Fundamental Skills of an Educated Person (A1-3, B4)

Fundamental Skills courses develop students’ communication and analytical skills. An educated person can communicate ideas effectively verbally and in writing. An educated person must also have strong reasoning powers in order to analyze all types of information. Per CSU policy, each Fundamental Skills course must be passed with a grade of C- or better to fulfill graduation requirements.

Learning Outcomes

Oral Communication (A1) 

Oral Communication courses cultivate an understanding of the social, psychological, political and practical significance of communication, with special emphasis on the roles of public communication in a free society. Area A1 courses emphasize the content as well as the form of communication and focus on the communicative process from a rhetorical perspective. By researching, developing, and delivering, at minimum, three distinct extemporaneous oral presentations, students will develop their own sense of voice, speaking with confidence in ways that reflect their unique perspective and identities while respecting the freedom of expression of all members of the community.

Upon successful completion of an Area A1 course, students should be able to:

1. Identify and critically evaluate socially significant topics, then compose and deliver oral extemporaneous presentations on these topics;
2. Engage in critical and analytical listening;
3. Analyze audiences and adapt oral presentations to accomplish the purpose of the speech; 
4. Create a clear central message that demonstrates an understanding of socially significant issues; and
5. Demonstrate the ethical responsibilities of a public speaker, by addressing the economic, legal, and social aspects of topics and by locating and evaluating sources and integrating research through appropriate citation.

Written Communication I (A2)

Written Communication I courses cultivate an understanding of the writing process and the goals, dynamics, and genres of written communication, with special attention to the nature of writing at the university. Students will develop college-level reading abilities, rhetorical sophistication, and writing styles that give form and coherence to complex ideas and feelings.

Upon successful completion of an Area A2 course, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the content, context, effectiveness, and forms of written communication;
2. Perform essential steps in the writing process (prewriting, organizing, composing, revising, and editing);
3. Articulate an awareness of and write according to the rhetorical features of texts, such as purpose, audience, context, and rhetorical appeals;
4. Integrate their ideas and those of others by synthesizing, explaining, analyzing, developing, and criticizing ideas effectively in several genres; and
5. Demonstrate college–‐level language use, clarity, and grammatical abilities in writing.

Critical Thinking and Writing (A3)

Critical Thinking and Writing courses develop students’ understanding of the relationship of language to logic. By engaging students in complex issues requiring critical thinking and effective argumentation, A3 courses develop students’ abilities to research and analyze important topics and to construct their own arguments on issues that generate meaningful public debate and deliberation. Courses include explicit instruction and practice in inductive and deductive reasoning as well as identification of formal and informal fallacies of language and thought. Students will develop their abilities to distinguish fact from judgment and belief from knowledge; to articulate elementary inductive and deductive processes; and to recognize common logical errors or fallacies of language and thought. Students will develop the ability to analyze, criticize, and advocate complex ideas; reason inductively and deductively; research and rebut information and arguments; and reach well-supported factual conclusions and judgments.

Upon successful completion of an Area A3 course, students should be able to:

1. Locate, interpret, evaluate and synthesize evidence in a comprehensive way, including through library research; and integrate research findings into oral and written arguments through appropriate citation and quotation;
2. Use a range of rhetorical and logical strategies to articulate and explain their positions on complex issues in dialogue with other points of view;
3. Identify and critically evaluate the assumptions in and the contexts of argument; and
4. Use inductive and deductive logic to construct valid, evidence-supported arguments and draw valid conclusions.

Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning (B4)

Area B4 courses develop students’ abilities to reason quantitatively, practice computational skills, and explain and apply mathematical and/or quantitative reasoning concepts to solve problems at the college level.

Upon successful completion of an Area B4 course, students should be able to:

1. Use mathematical methods to solve quantitative problems, including those presented in verbal form;
2. Interpret and communicate quantitative information using language appropriate to the context and intended audience;
3. Reason, model, draw conclusions, and make decisions based on numerical and graphical data; and
4. Apply mathematical or quantitative reasoning concepts to solve real life problems.