Dec 09, 2024  
2019-2020 Academic Catalog 
    
2019-2020 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Institutional Core Objectives


Given the rapid evolution of necessary knowledge and skills and the need to take into account global, national, state, and local cultures, the core curriculum must ensure that students will develop the essential knowledge and skills they need to be successful in college, in a career, in their communities, and in life. Therefore, with the assistance of the Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee, the Coordinating Board has approved guidelines for a core curriculum for all undergraduate students in Texas.

Through the application and assessment of objectives within the institution’s core curriculum, students will gain a foundation of knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world; develop principles of personal and social responsibility for living in a diverse world; and advance intellectual and practical skills that are essential for all learning.

Appropriate Odessa College faculty periodically evaluate all of the courses listed in the descriptions on the following pages of this catalog and keys them to Odessa College’s Institutional Core Objectives (ICOs), as defined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The numbers found at the end of each course description refer to the following list of objectives as adopted by Odessa College:

Odessa College’s Institutional Core Objectives (ICOs):

  1. Critical Thinking Skills - to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information
  2. Communication Skills - to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication
  3. Empirical and Quantitative Skills - to include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions
  4. Teamwork - to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
  5. Personal Responsibility - to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making
  6. Social Responsibility - to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities

NOTE: Additional course pre-requisites, co-requisites, and other special requirements may also be found at the end of each course description.