efficiently.
- Evaluate information sources and content.
- Make connections and draw inferences.
- Identify criteria appropriate for evaluation of a process, solution, or decision.
- Formulate alternative processes, solutions, or decisions and potential consequences.
- Select an appropriate process, solution, or decision.
3. Global Perspective and Social Responsibility
Definition: ability to understand and interpret events and issues within a global perspective; ability to demonstrate ethical and cultural awareness and to foster an appreciation of diversity through appropriate and effective modes of social interaction
Students will be able to:
- Express an understanding of the interconnections and interactions between and among people and systems (political, economic, social, and natural) and of the necessity of balancing human needs with the limitations of world resources.
- Gain knowledge of and experience with people in their own and other cultures, past and present, and how they live, think, communicate, and view the world.
- Describe the impact of the global economy on life, work, and opportunities.
- Recognize the commonality of human experience across culture.
- Recognize the influence of diverse cultural perspectives on human thought and behavior.
- Define personal responsibility in a given circumstance.
- Demonstrate respect for the rights, views, and work of others.
- Recognize their responsibility to personal, social, professional, educational, and natural environments and make informed decisions based on that responsibility.
- Display behavior consistent with the ethical standards within a discipline or profession.
4. Independent Learning and Personal Management
Definition: ability to set individual goals and devise strategies for educational, personal, and professional development in a changing world
Students will be able to:
- Appreciate the value and importance of inquiry and the learning process in the classroom and their personal and professional lives.
- Set goals and devise strategies for educational, personal, and professional development in a changing world, consistent with their abilities and circumstances.
- Utilize computers and related technology to increase task efficiency.
- Recognize their own self-worth, strengths, weaknesses, and potential for growth.
- Recognize their own biases and values.
- Demonstrate the ability to give and receive constructive feedback.
- Behave appropriately in a variety of situations, circumstances, and roles.
Recognize conflict and use conflict resolution skills when appropriate. |