Electives and General Education Requirements

All of Camp’s associate degree programs require a minimum of 15 semester credit hours of General Education courses. General education, as an integrated and cohesive whole, provides the educational foundation necessary to promote intellectual and personal development. Upon completion of the associate degree, graduates of Virginia’s Community Colleges will demonstrate competency in student learning outcomes (SLOs) determined and assessed by each college in 1) civic engagement, 2) critical thinking, 3) professional readiness, 4) quantitative literacy, 5) scientific literacy, and 6) written communication. Collectively, these general education core competencies distinguish graduates of Virginia’s Community Colleges as individuals with a breadth of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to pursue further education and their careers, continue to develop as learners, and contribute to the well-being of their communities. These competencies are defined as follows:

Civic Engagement is the ability to contribute to the civic life and well-being of local, national, and global communities as both a social responsibility and a life-long learning process. Degree graduates will demonstrate the knowledge and civic values necessary to become informed and contributing participants in a democratic society.

Critical Thinking is the ability to use information, ideas and arguments from relevant perspectives to make sense of complex issues and solve problems. Degree graduates will locate, evaluate, interpret, and combine information to reach well-reasoned conclusions or solutions.

Professional Readiness is the ability to work well with others and display situationally and culturally appropriate demeanor and behavior. Degree graduates will demonstrate skills important for successful transition into the workplace and pursuit of further education.

Quantitative Literacy is the ability to perform accurate calculations, interpret quantitative information, apply and analyze relevant numerical data, and use results to support conclusions. Degree graduates will calculate, interpret, and use numerical and quantitative information in a variety of settings.

Scientific Literacy is the ability to apply the scientific method and related concepts and principles to make informed decisions and engage with issues related to the natural, physical, and social world. Degree graduates will recognize and know how to us the scientific method, and to evaluate empirical information.

Written Communication is the ability to develop, convey, and exchange ideas in writing, as appropriate to a given context and audience. Degree graduates will express themselves effectively in a variety of written forms.

Many of Camp’s programs contain electives. An Elective is a non-developmental semester credit hour requirement which can be fulfilled with a course a student chooses to take from a specified group of general education courses, and for some programs, courses in the student’s chosen area of training.

Camp’s Associate of Science and Associate of Arts and Sciences degree programs require Transfer Electives; which are courses designed for inclusion in a program intended for transfer. Students should note that not all of Camp’s electives may fulfill the general education requirements for other institutions or be transferable to every four-year college or university. Before selecting electives, consult a Camp advisor and the transfer guide for your prospective transfer institution(s). Additional information about Transfer Guides can be found in the Transfer Virginia Portal.

Courses that meet the minimum general education requirement in each degree program include:

• Humanities/Fine Arts: a course in Art (includes Photography), Communications Studies and Theatre courses other than CST 100 Public Speaking/oral communication courses, Literature, Humanities, Foreign Language, Music, Philosophy or Religion. An introductory foreign language course may not be used as the only course to fulfill the humanities/fine-arts requirement in a program of study. Courses in basic composition that do not contain a literature component may not be applied to the humanities/fine arts requirement.
• Social/Behavioral Sciences: a course in Economics, Political Science, History, Geography, Psychology, or Sociology.
• Natural Science/Mathematics: a course in Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Natural Science, Physics, or Mathematics (except mathematics courses specific to allied health).

General Education Passport

Camp offers the VCCS Passport, a 16-credit hour course of study in which all courses are transferable and will satisfy a lower-division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education in Virginia. The Passport consists of course blocks assigned specific courses. To satisfy the Passport students are required to complete the appropriate number of courses in each course block per the directions below. Student course selection should be carefully considered since the Passport is not designed to capture the complexities of individual programs of study at the four-year institutions. Students should take the Passport courses that best suits their intended program of study at the four-year institution. Courses that will be offered with regularity at Camp are marked with an asterisk*.

Select one course from Blocks I, III, IV, and V. One additional course must be selected from either Blocks II or VI.

