Excerpt of the GE Policy relevant to Upper Division in Arts or Humanities (C-UD)

For the complete GE policy, please visit the Academic Senate website

STRUCTURE OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

​2.4       The final stage of the GE Program encompasses nine upper-division GE units. All students, including transfer students who have completed a certified lower-division GE Program, must complete nine units of Upper-Division GE Courses in Areas B, C, and D (one three-unit course in each Area). Upper-division GE Courses should be restricted to students who have completed 60 semester units or more. This protects the integrity of the increasing complexity of degree requirements, and it conserves upper- division courses for the graduating seniors whose degree completion could be slowed without access to required upper-division GE Courses. At the same time, the CSU is committed to providing the courses students need, when they need them. In exceptional cases only, a student may enroll in upper division GE courses after they have attained sophomore standing, completed the entire Foundation (aka the Golden Four: oral communication, written communication, critical thinking and mathematics/quantitative reasoning), and completed at least one GE Course from the Explorations stage.

UPPER DIVISION REQUIREMENTS

3.3          All Upper-Division GE Courses must require students to demonstrate advanced college skills and knowledge such as synthesis and application of knowledge, analysis, critique, and research. While Upper-Division GE Courses will only be classified as category B, C, or D, it is understood that at the upper-division level, such courses might involve the integration of these skills in a student’s major.  Project-based, interdisciplinary, and service learning courses are some examples where the emphasis on these skills will contribute to student success. Upper-Division GE Courses are intended to help students integrate knowledge and skills developed earlier in the GE Program, working at a more advanced level than Foundation and Explorations courses. For a list of prerequisites for upper division GE classes, please see section 2.4.

3.3.1      Courses requesting certification at the upper-division level must meet the general criteria for GE Courses articulated in Section 3.1, the content criteria of at least one of the Subareas, and the general upper-division criteria for GE Courses articulated (…). However, these courses will only be categorized as B-UD, C-UD, and D-UD.

3.3.2      Each UD GE category must offer courses intended for students without prior experience in the discipline beyond an introductory course.

3.3.2      Upper-division course may have prerequisites that are not on the General Education Master Course List (i.e., discipline-specific prerequisites).

3.3.3      All courses approved for Area C at the upper-division level will require at least 2,500 words of writing. No upper-division Area C course shall have more than seventy enrolled students.

GENERAL CRITERIA

3.1         In order to be approved for a specific GE Area or Subarea, the course must include:

  • for all GE courses: textbooks/readings and bibliography items that clearly address the Area or Subarea being requested;
  • for all GE courses: Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested and taken or adapted from the implementation document defining GE SLOs approved by the Academic Senate and maintained by the GEGC;
  • for all GE courses: scheduled class topics that directly address the GE SLOs dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested;
  • at least one third of the SLOs, assignments, assessments, evaluative criteria, and final course grade dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested.

GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE CONTENT CRITERIA

3.2.3.2.1              Across the disciplines in Area C, students will cultivate intellect, imagination, sensibility and sensitivity. Activities may include participation in creative experiences; Area C, however, excludes courses that exclusively emphasize skills development.

3.2.3.2.1.1           Criteria for Subarea C1, Arts (Arts, Cinema, Dance, Design, Film, Music, Theatre)

Courses in fulfillment of Subarea C1 will develop students’ subjective as well as objective response to aesthetic experiences, as well as their understanding of the integrity of both emotional and intellectual responses. Students will cultivate and refine their affective, cognitive, and physical faculties through aesthetic, creative experiences and the corresponding study of works of human imagination. In their intellectual and subjective considerations, students will develop a better understanding of the interrelationship between the self and the creative arts and the role of the arts in human culture. Subarea C1 includes courses in art disciplines, for instance visual art, dance, theatre, creative writing, music, cinematography, film, and design. Wherever appropriate, courses may address diverse artistic traditions.

3.2.3.2.1.2           Criteria for Subarea C2, Humanities (Literature, Philosophy, Languages other than English)

Courses in fulfillment of Subarea C2 will develop students’ understanding of the integrity of both emotional and intellectual responses, as well as cultivate and refine their cognitive and affective faculties through the corresponding study of works of the human imagination and also the history of thought. . In their intellectual and subjective considerations, students will develop a better understanding of the interrelationship between the self and the humanities. Courses in languages other than English may be included in this requirement because of their implications for cultures both in their linguistic structures and in their use in literature, but courses which are approved to fulfill this requirement must contain a cultural component and may not be solely skill acquisition courses. Wherever appropriate, courses may address the humanities in a variety of cultures.

EFFECTIVE: Fall 2018

 

REQUIRED GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES

The following are the specific learning outcomes approved by the Academic Senate (General Education Learning Outcomes) and required for all classes seeking certification for this area. 

All required learning outcomes and at least one supplemental learning outcome listed below must be included in your proposal, and covered and assessed in your class.

Learning outcomes should NOT be copied and pasted into your GE Form. Rather, they should be adapted to the course content, maintaining their intent while showing how it applies to the course subject and criteria. 

Upper Division C: Arts and Humanities

Required Learning Outcomes

As measured by students being able to:

  1. Research and analyze works of the human imagination and/or the history of thought through diverse cultural perspectives and/or artistic traditions.
  2. Use the traditional methods and constructs of the disciplines in the arts and humanities to distinguish and examine multiple aspects of the human condition.
  3. Create organized written analytical responses to communicate ideas about cultural practices, literary texts, languages, and/or works of art.

Supplemental Learning Outcomes 

Choose at least one:

a. Describe, evaluate, explain, and draw on problems, issues, and/or concerns addressed by the arts and humanities to analyze and/or create works of art or design

b. Demonstrate critical thinking in the evaluation of sources and arguments in scholarly works in the humanities.