General Studies
The General Studies program is an interdisciplinary program that prepares students to become effective communicators and critical thinkers who can speak, read, write and compute effectively. These skills represent those attributes essential for student academic and professional success.
The General Studies program is divided into five separate areas: English Composition, Humanities/Fine Arts, Mathematics and Sciences, History/Social/Behavioral Sciences, and Pre-professional/Majors/Elective courses. The academic breadth of the General Studies program provides a critical foundation for future academic study for each TROY student, regardless of major.
Exposure to this broad range of disciplines early in the student’s academic career stimulates student interest in previously unfamiliar areas and widens their intellectual horizons. The University regards the organization, composition, and diversity of General Studies program as evidence of its commitment to lifelong learning for its graduates.
See General Studies Requirements for course offerings.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENTS
EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THE GENERAL STUDIES PROGRAM
The general studies program is an interdisciplinary program that educates and empowers
students to become (1) effective written communicators and (2) critical thinkers.
The operational definitions of these outcomes are taken from the Educational Testing
Service materials which are part of their Proficiency Profile exam. The Proficiency
Profile is used to assess student learning outcomes in writing, reading, critical
thinking and mathematics.
Expected Outcome: Effective Written Communicators
Students will achieve measurable learning in the following ways:
- Recognize the most grammatically correct revision of a clause, sentence or group of sentences
- Organize units of language for coherence and rhetorical effect
- Recognize and reword figurative language
- Organize elements of writing into larger units of meaning
Expected Outcomes: Effective Critical Thinking (Critical Thinking, Reading, Mathematics)
Students will achieve measurable learning in the following ways:
Critical Thinking
- Distinguish between rhetoric and argumentation in a piece of nonfiction prose
- Recognize assumptions
- Recognize the best hypothesis to account for information presented
- Infer and interpret a relationship between variables
- Draw valid conclusions based on information presented
Reading
- Interpret the meaning of key terms
- Recognize the primary purpose of a passage
- Recognize explicitly presented information
- Make appropriate inferences
- Recognize rhetorical devices
Mathematics
- Recognize and interpret mathematical terms
- Read and interpret tables and graphs
- Evaluate formulas
- Order and compare large and small numbers
- Interpret ratios, proportions and percentages
- Read scientific measuring instruments
- Recognize and use equivalent mathematical formulas and expressions
ASSESSMENT OF THE GENERAL STUDIES PROGRAM
The general studies program is assessed for college-level competencies at both the
course level and the program level. Every general studies course is not individually
assessed, but rather selected learning activities tied to broader learning contexts
are assessed. A general studies course such as U.S. History assesses student learning
on a variety of expected outcomes, including specific content for the course as well
as the broader areas of reading and critical thinking. The course level assessment,
in turn, supports