Intellectual Skills
Every year, the Geosciences Department assesses a series of general education courses within the geography program. The assessments are based on SLCC’s college-wide learning outcomes. Most of the college’s learning outcomes are in line with the DQP indicators: academic knowledge, effective communication, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, computer and information literacy, and civic engagement. The program assesses the quality of the curriculum using standardized rubrics created by the college’s assessment office, the Institutional Effectiveness Division, which are modified versions of the VALUE Rubrics created by AAC&U. Learning outcomes assessment is required for accreditation and thus the learning outcomes of the Geography program must align with the learning outcomes of Salt Lake Community College.
At the same time, the Geosciences department assesses key learning outcomes of the Geography program using similar rubrics created by the college. The goal of the program-level assessment is to analyze and determine the quality of the curriculum at this level. Most of these assessments are through program-level ePortfolio signature assignments. The advantage of this is that when students take the Geography Capstone course, they should already have a body of academic and experiential artifacts within their ePortfolio.
Of all the indicators of the DQP, Intellectual Skills is the strongest area of focus within the Geography program. This is because these yearly assessment reports, required by SLCC, focus mostly on the indicators listed above. The aim of assessment for the department is to continuously analyze whether the program is creating a learning environment that provides students the opportunity to acquire knowledge, critical thinking skills, and technological skill sets to be successful in today's global economy and society.
Through this annual assessment process, Geography faculty continuously update the program's ePortfolio signature assignments associated with each of the program’s courses to help close the loop on assessment. Most of the signature assignments are map-based and grounded by the course and program-level learning outcomes (which are provided by the Geography for Life and GTCM). Examples of assignments used by the Geography program can be viewed in the Broad Knowledge and Specialized Knowledge sections of this website.
At the same time, the Geosciences department assesses key learning outcomes of the Geography program using similar rubrics created by the college. The goal of the program-level assessment is to analyze and determine the quality of the curriculum at this level. Most of these assessments are through program-level ePortfolio signature assignments. The advantage of this is that when students take the Geography Capstone course, they should already have a body of academic and experiential artifacts within their ePortfolio.
Of all the indicators of the DQP, Intellectual Skills is the strongest area of focus within the Geography program. This is because these yearly assessment reports, required by SLCC, focus mostly on the indicators listed above. The aim of assessment for the department is to continuously analyze whether the program is creating a learning environment that provides students the opportunity to acquire knowledge, critical thinking skills, and technological skill sets to be successful in today's global economy and society.
Through this annual assessment process, Geography faculty continuously update the program's ePortfolio signature assignments associated with each of the program’s courses to help close the loop on assessment. Most of the signature assignments are map-based and grounded by the course and program-level learning outcomes (which are provided by the Geography for Life and GTCM). Examples of assignments used by the Geography program can be viewed in the Broad Knowledge and Specialized Knowledge sections of this website.
DQP Indicators for Intellectual Skills
At the associate's level, students pursuing a degree in Geography will:
- Identify a problem or question in selected area of Geography and distinguish among elements of ideas, concepts, theories, or practice approaches to the problem or question.
- Identify, categorize, evaluate and cite multiple information resources so as to create projects, papers, or presentations in Geography.
- Describe how knowledge from different cultural perspectives might affect the interpretation of prominent problems in politics, society, global relations, or science.
- Describe, explain, and evaluate the sources of his/her own perspective on selected issues in culture, society, politics, global relations, or science and compares that perspective with other viewpoints.
- Describes the ethical issues present in prominent problems in politics, economics, culture, ethnicity, environmental, or geospatial technology and shows how ethical principles or framework help to inform decision making with respect to such problems.
- Present accurate interpretations of quantitative information on political, economic, cultural, ethnic, environmental, or technological topics and explains how both calculations and symbolic operations are used in those offerings.
- Create and explain graphs, charts, maps, or other visual depictions of trends, relationships, or changes in status.
- Develop and present cogent, coherent, and substantially error-free writing for communication to general and specialized audiences.
- Demonstrate effective interactive communication through discussion, i.e., by listening actively and responding constructively and through structured oral presentations to general and specialized audiences.
