Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)

After a student has taken any philosophy course, he or she should be able to do the following:

1. Define key terms concerning the subject matter of the course.
2. Explain various approaches to the study of the subject matter of the course.
3. Understand how the subject matter of this philosophy course is different from the subject matters of other courses.
4. Understand the scope and range of the subject matter of the course.
5. Have some idea of the historical perspective of the subject matter of the course.
6. Understand why the subject matter of the course is significant to one's life.

Measuring the goals:

Goals in philosophy courses are generally measured by the following means:

• Verbal presentations.
• Computer assisted presentations.
• Structured, goal directed conversation and argumentation.
• Short thesis papers.
• Long research papers.
• Written or Oral Examinations
• Online assignments
• Online discussions
• Online tests

Not every philosophy course will employ all of the above means of measuring goals. However, every philosophy course, regardless of the means of measurement will measure the student's performance in terms of two fundamental criteria: 1. the student's critical reasoning ability, i.e. has the student presented arguments either verbally or in writing, which are cogent and well-formed according to sound logical standards? ; 2. the student's moral sense, i.e. the student's intellectual integrity in interpreting, evaluating, and criticizing the subject matter of the course.

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Assessment Rubrics

1. Define key terms concerning the subject matter of the course.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Student seems unable to grasp significance of basic concepts	Student seems to barely grasp significance of major concepts	Student is able to define or distinguish some major concepts	Student is able define and distinguish major concepts
2. Explain various approaches to the study of the subject matter of the course.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Student seems to have little or no idea of the different approaches employed by philosophers	Student seems to have slight grasp of different approaches employed by philosophers	Student can recognize and describe a few of the major approaches to philosophy	Student is able to recognize and contrast different approaches to philosophy
3. Understand how the subject matter of this philosophy course is different from the subject matters of other philosophy courses.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Student seems unable to recognize or distinguish philosophical from non-philosophical issues	Student can minimally distinguish philosophy from other disciplines	Student seems to have a adequate sense of what philosophy is, although seems somewhat unclear as to how it differs from other disciplines	Student has a strong sense of the types of questions addressed by and methods employed by philosophers and can compare and contrast these with other disciplines (e.g. natural sciences, social sciences)
4. Understand the scope and range of the subject matter of the course.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Substantially Developed Student does not seem to understand the nature of the area(s) being discussed	Student seems to have minimal grasp of the nature of the subject matter.	Student can adequately define the subject area but can't quite see how it is different from other areas of philosophy	Student understands the issues and concerns of the area understudy and can compare and contrast it with other areas of philosophy
5. Have some idea of the historical perspective of the subject matter of the course.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Substantially Developed Student demonstrates no historical perspective	Student seems dimly aware of the historical context and perspective of the issues studied	Student seems to have an adequate grasp of the historical context.	Student cannot only delineate the historical context and concerns, but can compare and contrast it with other historical contexts.
6. Understand why the subject matter of the course is significant to one's life.
Inadequate	Minimally Developed	Moderately Developed	Substantially Developed
Substantially Developed Student simply does not see the relevance of philosophy to one's life.	Student seems to have some grasp of the importance of philosophy, but is unsure of its application to one's life	Student can recognize some areas of importance, but seems unable to see deeper significance.	Student recognizes the significance of philosophy for one's life, and can differentiate different issues according to the different areas of philosophy under which they fall

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Curriculum Map

<

	110	210	305	306	307	308	309	312	314	319
SLO
1	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A
2	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A
3	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A
4	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A
5	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A
6	I	I	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A

<

	320	321	337	346	356	361	365	375	381	420
SLO										A
1	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A
2	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A
3	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A
4	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A
5	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A
6	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	E/A	A

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Plan of Implementation

The Philosophy Department will assess the success of achieving its Student Learning Outcomes every year.

Each year of the assessment cycle will involve assessment of the following:

The sections of PHL 110 and PHL 210 will involve both sections taught by full-time faculty and sections taught by adjunct faculty.

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Please indicate which of Iona College's institutional Mission goals are addressed in the above SLOs. (Pertinent goals in bold)

• Written communication skills
• Subject are knowledge Other (Critical Thinking)
• Oral communication skills
• Civic responsibility
• Quantitative reasoning skills
• Ethical decision making
• Information technology skills
• Global understanding

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