Academics

Associate of Arts (AA)

Student Outcomes

Associate of Arts (AA) degrees combine broad studies in the general education areas of written communication, oral communication, humanities, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences, with elective coursework selected by the student. The degree provides broad exposure to systems of thought and inquiry, allows exploration of a variety of disciplines and learning experiences, and provides a solid foundation for further study at the baccalaureate level.

AA STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Oral Communication

Student will:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the communication process and communication components involved in the process

• Barriers to communication on the sender's part

• Barriers to communication on the receiver's part

• Feedback and dynamic nature of the communication process

• Types of communication

• Methods of communication

2. Effectively adapt a message to an audience (individual, group, or public)

• Constructing, organizing, and connecting a message

• Supporting the message through pathos, logos, and ethos

• Adapting nonverbal message forms such as voice, posture, volume, eye
contact, space, touch

• Listening and responding to feedback

• Meeting the audience's needs

• Assessing other external factors

Written Communication

Student will:

1. Use Standard Written English correctly and effectively

• Write sentences that follow grammatical rules (adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, and verbs)

• Write sentences that follow rules for sentence mechanics (capitalization and punctuation)

• Write sentences that follow rules for sentence structure (comparison, coordination, correlation, negation, parallelism, and subordination)

2. Respond appropriately and effectively to writing assignments

• Use an appropriate genre

• Adhere to genre expectations and conventions for content, development, and structure

• Respond to audience needs

• Focus on a purpose

• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality

• Use appropriate technical, professional, or academic language and style

• Provide appropriate and effective rhetorical and structural cues

3. Use research responsibly and effectively

• Locate or produce appropriate research for writing assignments

• Integrate research effectively

• Use research effectively

• Avoid plagiarism by knowing how, when, and where to document sources

Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Mathematics student will:

1. Use appropriate mathematical language and symbols to develop and communicate solutions

• Use appropriate arithmetic symbols and language

• Use appropriate algebraic symbols and language

• Use appropriate geometric symbols and language

2. Demonstrate quantitative and analytical skills and knowledge

• Use properties of real numbers, exponents, and radicals to simplify expressions

• Solve linear, quadratic, absolute value, and rational equations and inequalities

• Perform fundamental operations to simplify rational expressions and polynomial functions

• Use various techniques to graph linear equations, quadratic equations, comics, and inequalities

• Use various methods to solve systems of equations

• Use fundamental properties and relationships to solve logarithmic and exponential equations

• Use various algebraic techniques and strategies to solve applied problems

Natural Sciences student will:

1. Appropriately apply the scientific method

• Formulating questions or problems

• Proposing hypothetical answers or solutions

• Testing hypotheses

• Reaching supportable conclusions

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of one or more scientific disciplines

• Show knowledge of discoveries and advances in the disciplines

• Understand the impact of discoveries and advances within the disciplines

• Understand the historical changes in technology and method within the discipline

3. Successfully work with laboratory tools and follow appropriate processes

• Critically observe materials, events, or processes

• Accurately record and analyze observations

Humanities and Fine Arts

Humanities

1. Student completing a content-oriented course will:

• Identify texts or objects

• Place texts or objects into the historical context of the discipline

• Articulate the central problems the items address

• Provide reasoned assessments of the items' significance

2. Students completing a skills-oriented course in logic should be able to:

• Identify the premises and conclusions of written arguments

• Evaluate the soundness or cogency or written arguments

• Recognize common fallacies in written arguments

• Use a formal method of determining the validity of deductive arguments

• Evaluate the adequacy of evidence of inductive arguments

3. Students completing a skill-oriented course in a language should be able to:

• Demonstrate proficiency in listening, speaking and writing

Fine Arts

Student completing the Fine Arts requirement will:

1. Identify and describe works of art by

• Referencing the media used

• Acknowledging the historical context and style

• Understanding structural principles of design and composition

2. Interpret the meaning or intent of works of art and assess the stylistic and cultural importance of works of art by

• Referencing their historical significance

• Understanding their relationship to earlier works and artists

• Recognizing their impact on subsequent artistic works

Social Sciences

Student will:

1. Possess broad perspectives on the diversity of human behavior

2. Be able to distinguish between empirical and non-empirical claims to truth

• Understand how social phenomena is tested

• Know how social science theories are either verified or rejected

3. Have an introductory knowledge of social science thinking through

• Observation

• Empirical data analysis

• Theoretical models

• Quantitative reasoning

• Application of such thinking to contemporary life

4. Demonstrate knowledge of social science approaches and to apply that knowledge in a particular content area

ASSOCIATE OF ARTS Degree Requirements

Admission Requirements
Complete the Admission to Certificate and Associate Degree Programs Requirements located in Chapter 6, “Academic Standards and Regulations.”

