Area E – Lifelong Learning & Self-Development

Guidelines

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Student Learning Outcome Students taking courses in fulfillment of Area E will:

  • Evaluate and explain how physiological, psychological, and sociocultural factors influence the continuum of personal and professional development.

Course Characteristics

Executive Order 1100 indicates that Area E is satisfied through 3-semester-unit, lower-division courses that “equip learners for lifelong understanding and development of themselves as integrated physiological, social, and psychological beings. … Content may include topics such as student success strategies, human behavior, sexuality, nutrition, physical and mental health, stress management, information literacy, social relationships and relationships with the environment, as well as implications of death and dying or avenues for lifelong learning. Courses in this area shall focus on the development of skills, abilities and dispositions.”

Area E courses may be thematic and designed to focus on groups of students with particular characteristics, such as undeclared majors or students with an interest in a specific major or group of related majors (as in CHEM/GEOL/PHYX 100).

At Cal Poly Humboldt, the design of an area E course must support retention and other aspects of student success. Accordingly, all Area E courses shall include three or more of the following learning opportunities:

Inclusion: How are culturally-diverse perspectives represented in the learning experience? In what ways do students grapple with what it means to be part of a fully inclusive learning community?  How are the cultural competencies of students, faculty, and staff enhanced through the learning community?  

Resilience: How will students advance their academic, physical and emotional resilience? What opportunities will students have to evaluate the meaning of scholastic and humanistic success, and to culture a professional mindset and skillset? 

Learning: How do we learn as individuals and as a community?  What are productive practices and ways of thinking that support creativity and scholarship in this and other disciplinary areas?  What curricular and co-curricular programs on campus support learning? 

Integration: How are students encouraged to reflect on ways of knowing and understanding, and integrate what they are learning in other courses within their first year? 

Context: In what ways will students engage with the cultural and/or natural context of Humboldt County and the surrounding region, and how will they make connections to the broader state/nation/world?  

Career: How can students begin to develop professional skills and explore possible career paths, and develop an understanding about how learning at the undergraduate level can translate to a career?   

The questions listed under each of the six learning opportunities listed above are for consideration. The questions are not intended to imply a particular content or methodology for the learning opportunity.

Proposing Area E lower-division courses

Courses proposed to satisfy Area E are proposed, evaluated, and approved through the normal university curriculum process. A complete proposal must include the following components.

  • A completed new course proposal form available from the Integrated Curriculum Committee.
  • A complete syllabus that complies with the Humboldt Syllabi Policy.
  • A completed GEAR SLO assignment inventory form (found on the ICC website).
  • A justification for how the course will support retention and student success, including how the course will provide students with the relevant learning opportunities listed under “course characteristics.”