All-College Degree Requirements
In order to be awarded an associate’s degree from Northwest College, individuals must:
- Complete all specific program course requirements;
- Maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0;
- Successfully complete at least 25% of the program requirements at Northwest College;
- Meet all general education requirements for the specific degree.
General Education Outcomes
Northwest College is committed to outstanding learning outcomes for students. NWC adopted an assessment plan to learn about how well students do relative to expected learning outcomes at three levels: course, program, general education. Outcomes for each program are available from the Academic Affairs Office. Course outcomes are included in each syllabus.
First Year Seminar
Students majoring in an Associate Degree program are required to complete a First Year Seminar course as a part of their degree requirements. In First Year Seminar courses, students will be introduced to institutional resources, opportunities, and programs that enhance their academic and social success.
Students will:
- Take responsibility for their own education.
- Access and utilize campus student resources.
- Make use of a variety of computer programs and technology available to students for use.
- Develop both an academic plan and a career plan.
- Begin to develop a social connection with the institution.
- Access and utilize a variety of online databases and academic information resources for their research.
U.S. and Wyoming Constitutions
Mandated by state statute, students earning any degree from a college or the university in Wyoming must take coursework on the principles of the constitutions of the United States and the State of Wyoming.
Students will:
- Examine the formal and informal principles, processes, and structures of the U.S. and Wyoming constitutions and political systems.
- Analyze the historical development and cultural context of these constitutions and political systems.
- Evaluate the roles of responsible citizens and the institutions by which they are governed.
Communication
Effective communication is fundamental to academic success and pursuit of a career. Communication foregrounds the importance of creating messages in English and other languages that are appropriate for a given audience while considering purpose, context, and ethical implications. The emphasis is on written communication and oral communication (audience analysis, composition revision, editing, and documentation, delivery). Providing a foundation for effective communication is information literacy (locating, evaluating, and analyzing materials) to determine sources’ accuracy and appropriateness for a given rhetorical situation.
Students will:
- Describe the different purposes of written, oral, and digital messages and employ appropriate organizational strategies, including developing thesis statement and main ideas to meet the needs of specific audiences.
- Produce informative, analytical, and critical prose to respond to a particular task or audience.
- Deliver prepared presentations in a natural, confident, and conversational manner, displaying nonverbal communication that is consistent with and supportive of the oral message.
- Use the accepted conventions including spelling, grammar, organizational structure, punctuation, delivery and documentation in oral, written, and digital messages.
- Find, analyze, evaluate, and document information appropriately using a variety of sources, including library resources.
Quantitative Reasoning
Important questions can often be answered through the analysis of quantitative information. The ability to understand, use, and interpret quantitative arguments improves the efficiency of such analysis. Northwest College strives to develop a mathematical skill set that aids in the problem-solving process and guides one to a solution.
Students will:
- Isolate a pertinent question or problem.
- Use algebraic, numeric, or graphical representations to model the problem.
- Identify appropriate problem-solving techniques.
- Present convincing evidence to support a logical conclusion.
Physical and Natural Sciences
Northwest College strives to develop a scientific skill set that assists in analyzing data to guide decisions and facilitates problem solving in the physical and natural realms of the universe. Scientific reasoning includes the practice of recognizing a pertinent question or problem, identifying essential information to solve the question or problem, and using logical and valid reasoning to come to a solution.
Students will:
- Explain the principles of the scientific method.
- Formulate and test ideas through analysis and interpretation of data.
- Use scientific and quantitative logic to examine contemporary problems.
- Use quantitative data analysis as the basis for making critical judgments and drawing conclusions.
- Examine the impact of technology on science and society.
Human Condition
The character and complexities of the human species, as well as its behaviors, whether as individuals or in their collectivities as a subject of importance to civil society and the world. The framework of that discussion now includes a range of tools, methods and vocabularies across many disciplines that are legitimate and expected aspects of the manner in which an educated person contemplates these issues as a basis for evaluating individual and socio-cultural structures and perspectives within and beyond one’s own community. More than ever, diverse world views inform the educated person as she or he re-examines those structures and perspectives to understand the individual as a component in that context.
Students will:
- Describe the concept of the individual as a factor in society.
- Examine and explain differing human ideas, experiences, and perspectives and how those influence local and global societies, human behavior, and human social interactions.
- Examine the role of diversity in human societies and how diversity impacts individual and global change.
- Compare historical complexities and how those influence societies, politics, economics, social issues, and communications between groups of people.
- Discuss how one’s own perspective can be altered by exposure to worldviews.
Creativity
Creativity is a core human attribute that plays an important role in adaptability, interpersonal communication, inquiry, and innovation. The benefit of creativity to all disciplines is increased knowledge through broader understanding and the generation of new methods and ideas. Creativity can be realized through the processes of conceptions, research, problem-solving, understanding abstract/symbolic representations, and the act of production.
Students will:
- Utilize existing ideas, images, or works in original ways.
- Produce individual or collaborative forms of expression (e.g. oral, written, musical, or artistic).
- Recognize and discuss abstract and symbolic representation.
- Demonstrate resourcefulness in the process of problem solving.
- Develop relevant skills in the pursuit of aesthetic goals.
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