What You’ll Learn

General Education

The Department of General Education encompasses two program areas: Humanities and Social Sciences and Mathematics and Physics.

Objectives

The core curriculum in these programs promotes effective communication skills, critical thinking, teamwork, information literacy, professionalism, ethical decision-making, logical analysis, and problem solving. Courses focus on the specific academic skills required for success in the engineering and industrial technologies.

The Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum provides 12 to 15 credits of courses for each technical degree program. Two standard three-credit English courses (EN130 College Composition I and EN140 College Composition II) are required for all degree students in the first two semesters. Depending on placement and performance, a student may need one or more additional semesters of course work in order to complete the requirements for an associate degree. The department also offers many elective courses to satisfy the remaining 6 to 9 credits required by each technical program.

The Mathematics and Physics curriculum is designed to provide a solid foundation in mathematics through a range of course offerings relevant to a student’s technical degree program. Each BFIT degree program requires at least two semesters of college math that emphasize building a strong foundation of mathematics knowledge. Many programs require additional math courses, where students expand on their foundational knowledge and explore additional technical applications. Many engineering technology programs require students to complete the math sequence through Calculus II, courses which can typically be used for transfer if a student in the engineering technology programs wants to continue his or her studies upon completing an associate degree.

Student Outcomes

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences: Upon successful completion of the courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the student will be able to:

• Employ effective communications skills in a variety of academic and professional settings, while working in teams and individually.
• Employ efficient study skills, note-taking, and critical thinking.
• Analyze and adjust their own communication behavior dependent upon audience, purpose, and occasion to demonstrate clarity and effectiveness in academic and professional contexts.
• Demonstrate an understanding of writing as a process which includes pre-writing, composing, editing, and proofreading to produce documents with clear purpose, workable organization, and minimal errors in usage or convention.
• Demonstrate an awareness of global, social, and ethical issues in their historical and cultural contexts through written work and discussion.
• Demonstrate information literacy by accessing, interpreting, and ethically using information.
• Acquire the skills to engage in lifelong learning in their professional fields and beyond.
• Contribute effectively to a team with strong communication and sound negotiation skills.

Mathematics and Physics: Upon successful completion of the courses in the Department of Mathematics and Physics, the student will be able to:

• Use mathematical reasoning to solve problems, demonstrating the ability to use symbolic, graphical, numerical, and written representations of mathematical ideas.
• Demonstrate proficiency in the basic concepts of algebra.
• Effectively apply mathematics and physics concepts and critical reasoning skills to solve application problems.
• Effectively communicate quantitative information.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the mathematics and physics required for their major by showing proficiency in the skills and concepts embedded in their technical courses.
• Demonstrate capability to access and utilize resources that will facilitate further learning in mathematics, physics, technical courses, and future careers.
• Demonstrate an understanding of physics concepts through laboratory experiments.