- Negotiate with peers an action plan for a practical task and communicates the results of the negotiation either orally or in writing.
- Differentiate and evaluate theories and approaches to selected complex problems within Geography and at least other field of study.
- Locate, evaluate incorporate, and properly cite multiple information resources in different media in projects, papers, or presentations.
- Construct a written report, geospatial project, presentation, or community service design expressing an alternate cultural, political, environmental, or geospatial technical vision and explains how this vision differs from current realities.
- Frame a controversy or problem within Geography in terms of at least two political, cultural, historical, environmental, or geospatial technological forces, explores and evaluates competing perspectives on the controversy or problem, and presents a reasoned analysis of the issue, either orally, written, or a geospatial project, that demonstrates consideration of the competing viewpoints.
- Analyze competing claims from a recent discovery, scientific contention, or technical practice with respect to benefits and harms to those affected, articulates the ethical dilemmas inherent in the tension, and either (a) arrives at a clearly expressed reconciliation of that tension that is informed by ethical principles or (b) explains why such a reconciliation cannot be accomplished.
- Identify and elaborate key issues present in at least one prominent social, cultural, or environmental problem, articulates the ways in which at least two different ethical perspectives influence decisions making concerning those problems, and develops and defends an approach to address the ethical issues productively.
- Translate verbal problems into mathematical algorithms so as to construct valid arguments using the accepted symbolic system of mathematical reasoning and presents the resulting calculations, estimates, risk analyses, or quantitative evaluations of public information in papers, projects, or multimedia presentations.
- Constructs mathematical expressions where appropriate for issues initially described in non-quantitative terms.
- Construct sustained, coherent arguments, narratives or explications of issues, problems or technical issues and processes, in writing and at least one other medium, to general and specific audiences.
- Negotiates with one or more collaborators to advance an oral argument or articulate an approach to resolving a social, environmental, personal, or ethical dilemma.
- Disaggregate, reformulate, and adapt principle ideas, techniques, or methods at the forefront of Geography.
- Provide evidence (through papers, projects, computer files or databases) of contributing to, expanding, evaluating, or refining the information base within Geography.
- Investigate through a project, paper, or presentation a core issue in Geography from the perspective of a different point of time or a different culture, language, political order, environmental, or technological context and explains how tis perspective yields results that depart from current norms, dominant cultural assumptions, or geospatial technologies.
- Articulate and challenge tradition, assumptions, or prevailing practices within Geography by raising and examining relevant ethical perspectives through a project, paper, or presentation.
- Distinguish human activities and judgements particularly subject to ethical reasoning from those less subject to ethical reasoning.
- Uses logic, mathematical or statistical methods appropriate to addressing a topic or issue in a primary field that is not for the most part quantitatively based.
- Articulates and undertakes multiple appropriate applications of quantitative methods and defends the choice of a mathematical model appropriate to a problem in the social sciences, physical sciences, or applied sciences.
- Create sustained, coherent arguments or explanations summarizing his/her work or that of collaborators in two or more media for both general and specialized audiences.
The bulleted indicators listed above for each level of academic pursuit are just slightly modified from the DQP by the Geography program to align better with the discipline. There is no direct intent on the program determining what should or should not be taught at the 4-year institutions. The goal is to start a conversation within the State of Utah and nationally on what all three levels should look like.
Associate-Level Assessment Rubrics
The goal of this section will be to provide grading rubrics for various indicators and skill sets based. Most of the rubrics will be grounded in the VALUE Rubrics created by AAC&U, but will also focus on aligning with national learning outcomes and competencies focused around geography and other spatial sciences.
Critical Thinking (example rubric)
Quantitative Literacy (example rubric) Civic Engagement (example rubric coming...) Spatial Literacy (example rubric coming...) |
Oral/Verbal Communication (example rubric)
Written Communication (example rubric) Scientific Method (example rubric coming...) Computer Literacy (example rubric coming...) |
Program Showcase
With student permission, the Geography program plans to showcase student artifacts demonstrating how students have acquired broad, integrative knowledge while going through the program.