BA Curriculum

Student Learning Outcomes for the BA:

Currently, college-level assessment in Honors occurs in all 100- and 400-level courses.  Honors faculty have developed six Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) which form the six pillars of the college.  They will be assessed on a three-year schedule:

• Academic Year 2019-20: Interdisciplinarity; Creative Thinking
• Academic Year 2020-21: Research; Critical Thinking
• Academic Year 2021-22: Communication Skills; Community Engagement

The six PSLO, along with course-level outcomes associated with each pillar, are as follows:

PSLO #1: Interdisciplinarity:

Honors College students will integrate knowledge, perspectives and/or skills (perhaps conflicting) from two or more disciplines in a unified argument, strategy, or solution. 

Course-level student learning outcomes for #1. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate familiarity with the knowledge and modes of thinking of two or more disciplines or approaches.
• Integrate diverse--and perhaps conflicting--knowledge, perspectives, and/or skills into a unified argument and/or strategy.
• Apply two or more approaches to a single problem or project.

PSLO #2: Critical Thinking:

Honors College students will illustrate sound, evidence-based evaluations of issues or problems, including sufficient support and appropriate reasoning. 

Course-level student learning outcomes for #2. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Locate information from various sources and perspectives.
• Evaluate perspectives from multiple sides of a topic or argument.
• Organize evidence to support arguments.
• Identify implications and consequences of arguments and conclusions.
• Define common biases and heuristics that prevent critical thinking

PSLO #3: Communication Skills:

Honors College students will produce written and/or oral presentations that demonstrate a thorough understanding of audience, context, and purpose as well as use of language. 

Course-level student learning outcomes for pillar #3. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, stance, genre, media/design)
• Present clearly organized, precise, and persuasive arguments or documents.
• Communicate effectively in one-on-one and group contexts.
• Express ideas and concepts precisely and persuasively in multiple formats.
• Employ error-free language that skillfully communicates meaning with clarity and fluency.

PSLO #4: Research:

Honors College students will generate original knowledge and/or meaning through the systematic study of a problem, topic, or prompt. 

Course-level student learning outcomes for pillar #4. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Define a researchable question or problem.
• Apply disciplinary or cross-disciplinary knowledge and methods to design and execute a research study that addresses the question or problem.
• Evaluate information, literatures, and evidence critically.
• Communicate findings in written and verbal forms.
• Connect research to broader intellectual and practical contexts to articulate relevance.

PSLO #5: Community Engagement:

Honors College students will engage diverse communities and encourage mutually beneficial partnerships. 

Course-level student learning outcomes for pillar #5. Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• Analyze one’s own cultural rules, biases, and positions in various contexts.
• Understand how individual and group power is constructed and maintained.
• Demonstrate respect for diverse communities.
• Apply knowledge and skills across or within diverse communities to address complex societal challenges.
• Interact with communities and spaces outside of one’s own, generating cross-cultural understanding.
• Contribute to the broader community through service learning or other mutually beneficial projects.

PSLO #6 Creative Thinking:

Honors College students will craft a material, process, or text through deliberate manipulation of tools and methods.

Course-level student outcomes for pillar #6. Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• Think and act creatively and collaboratively while transforming materials;
• Analyze and assess a problem or process by framing it historically, politically, conceptually and aesthetically;
• Take risks and solve problems through iteration, revision, and exploration of divergent solutions;
• Articulate the formal and conceptual motivations of one’s work in written and verbal forms;
• Critique creative works.

The deadlines for submitting college-level assessment materials to the Honors Assessment Coordinator are as follows:

• Materials from the fall semester: February 1
• Materials from the spring semester: June 1

Further details, including the relevant rubrics and the process for completing and submitting materials, will be provided to faculty by Honors Assessment Coordinator, Dr. Renée Faubion ( sanren@unm.edu).