Student Learning Outcomes

The following goals and learning outcomes were developed by the History faculty based on the American Historical Association’s “Tuning Project” to “describe the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that students develop in history … degree programs.”

(Program goals are in bold, student learning outcomes are enumerated beneath each goal)

1. Develop historical knowledge.
   1. Recognize and explain historical processes, continuity, and change.
   2. Develop a body of historical knowledge with breadth of time and place—as well as depth of detail—in order to discern context.
   3. Examine global communities and cultures, and their interaction in history.
2. Evaluate and employ historical methods.
   1. Recognize history as an interpretive account of the human past—one that historians create in the present from surviving evidence.
   2. Collect, question, organize, synthesize, and interpret a variety of historical sources.
   3. Practice ethical historical inquiry through proper acknowledgement of sources.
3. Recognize the provisional nature of historical knowledge
   1. Describe past events from multiple perspectives.
   2. Identify, summarize, appraise, and synthesize other scholars’ historical arguments.
   3. Evaluate historical arguments, explaining how they were constructed and might be improved.
4. Create historical arguments and narratives.
   1. Generate substantive, open-ended questions about the past and employ research strategies to answer them.
   2. Craft well-supported historical narratives, arguments, and reports of research findings.
   3. Synthesize research with existing narratives, making an original argument.
5. Use historical perspective to inform active citizenship
   1. Historicize contemporary issues by correlating them to the past.
   2. Practice civil discourse and respect for diverse perspectives.

 

Note: Specializations carry the following additional outcomes, as noted.

• 5.3 (public history): Effectively communicate historical research and narratives to a broad public audience
• 5.3 (history for business): Apply historical perspectives on ethical and social issues relevant to business*
• 5.3 (history and media): Develop expertise across media platforms to craft creative, aesthetically effective messages according to media industry standards.**
• 5.3 (pre-law): Apply historical research and writing skills to analysis of the law / legal history, writing appropriately for the legal profession^

* Business concepts will be introduced and developed in BUS courses as required.
** Media concepts will be introduced and developed in COM courses as required.
*** Educational concepts will be introduced and developed in TED courses as required.
^ Law concepts will be introduced and developed in POL courses as required.