So that students understand rigorous academic expectations and develop the intellectual skills needed to practice or meet these expectations, the following SLOs apply for each FYS. By the end of an FYS, students will have practiced the following:
- Read increasingly sophisticated texts critically. As one of WFU’s Core Competencies, critical reading is defined as: “the process of understanding, extracting, and questioning written text that allows for the comprehensive explanation of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or challenging an opinion or conclusion or constructing new meaning.”
- Pose and respond to complex ideas. This may occur in a variety of formats such as written or oral form, or in class discussion. This maps onto the WFU Core Competency of Inquiry and Analysis defined as: “the systematic process of exploring issues, objects, or works by collecting evidence, deconstructing that which is complex, and developing informed conclusions or judgments.”
- Identify, analyze, interpret and evaluate different points of view. Again, this may occur in a variety of formats. This corresponds to the WFU Core Competency of Critical Thinking defined as: “the ability to explore ideas comprehensively, to ask relevant questions, to evaluate evidence, to imagine and test alternative points of view before accepting or formulating a conclusion.”
- Construct cogent arguments in both written and oral form. This supports the WFU Core Competency of Communication defined as, “The ability to express ideas clearly, exchange knowledge, foster understanding, and/or persuade one’s audience in written and oral form.”
While all FYS should be designed so that students develop the above learning outcomes, faculty may focus on, or emphasize additional competencies, such as creative thinking, quantitative literacy, social relevance, and intercultural learning.