General Education Learning Outcomes (GELOs)

(GELOs Approved by LO&A Committee on November 19, 2015 and will be revised in Fall 2022)

One of the largest and oldest programs at Glendale College is the general education (GE) program.  Like the other programs, the GE program is assessed via learning outcomes called GELOs.  The GE program is distinctively unique, characteristically interdisciplinary, and a constant and integral component of an associate’s degree. The following document shows how GELOs map to ILOs.

GE courses:

• reflects the conviction of colleges that those who receive their degrees must possess in common certain basic principles, concepts and methodologies both unique to and shared by the various disciplines.
• intends that college educated persons should be able to use this knowledge when evaluating and appreciating the physical environment, the culture, and the society in which they live.
• should lead to better self-understanding.

The following 4 areas, along with their GELOs, lead students to obtain a degree from Glendale College.

Area A:  Natural Science (3 units)

Courses included in this area examine the physical universe, its life forms, and its natural phenomena.  Courses must include content, assignments, and methods of instruction and evaluation in which students apply experimental methodology, the testing of hypotheses, and systematic questioning to theoretical, laboratory, and field scenarios.   In doing so, students develop an understanding the basic concepts in the physical and biological sciences while developing an appreciation of the scientific method.

Students will be able to:

• examine causality or associations between or among variables of the natural world;
• apply reasoning to evaluate hypotheses and theories;
• analyze, interpret, and present research evidence.

Area B:  Social Sciences (3 units)

Courses approved for this area must analyze human behavior in relation to human social, political and economic institutions. Courses appropriate to this area include those in social science disciplines which develop in their students an understanding of cultural and social organizations in multiple paradigms including those of different ethnic or cultural groups. Coursework provides students the opportunity to apply methodologies used by social scientists, historians, and philosophers to theoretical examples and real-world issues and problems. Courses also include discussion of topics and methodologies within the context of their historical, contemporary, and geographical settings

Students will be able to:

• list examples of cultural and social organizations;
• recall, analyze, and synthesize theories and real-world issues and topics related to social, political, and/or economic institutions;
• apply methodologies used by social and behavioral scientists.

Area C: Humanities (6 units)

Interdisciplinary Humanities (3 units)

Courses included in this category require students to analyze and appreciate works of philosophical, historical, literary, aesthetic, and cultural importance within a diverse context focusing on both Western and non-Western cultures at various points in history.  Courses approved for this area should address the cultural and artistic expression of human beings. Courses emphasize both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches drawing on theories, interpretations, and issues from a variety of academic fields including but not limited to those in the humanities, visual arts, and social sciences.  Coursework emphasizes students’ responses to humanistic works through expository, analytical and research essays and other assignments designed to evidence students’ growing understanding of harmonies between and discords among disciplines methodologies, ideologies, and topics of interest. In doing so, students make informed judgements regarding artistic and cultural creation.

Courses approved for this area must deal with the cultural and artistic expression of human beings.  The courses will ensure opportunities for students to develop an awareness of the ways in which people throughout the ages and in different cultures have responded to themselves and the world around them in artistic and cultural creation and help students develop aesthetic understanding and an ability to make judgments.

Students will be able to:

• analyze and synthesize diverse works of writing, art, music, and other cultural forms;
• describe relationships between and discords among disciplinary methodologies;
• critique artistic and cultural creations.

Arts, Foreign Language, Literature, and Philosophy (3 units)

Courses included in this category require students to analyze and appreciate works of philosophical, historical, literary, aesthetic, and cultural importance within a diverse context focusing on both Western and non-Western cultures.  In doing so, students evaluate artistic and cultural creation.  Performance and studio arts courses are included in this area if they focus on the integration of history, theory, and criticism relevant to the field.  Philosophy courses including logic courses which include the role of logic in humanities disciplines may be included here or in Area D.2 below.  For foreign language courses, the coursework should focus on the written and oral language as well as the history, culture, and other attributes of the country(ies) associated with the language.  For conversational courses, there must be a prerequisite course equivalent to the third year of high school study or one year of college level language.

Students will be able to:

• analyze and synthesize diverse works of writing, art, music, and other cultural forms;
• describe the history of a field of study;
• apply examples of theories and criticism associated with a field of study. 

Area D:  Language and Rationality (6 units)

English Composition

This general education area is fulfilled by a student’s completion of English 101.  The course includes substantial instruction and practice in expository, analytical, and research essay writing at the college level with a minimum of 6,000 words being written.  The course also requires a substantial amount of reading of significant literature. Through their reading and discussion of selected prose works, students learn to identify problems, examine possible solutions, recognize unstated assumptions and values, appraise evidence, evaluate arguments, draw inferences, and test conclusions. Through their writing, students learn to analyze, synthesize, organize information logically, and propose original ideas.