Required Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Students will demonstrate the discourse skills necessary to participate in civic life, including:
- the deliberation of ideas through reasoned inquiry that seeks new information and considers multiple viewpoints.
- the ethical practice of advocacy, dissent, and dialogue that constructively attends to points of conflict.
Requirements and Guidelines
The phrase “participate in civic life” is intentionally broad to capture the ways in which individuals engage with various communities and public spaces, which may include political and social institutions within the United States and across the globe, as well as other spaces of public life, such as digital forums and the workplace. Conceived of in this manner, the skills of civic discourse are applicable across a range of disciplines.
Civic discourse is the exchange of ideas about public matters. It is distinct from debate, which has as a primary purpose promoting one’s own ideas and attempting to convince others to agree with these ideas.
This core competency is intended to focus on students acquiring the knowledge to understand the importance of, and requirements for, civic discourse, and students will demonstrate the skills that reflect this knowledge. This competency is not intended to assess student conduct in general.
Civics courses can be 2 credits.
Rubric/Assignment Samples
Click here to see sample rubrics and assignments for assessing the SLOs.