GE American Cultures, Governance and History Literacy

I. Regulations

Davis Division Regulation 522 sets forth the Baccalaureate Degree Requirement in General Education. Civic and Cultural Literacy, a component of Core Literacies (522.C), includes the requirement for 3 units of coursework in American Cultures, Governance and History (522.C.2).

Regulation 523 sets forth the Criteria for General Education Certification of courses, stating “A course in American Cultures, Governance and History provides an understanding of the historical processes, institutional structures, and core analytic skills necessary to think critically about the nature of citizenship, government and social relations in the United States.” (523.C.4)

II. Interpretation

The objective of American Cultures, Governance, and History Literacy is to prepare students to take up the responsibilities and demands of citizenship in an increasingly interconnected and diverse nation.

Courses that meet the American Culture, Governance and History Literacy must present issues pertinent to the governance or history of the United States and analyze major forces underlying historical events and political institutions within the United States.

Minimum Elements Checklist

Courses in the American Culture, Governance and History Literacy must:

ME1) Demonstrate that a substantial portion of the course is:

  • Teaching students to develop the ability to bring historical understanding and analytical skills to understand the nature of participation in the civic spheres in American Society.
    -OR-
  • Teaching students to think analytically about the nature of citizenship, government, institutions, and social relations in the United States.

ME2) Provide specific demonstration and justification of how student competency in the American Cultures, Governance and History literacy will be assessed through student assignments, exams, surveys, or other means.

ME3) Demonstrate that achieving the minimum set of learning objectives of the literacy is an integral part of the class.

III. ICMS Submission Requirements

The Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI) evaluates whether the course proposal satisfies the minimum elements checklist above. COCI uses the information provided in the answers to the General Education literacy justification questions and the Expanded Course Description. Departments requesting that a course be approved for this GE literacy must answer the literacy questions in the Integrated Curriculum Management System (ICMS), as listed below.

For this literacy, COCI evaluates the minimum elements as follows:

  • ME1: ICMS literacy question 1
  • ME2: ICMS literacy question 2 and Expanded Course Description
  • ME3: Expanded Course Description
  1. How will the course provide an understanding of the historical processes, institutional structures and core analytical skills necessary to think critically about the nature of citizenship, government, and social relations in the United States?
  2. How will the instructors assess student competency in this GE literacy?

Departments may leave the “ICMS Justification” field blank, or use it to provide any additional information about the GE literacy for this course that may be helpful as COCI reviews the request.