Consistent with its mission and guiding principles, Florida Gulf Coast University is committed to academic excellence and continuous quality improvement, as supported by a sound teaching-learning process. Within this process, students and instructors share responsibility for learning that is a movement from the simple to the complex, the concrete to the abstract, and the dependent to the independent. The Academic Learning Compact (ALC) initiative supports the teaching-learning process by clearly identifying expected core student learning outcomes in the areas of content/discipline knowledge and skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills; aligning curricula with expectations; and using assessment to guide continuous improvement.

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Define and effectively employ core concepts and terminology of anthropology, including the broad categories of human diversity and culture.
2. Recognize and explain past and current trends in anthropological thought. 
3. Competently employ ethnographic and/or archaeological field methods for collection, management and analysis of data.
4. Articulate and effectively translate anthropological concepts into common language for non-anthropologists. 
5. Competently use word processing, spread sheets and relational databases in management and analysis of data.
6. Evaluate scholarly and web-based research in order to assess validity and feasibility of written and verbal materials and proposals, such as   articles, web sites, and popular media representations of anthropological concepts.

Assessment of Content/Discipline Knowledge and Skills

Content/discipline knowledge and skills are assessed at the college and departmental levels through:

1. Embedded exam questions, papers and other assignments completed in ANT3390 Visual Anthropology; ANT 4034 History of Anthropological Thought ; ANT 4931 Senior Seminar; ANT 2511 Intro to Physical Anthropology; ANT 3141 Development of World Civilization; and ANT 3640 Language and Culture.
2. Standardized Field Methods Log in ANT 3495 Research Methods in Anthropology; ANT 3824 Archaeological Field Methods; and ANT 4940 Project Presentation. Anthropology students must complete either an internship experience in ANT 4940, a study abroad in ISS 4955, or a cultural immersion study in ANT 4907.
3. Program Portfolio in ANT 4931 Senior Seminar in Anthropology.  Students will assemble an integrated collection of past work that illustrates competency in anthropological outcomes.

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Employ the conventions of standard written English.
2. Select a topic, and develop it for a specific audience and purpose, with respect for diverse perspectives.
3. Select, organize, and relate ideas and information with coherence, clarity, and unity.
4. Effectively communicate a position or judgment informed by the anthropological perspective and subsumed language, methodology and theory
5. Competently use word processing, spread sheets and relational databases in management and analysis of data.

Communication skills are assessed as part of the General Education Program through papers, exams, and projects completed in ENC 1101 Composition I, ENC 1102 Composition II, and HUM 2510 Understanding the Visual and Performing Arts. Communication skills are also assessed in the ANT 4931 Senior Seminar in Anthropology.

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Select and organize information.
2. Identify assumptions and underlying relationships.
3. Synthesize information, and draw reasoned inferences.
4. Formulate an appropriate problem solving strategy.
5. Evaluate the feasibility of the strategy.
6. Competently use the internet as a source of information, including the ability to critically evaluate web-based data for meaning and credibility.

Critical thinking skills are assessed as part of the General Education Program through papers, exams, and projects completed ENC 1101 Composition I, ENC 1102 Composition II, and HUM 2510 Understanding the Visual and Performing Arts. Critical thinking skills are also assessed in ANT 4931 Senior Seminar in Anthropology.