Online Writing Guide

All New Century College Integrative Studies students are expected to achieve a command of the following nine competencies. You will be required, in various assignments and portfolios, to reflect on and write about how specific learning experiences helped you acquire or enhance skills in specific competencies.

Communication	Critical Thinking/Analysis	Problem-Solving
Valuing	Group Interaction	Global Perspective
Effective Citizenship	Aesthetic Response	Information Technology

1. Communication <list>
Speak, read and write effectively. Aspects include effective and appropriate use of language; coherent and forceful expression; recognizing the rhetorical context of audience and purpose; appropriate use of research or sources; careful editing and proof reading; revising and expanding one's work; clear and well organized presentation of material orally or visually; thoughtful, careful listening and note taking; using computers and the world wide web.

2. Critical Thinking and Analysis <list>
Think clearly and critically. Fuse experience, reason, and training into considered judgements. Aspects include differentiating facts from opinions and inferences; recognizing assumptions; identifying language problems such as ambiguity; finding relationships and dividing a complex problem into parts; analyzing and summarizing arguments; synthesizing ideas from multiple sources; finding connections between a range of ideas, facts and experience.

3. Problem-Solving <list>
Determine what the problem is and what is causing it. With others or alone, form strategies that work in different situations. Act on these strategies, then evaluate effectiveness. Aspects include forming questions to clarify a problem or issue; identifying multiple perspectives and alternative methods; developing a framework or prioritizing order for solutions; collaborating to maximize individual strengths within a group.

4. Valuing <list>
Recognize different value systems while developing one's own values. Recognize the moral dimensions of decisions and accept responsibility for the consequences of one's actions, including self knowledge and reflective practice. Aspects include understanding multiple perspectives; analyzing values underlying a particular perspective; articulating one's own values; understanding how one's actions are shaped by one's values; demonstrating sensitivity toward others.

5. Group Interaction <list>
Know how to get things done in group settings. Elicit the views of others to help reach consensus. Aspects include ability to initiate and sustain group activity; determine goals when working with a partner or group; understanding how consensus is different from compromise; reflecting perceptively on group actions/interactions; assessing one's role within a group.

6. Global Perspective <list>
Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the economic, social, and biological differences in global life. Aspects include seeing different perspectives and ways of knowing that are based in cultural and geographical difference; understanding connections between local and global issues; understanding the reality of global interconnectedness in areas such as economics and the environment; learning to raise questions about global aspects of a range of issues and knowledge.

7. Effective Citizenship <list>
Demonstrate an informed awareness of community and community responsibilities. Indicate an informed awareness of contemporary issues and their historical contexts. Develop leadership abilities. Aspects include community involvement (for example, in leadership or service roles); developing of leadership abilities; analyzing the nature of leadership and "fellowship"; placing issues within historical contexts; awareness of multiple perspectives in civic life; awareness of issues of social justice.

8. Aesthetic Response <list>
Appreciate various forms of art and the contexts from which they emerge. Make and defend judgements about the quality of artistic impressions. Aspects include developing criteria to judge the quality of artistic impression; awareness of the process involved in creating a particular work; awareness of methods for analyzing a particular medium or work; understanding of component parts of a particular medium; appreciating genre, period, cultural and historical contexts.

9. Information Technology <list>
Understand and use current information technology applications based on computers and networks. Able to master basic skills to acquire, organize and apply information using databases, spreadsheets, word and information processing, and presentation graphics; evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of various information sources for their appropriate use. Critical awareness of public policy issues relating to information technology.