General Education Course List
General education provides a broad, foundational education and is often referred to as core curricula. The THECB requirements for general education/core curricula are designed to provide students with 21st century knowledge and skills, and are modeled after the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The General Education program is structured so that all degrees require a core of courses with each of the following areas represented: Communication; Mathematics; Life and Physical Sciences; Language, Philosophy and Culture; Creative Arts; American History; Government/Political Science; Social and Behavioral Science; and an Institutional requirement. The courses required for the AA, AS, and AAS degrees constitute the core curriculum as required by the State of Texas.
General Education Competencies
AC’s annual reflection process determines whether AC students and graduates, as an aggregate group, have achieved the general education competencies. This reflection process is guided by THECB regulations, SACSCOC principles and the recommendations from the AC Assessment Committee. By enrolling at Amarillo College, students have agreed to participate in the assessment process.
Critical Thinking Skills - to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information
Communication Skills - to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication
Empirical and Quantitative Skills - to include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions
Teamwork - to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
Social Responsibility - to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national and global communities
Personal Responsibility - to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making
AA/AS GENERAL EDUCATION CORE
| |
Hours |
|
COMMUNICATION
ENGL 1301: Composition I
ENGL 1302: Composition II
OR
ENGL 2311: Technical & Business Writing
|
6 |
|
MATHEMATICS
|
3 |
|
LIFE & PHYSICAL SCIENCES
|
6 |
|
LANGUAGE, PHILOSOPHY & CULTURE
|
3 |
|
CREATIVE ARTS
|
3 |
|
HISTORY
HIST 1301: United States History I
HIST 1302: United States History II
|
6 |
|
GOVERNMENT
GOVT 2305: United States Government
GOVT 2306: Texas Government
|
6 |
|
SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
|
3 |
|
INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT
Speech - 3 Hours
Science Labs - 2 Hours
EDUC/PSYC 1100 - 1 Hour*
|
6 |
| |
42 |
|
* If EDUC/PSYC 1100 is not required, then student must choose a course from the approved General Education Course List.
|
|
AAS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
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Hours |
|
COMMUNICATION
ENGL 1301: Composition I
|
3 |
|
SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
|
3 |
|
LIFE & PHYSICAL SCIENCES*
Or
MATHEMATICS*
|
3 |
|
LANGUAGE, PHILOSOPHY & CULTURE*
Or
CREATIVE ARTS*
|
3 |
|
INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT
Speech
|
3 |
| |
15 |
|
*As specified in individual curricula or selected from the General Education Course List.
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The General Education requirements for the AA and AS degrees as displayed in the preceding charts make up the “Core Curriculum” as required by the State of Texas. Amarillo College’s 42 credit hour core, as a whole or any individual component area, will transfer to any public Texas state college or university and will satisfy 42 credit hours of that institution’s core curriculum requirement.
Assessment
Amarillo College uses the AC mission and AC Principles of Assessment to guide the institution’s assessment methodology.
AC Mission: “Enriching the lives of our students and our community by helping learners identify and achieve their educational goals”.
AC’s mission of enriching lives necessitates the assessment of student achievement and other services. Therefore, an Assessment Committee comprised of faculty and staff annually guides and evaluates the assessment efforts at AC in an effort to continually improve AC’s educational, cultural and community services.
Further, outcomes assessment focuses on evaluating and improving the institution and is not used to evaluate individual faculty or individual staff successes and failures. Data collected from these assessment activities is also analyzed at the aggregate level - not at the individual student level. Whenever possible, the methodologies for assessing outcomes are pulled from authentic assessments of students’ work. Submissions used for assessment come from existing assignments instead of ones specially created for outcomes assessment.
The assessment process itself is also evaluated annually and is supported by AC’s strategic plan and AC’s President’s Cabinet.