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Living in a Global Society

Approaches & Perspectives

OVERVIEW:

This document provides a description of the Living in a Global Society component of University Studies. In so doing, it differentiates between common component-level student learning outcomes and discipline-specific course-level learning outcomes. The goal is to encourage the development of challenging and varied University Studies courses that share common assessable student learning outcomes.

PART I: DESCRIPTION AND RATIONALE

This component of the University Studies program includes courses that provide students with the tools that will help them to live ethical, meaningful, and productive lives in the global society of the 21st century. Many modern economic, political, and environmental problems transcend national boundaries and demand global solutions. Students should understand the interconnectedness of peoples and cultures and understand their world view in relation to the world view of others. Such understanding is likely to result only after careful examination of multiple facets of other cultures (including art, history, language, religion, etc.) in a comparative context. Courses in the Living in a Global Society component will expose students to these cultural differences and prepare students to interact comfortably and ethically on the global stage.

PART II: COMMON STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES ALIGNED TO UNIVERSITY STUDIES GOALS

The following are the Common Student Learning Outcomes for Living in a Global Society. These are aligned with the UNCW Learning Goals. Each course in this category must address all of the Common Student Learning Outcomes for the category, and list these Common SLOs along with course-specific SLOs in the course syllabus. Proposals for inclusion in the category will describe the opportunities which will be provided for students to learn the outcome (readings, class discussion and/or activities, applied projects) and list the specific sources of evidence (exams, papers, projects, quizzes, etc.) that will be used to determine the level of student understanding.

The student will:

  • LGS 1. Demonstrate knowledge of global issues, processes, trends, and systems. [Foundational Knowledge]
  • LGS 2. Use knowledge, diverse cultural frames of reference, and alternate perspectives to think critically and solve problems. [Critical Thinking, Diversity]
  • LGS 3. Consider/reflect on the intellectual and ethical dimensions of cultural difference, global dynamics, and/or global citizenship. [Diversity, Global Citizenship]

PART III: STUDENT COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

Students are required to take three hours from this component.

CATEGORY SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSERS

  • Proposed courses should be focused on cross-cultural and comparative/global dynamics as a matter of first importance. These should engage with multiple issues and/or cut across multiple national contexts, or contextualize an issue richly in an international context, per the category description. The global dimensions of the course (as opposed to its particular topic) should comprise a substantial and significant component of the course, as reflected in assignments, class time, etc.
  • Proposed courses should (per SLO 1) build student knowledge of global/transnational "processes, trends and systems." They should not primarily provide a close or narrow examination of a single culture, particularly not in the USA. Courses primarily focused on one culture should include SUBSTANTIAL opportunities for student learning and SIGNIFICANT course SLO's that encourage comparison, connections to trans-national dynamics, and multiple perspectives.
  • LGS courses should not also be proposed for LDN.
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