Learning Outcomes

General Education Student Learning Outcomes and Performance Indicators

The general education SLOs describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students are expected to be able to demonstrate upon completion of the general education courses at the University of Oklahoma. These SLOs and performance indicators were articulated by the General Education Assessment Workgroup (GEAW) comprising faculty from various disciplines and vetted by the Provost’s Advisory Committee for General Education Oversight (PACGEO) on May 10, 2019. The SLOs are areas that OU students in every major should develop during their undergraduate careers and be proficient in upon graduation. Development in these SLO begins in the General Education Program and is sustained throughout major program coursework.

The SLOs fall into six categories: (1) Communication skills, (2) Technology and Information Literacy, (3) Critical Analysis and Scientific Reasoning, (4) Quantitative and Numerical analysis, (5) Community, Culture, and Diversity, and (6) Arts and Humanities.

The performance indicators refer to specific actions students should be able to perform in each SLO as a result of completing general education courses at OU. By focusing on specific expectations of the general education program, the performance indicators facilitate assessment procedures of general education courses and general education program.  

Below are SLOs along with specific performance indicators.

Student Learning Outcomes By Category

1. Communication Skills: Students will clearly and effectively  communicate knowledge and ideas in written, oral, and visual/spatial forms appropriate to the general education subject area. They will engage with their audiences by actively reading, listening, reflecting, and responding to and delivering messages using a variety of formats.

Performance Indicators. Students will:

• Demonstrate proficiency in listening, speaking, writing, and reading.
• Explain how the context in which a message is communicated influences its interpretation.
• Apply appropriate form and style to effectively and respectfully engage audiences using a variety of media.
• Write using a multi-step process of planning, critiquing, editing, and revising.

2. Technology and Information Literacy: Students will demonstrate effective use of technology for communicating, researching, organizing, storing, accessing, and presenting information. They will locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material from a variety of sources, and will format and document material in a manner appropriate for the general education subject area.

Performance Indicators. Students will:

• Apply technology as appropriate for the general education subject area.
• Describe unethical and illegal use of information, including copyright and privacy issues.
• Identify appropriate sources of information for academic work.
• Accurately cite a variety of sources, including electronic, visual, and print media.
• Cite information to support ideas, hypotheses, and conclusions.

3. Critical Analysis and Scientific Reasoning: Students will demonstrate the ability to integrate and analyze information from multiple perspectives, consider new solutions, and solve novel complex problems using methods appropriate for the general education subject area.

Performance Indicators. Students will:

• Demonstrate reasoning by deduction, induction, and analogy.
• Apply scientific methods as appropriate for the general education subject area.
• Differentiate between scientific and non-scientific explanations.
• Compare alternative explanations and their implications.
• Summarize evidence presented in an argument.
• Identify examples of the interaction between science and societal change.
• Explain how the social and historical context in which a theory emerged influenced its development.

4. Quantitative and Numerical Analysis: Students will apply principles and methods of quantitative and numerical analysis to solve problems and draw logical inferences. They will evaluate and interpret quantitative and numerical information across a broad range of scientific disciplines using methods appropriate for the general education subject area.

Performance Indicators. Students will:

• Analyze and interpret quantitative information from formulas, graphs, and tables.
• Apply appropriate strategies of quantitative problem solving.
• Express the relationship between mathematical representation and real-world application.

5. Community, Culture, and Diversity: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of human culture, past and present, including an awareness of economic, environmental, political, ethical, and social issues facing both the local and global community. They will develop an understanding of the forces that contribute to the shaping of our cultural identities.

Performance Indicators. Students will:

• Describe the role of geographic and environmental factors in shaping today’s world.
• Summarize the process of value formation, transmission, and modification across cultures.
• Compare and contrast the political, social, and/or economic institutions of the United States of America and the larger global community.
• Explain the factors that contribute to the development of cultural identities.
• Demonstrate an understanding of behaviors, ideas, beliefs, and values held by persons in situations other than one’s own.