Academic Learning Compact
Consistent with its mission and guiding principles, Florida Gulf Coast University
is committed to academic excellence and continuous quality improvement, as supported
by a sound teaching-learning process. Within this process, students and instructors
share responsibility for learning that is a movement from the simple to the complex,
the concrete to the abstract, and the dependent to the independent. The Academic Learning
Compact (ALC) initiative supports the teaching-learning process by clearly identifying
expected core student learning outcomes in the areas of content/discipline knowledge
and skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills; aligning curricula
with expectations; and using assessment to guide continuous improvement.
Content/Discipline Knowledge and Skills
Graduates will be able to:
- Synthesize the technical skills necessary to produce completed work in the student's
chosen media or discipline.
- Plan, Develop, and execute a coherent project appropriate to their area of study.
- Analyze and evaluate the history of their chosen media or discipline.
Assessed in ART 4955 Senior Project. Each Art major must complete a senior project
in which s/he successfully plans, creates, and executes a body of work that is conceptually
strong and technically proficient. The results of this project are presented in a
campus exhibition open to the university community and general public.
Communication Skills
Graduates will be able to:
- Formulate hypotheses, present coherent arguments and explanations, and communicate
ideas within a logical, clearly organized written structure.
- Write on art historical topics using a developed vocabulary of relevant technical
terms and concepts, with mature understanding of word meanings and usage.
- Support arguments and hypotheses with primary and secondary evidence and well-chosen
comparisons.
- Demonstrate understanding of the apparatus of art historical scholarship, including
how to research a topic, when and how to cite sources, and the bibliographic formats
used in art history.
- Demonstrate a command of the syntax, grammar and writing mechanics of Standard English
academic prose, and of the standard conventions of academic paper presentation and
formatting.
Communication skills are assessed based on research papers assigned in upper division
art history courses [ARH 3115, ARH 3170, ARH 3200, ARH 3301, ARH 3880, ARH 4560].
Critical Thinking Skills
Graduates will be able to:
- Select specific subjects and directions as the basis for their production.
- Analyze contexts and perspectives relevant to their production.
- Develop a logical, consistent plan to solve technical and conceptual issues.
- Synthesize ideas and solutions into unique personal forms.
- Assess and defend their production through a critical, reflective process.
Critical thinking skills are assessed using targeted exercises in the 4000-level art
studio workshop courses [ART 4382, ART 4921, ART 4922, ART 4925, or ART 4928]. Students
produce a series of conceptually linked original artworks, along with a written artist's
statement.