General University Requirements
Complete the General University Requirements for Associate of Arts Degrees located at the beginning of this chapter.

General Education Requirements
Complete the General Education Requirements for Associate of Arts Degrees outlined on this page.

Degree Requirements
All courses must be at the 100-level or above. At least 20 credits of the required 60 credits must be at the 200-level. If a student intends to complete the Associate of Arts degree and then continue on to a baccalaureate degree, consult the Advising Note for AA Students Who Plan to Pursue a Baccalaureate Degree on the following page.

General Education Requirements

1. Oral Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
COMM A111 Fund. of Oral Communication (3)
COMM A235 Small Group Communication (3)
COMM A237 Interpersonal Communication (3)
COMM A241 Public Speaking (3)

2. Written Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
ENGL A111 Methods of Written Comm. (3)
and one of the following:
CIOS A260A Business Communications* (3)
ENGL A211 Academic Writing About Literature (3)
ENGL A212 Technical Writing (3)
ENGL A213 Writing in the Social/Ntrl Sciences (3)
ENGL A214 Persuasive Writing (3)

3. Humanities and Fine Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Three courses from the GER Classification List. At least one course each from the Humanities and Fine Arts areas.

4. Mathematical and Natural Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
MATH A105 Intermediate Algebra* (3)
Or one course from the Quantitative Skills area of GER Classification List
Two Natural Science courses from the Natural Sciences area of GER Classification List. (6)

5. Social Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Two Social Science courses (from two different disciplines) from the Social Sciences area of GER Classification List.

Degree Completion Requirements

6. Electives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

7. Total Minimum Credits 60

* Note: CIOS A260A and MATH A105 do not meet the General Education Requirements for the baccalaureate degree.

Advising Note for AA Students Who Plan to Pursue a Baccalaureate Degree:

AA students who plan to pursue a baccalaureate degree must take care in planning their curriculum. Please see an advisor and take note of the following:

• UAA baccalaureate students are required to complete 12 credits of Basic College-Level Skills from the Oral Communication, Written Communication, and Quantitative Skills areas of the General Education Classification List prior to completing 60 total degree applicable credits.

• Students with 60 credits or more who have not completed the Baccalaureate 12 credit Basic College-Level Skills requirement will have one full academic year to fulfill this requirement, after which they will be allowed to take additional courses as degree-seeking students. MATH A105 and CIOS A260A do not count toward completing the baccalaureate GER requirements.

• Students who plan to apply AA credits to a UAA baccalaureate (4-year) degree, and who know the program or major they are going to transfer into, should consult the General Education Requirements for their specific program or major. Programs often require specific GER courses for their majors. Students planning to transfer should use AA electives to fulfill prerequisites and requirements for their anticipated major.

• Students who plan to apply AA credits to a UAA baccalaureate (4-year) degree, and who do not know which program or major they wish to pursue, should plan as follows:

Classification Credits
1. Oral Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
COMM A111 Fund. of Oral Communication
COMM A235 Small Group Communication
COMM A237 Interpersonal Communication
COMM A241 Public Speaking

2. Written Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
ENGL A111 Methods of Written Communication
and one of the following:
ENGL A211 Academic Writing About Literature
ENGL A212 Technical Writing
ENGL A213 Writing in the Social/Natural Sciences
ENGL A214 Persuasive Writing

3. Humanities and Fine Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
One course from the Fine Arts area of the GER Classification List (3)
Two courses from the Humanities area of the GER Classification List (6)

4. Mathematical and Natural Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
One MATH/STAT course from the Quantitative Skills area of GER Classification List (3)
Two Natural Science courses from the Natural Sciences area of GER Classification List, including a lab course (7)

Since the AA degree requirements are different from the 4-year degree requirements, AA students who pursue a baccalaureate degree may be required to take additional courses to satisfy the General Education Requirements for the 4-year degree after declaring their major.

2007-2008 MSC Bulletin

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