Goals for Student Success

Western Wyoming Community College has identified five essential skills that will help you adapt to the changing demands of the 21st century. You will have opportunities both in and out of the classroom to develop these abilities. We will assess how well you have mastered these skills throughout your academic career:

• Communicate competently
• Retrieve and evaluate information
• See issues from multiple perspectives
• Think critically, analyze, and solve problems
• Develop life skills

Communicate Competently

To communicate competently requires you to develop skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. During your time at Western, you will learn to:

• Employ the conventions of standard English grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure in oral presentations or college-level writing assignments.
• Use appropriate structure to deliver oral presentations or college-level writing assignments with a clear thesis statement or hypothesis.
• Gather evidence and synthesize information from published work, lectures, or interviews to support the logical, stated conclusion in an oral presentation or college-level writing assignment.
• Present information in a visual form using charts, graphs, or other visual aids.
• Engage in appropriate academic dialog that expresses opinions respectfully and demonstrates comprehension of the topic at hand.

Retrieve and Evaluate Information: Information, Technology, and Media Literacy

In a world of rapidly expanding knowledge, the ability to retrieve and evaluate information is critical to success. During your time at Western, you will learn to:

• Use appropriate technology to strategically search for, select, and evaluate multiple formats and sources of information for their authority, accuracy, credibility, and relevance.
• Distinguish fact from opinion, hypotheses from theories, and identify anecdotal evidence as well as logical fallacies.
• Recognize and interpret different forms of visual, auditory, and observable communication such as works of fine and performing art, graphs or diagrams, text, or media.
• Document sources by following a system of citation appropriate to the discipline.

See Issues from Multiple Perspectives

Seeing issues from multiple perspectives is imperative in a global and diverse society. At Western, you will learn to:

• Describe the social and ethical responsibilities of the individual in society.
• Interact respectfully with persons of different ethnicity's, ages, abilities, economic statuses, languages, religions, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations, etc.
• Describe how the contributions of fine arts, film, literature, and performing arts influence the human experience.
• Describe how interactions among social, economic, political, cultural, environmental, historical, and biological factors affect the individual, society, and the environment.
• Engage in and contribute to the improvement of the campus, the community, the state, and the world.

Think Critically, Analyze, and Solve Problems

The ability to analyze a problem, think critically about it, and develop a strategy to solve it is one that requires higher-level reasoning. At Western, you will learn to:

• Identify issues, problems, assumptions, or questions being asked.
• Analyze and synthesize information to draw conclusions, propose solutions, identify possible consequences of those solutions, and make recommendations.
• Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis to interpret data.
• Apply appropriate and varied methods to solve problems.
• Employ concepts and scientific methods to form and test hypotheses.

Develop Life Skills: Personal, Academic, and Professional Development

"Life skills" include a diverse group of strengths and strategies that help an individual develop personally, mentally, emotionally, physically, and professionally. At Western, you will learn to:

• Develop and implement a plan, then evaluate progress toward achieving personal and professional growth and development.
• Identify and use available resources to support mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
• Accept the consequences of personal decisions regarding choices related to attendance, time management, and academic integrity.
• Establish and maintain effective relationships by treating others with respect and courtesy.