Academic Learning Compact for the Philosophy Major

Academic Learning Compact:
The Major in Philosophy

1. What are Academic Learning Compacts?

Academic Learning Compacts are agreements that describe the communication skills, critical thinking skills, and content knowledge in the major (known collectively as Student Learning Outcomes) that students should acquire if they diligently follow the prescribed course of study. UF is required to assess student achievement in these Student Learning Outcomes through Individual Student Assessments before graduation. Satisfactory completion of the ISAs constitutes successful completion of the Academic Learning Compact.

Each baccalaureate degree program has formulated a set of ISAs suitable to the major. Each set of ISAs will require satisfactory completion of the baccalaureate degree, as specified in the Undergraduate Catalog, and meeting the Florida statutory requirements for the CLAST test. Each major will require one or more additional ISAs to satisfactorily complete the Academic Learning Compact.

Definitions:

Academic Learning Compact: UF's definition for each major of communication skills, critical thinking skills and content knowledge appropriate for that major.
Student Learning Outcomes: what students are expected to learn by completing a particular major.
Individual Students Assessments: the different ways in which UF will measure whether students have successfully completed the Learning Outcomes for a particular major.
These may include a passing score on a particular test, a final project, term paper, portfolio and so on. Faculty in each major have decided what the most effective means to do this is for their particular major.

2. The Compact for Philosophy

Students who complete the major in Philosophy should be familiar with the key problems and positions in the history of Western philosophy, be able to navigate the contemporary philosophical terrain by understanding the major positions and arguments in core areas, and have a working knowledge of formal logic. Students should, further, be competent at dealing with the kind of complex arguments typical of philosophy by being able to represent the arguments of others clearly and fairly and to evaluate them for cogency; students should also be able to construct original and persuasive arguments of their own. Finally, they should be able to write about the kind of abstract and conceptually elusive topics encountered in philosophy in a manner at once clear, nuanced, and compelling.

3. Student Learning Outcomes

This table shows the seven Student Learning Outcomes for philosophy and how the core courses in the Major help students achieve them.

	PHH 3100	PHH 3400	PHI 3130	PHI 3950	PHI 3300	PHI 3650 or 4662
Content Knowledge/Skills:
1. History of Western Philosophy	X	X
2. Contemporary philosophy					X	X
3. First-order logic			X
Critical Thinking Skills:
4. Analyzing Arguments	X	X	X	X	X	X
5. Persuasive Argumentation	X	X		X	X	X
Communication Skills:
6. Comprehension of complex texts	X	X		X	X	X
7. Clear and persuasive writing	X	X		X	X	X

4. Individual Student Assessments

1. Complete the requirements for the baccalaureate degree, as determined by faculty.
2. Satisfy Florida statutory requirements for the CLAST test.
3. Earning a C or better in all courses satisfying the philosophy major area distribution requirements, thereby demonstrating a basic achievement of SLOs 1 through 3, with the grade in each course being determined in accordance with the departmental grading rubric.
4. Completion of a Model Paper in either PHI 3950 or a 4000-level philosophy class, requiring demonstration of SLOs 4 through 7, earning a B or better as graded according to the departmental grading rubric.