General Education at Elgin Community College
In classrooms and across campus, ECC students develop skills and knowledge necessary for academic, career, and civic success. Opportunities for curricular and co-curricular learning provide students the foundation to create meaningful lives as contributors to their local communities and throughout the interconnected world.
To promote lifelong learning, ECC provides opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and perspectives under the guidance of the following General Education Learning Outcomes:
Communication
Students will demonstrate effective communication skills by being able to:
C1. Identify audience, context, and purpose of messages.
C2. Read or listen to a variety of written texts, media formats, and images to comprehend and apply information.
C3. Create clear, well-organized written, oral or visual messages.
C4. Produce mechanically correct texts.
Scientific Literacy
Students will demonstrate scientific understanding by being able to:
SL1. Make observations and develop a testable hypothesis.
SL2. Collect and examine scientific data.
SL3. Evaluate, analyze, and draw valid conclusions.
SL4. Make reasoned judgments about the impact of science on the individual, community, society, and environment.
Quantitative Literacy
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the language of mathematics and its real-world applications by being able to:
QL1. Read and communicate with mathematical symbols and graphical representations.
QL2. Accurately perform measurements and calculations.
QL3. Analyze and interpret data.
QL4. Estimate the reasonableness of conclusions.
Critical Thinking
Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills by being able to:
CT1. Form logical arguments by interpreting, analyzing, and synthesizing multiple perspectives, experiences, assumptions, and evidence.
CT2. Develop reasoned solutions to problems by evaluating issues, ideas, facts, and inferences.
CT3. Make ethical, creative, and informed conclusions by using evidence and applying reasoning.
Information Literacy
Students will demonstrate information literacy by being able to:
IL1. Engage in an ongoing process of forming questions and identifying gaps in their knowledge related to a particular subject matter.
IL2. Utilize research tools to locate relevant sources that address their inquiry.
IL3. Determine the credibility of a source utilizing indicators of authority and purpose (such as publication type, author's credentials, intentions, and potential bias).
IL4. Credit or cite sources correctly and ethically.
Global & Multi-cultural Literacy
Students will begin to develop a sense of global awareness, cultural competence, and civic responsibility by being able to:
GML1. Identify the historical, cultural, and socioeconomic perspectives of living in a global society.
GML2. Describe, interpret, and analyze culture in self and others.
GML3. Take an active role in the community.
Waiver of General Education Requirements
An ECC student is expected to complete the general education requirements as outlined in each associate degree unless she/he has already received a bachelor’s degree from an accredited American college or university. Credit earned for academic courses completed at an institution in a country other than the U.S. may be accepted if it is recommended by Education Credential Evaluators (ECE) or World Education Services (WES).
An individual with a baccalaureate degree will have his/her general education courses within an associate degree considered completed unless his/her degree must meet specific requirements outlined by a professional accrediting body: e.g., National League for Nursing, American Bar Association, etc., or a specific course from the general education core is required for degree. In such cases, the coordinator of the department within which the associate degree is found must be consulted before substitutions are allowed.