1. Block I (Written Communication)
   • ENG 111 – College Composition I*
2. Block II (Humanities/Arts):
   • Art
   • ART 100 – Art Appreciation
   • ART 101– History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic*
   • ART 102 – History of Art: Renaissance to Modern
   • CST 130 – Introduction to Theatre
   • CST 151 – Film Appreciation I*
   • MUS 121 – Music in Society*
   • MUS 221 – History of Western Music Prior to 1750
   • MUS 222 – History of Western Music 1750 to Present
   • MUS 226 – World Music
   • Humanities
   • HUM 201 – Early Humanities*
   • HUM 202 – Modern Humanities*
   • HUM 210 – Introduction to Women and Gender Studies*
   • HUM 216 – Introduction to Non-Western Cultures
   • HUM 220 – Introduction to African American Studies
   • HUM 256 – Comparative Mythology*
   • HUM 259 – The Greek and Roman Tradition
   • PHI 100 – Introduction to Philosophy
   • PHI 111 – Logic I
   • PHI 220 – Ethics and Society*
   • REL 100 – Introduction to the Study of Religion*
   • REL 230 – Religions of the World
   • REL 237 – Eastern Religions
   • REL 240 – Religions in America
   • Literature
   • ENG 225 – Reading Literature: Culture and Ideas
   • ENG 245 – British Literature*
   • ENG 246 – American Literature*
   • ENG 250 – Children’s Literature*
   • ENG 255 – World Literature
   • ENG 258 – African American Literature
   • ENG 275 – Women in Literature
3. Block III (Social and Behavioral Sciences):
   • ECO 150 – Economic Essentials: Theory and Application
   • ECO 201 – Principles of Macroeconomics*
   • ECO 202 – Principles of Microeconomics*
   • GEO 210 – People and the Land: Intro to Cultural Geography
   • GEO 220 – World Regional Geography
   • PLS 135 – U.S. Government and Politics*
   • PLS 140 – Introduction to Comparative Politics
   • PSY 200 – Principles of Psychology*
   • SOC 200 – Introduction to Sociology*
   • SOC 211 – Cultural Anthropology
   • SOC 268 – Social Problems
4. Block IV (Natural Sciences):
   • BIO 101 – General Biology I*
   • BIO 102 – General Biology II*
   • BIO 106 – Life Science
   • CHM 101 – Introductory Chemistry
   • CHM 111 – General Chemistry I*
   • CHM 112 – General Chemistry II
   • ENV 121 – Foundations of Environmental Science
   • ENV 122 – Applications of Environmental Science
   • GOL 105 – Physical Geology
   • GOL 106 – Historical Geology
   • GOL 110 – Earth Systems: An Environmental Geology Perspective
   • PHY 100 – Elements of Physics
   • PHY 201 – General College Physics I (Algebra-Based)
   • PHY 202 – General College Physics II (Algebra-Based)
   • PHY 241 – University Physics I (Calculus-Based)
   • PHY 242 – University Physics II (Calculus-Based)
5. Block V (Mathematics):
   1. Quantitative/Statistics Pathway:
      • MTH 154 – Quantitative Reasoning*
      • MTH 155 – Statistical Reasoning*
      • MTH 245 – Statistics I
   2. Calculus Pathway:
      • MTH 161 - PreCalculus I**
      • MTH 162 – PreCalculus II**
      • MTH 167 – PreCalculus with Trigonometry**
      • MTH 261 – Applied Calculus I
      • MTH 263 – Calculus I*
      • MTH 264 – Calculus II
6. Block VI (History):
   • HIS 101 – Western Civilizations Pre-1600 CE
   • HIS 102 – Western Civilizations Post-1600 CE
   • HIS 111 – World Civilizations Pre-1500 CE
   • HIS 112 – World Civilizations Post-1500 CE
   • HIS 121 – United States History to 1877*
   • HIS 122 – United States History Since 1865*

** MTH 161/162 and 167 should only be taken by students preparing for calculus or for four-year degree programs that require study in College Algebra/PreCalc. Precalculus may not satisfy general education and may not receive transfer credit.