Graduate Learning Outcome Statement
Master of Arts in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics

Mission Statement
UNF's M.A. in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics seeks to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to apply ethical and philosophical reasoning to issues of pressing concern in social, political, and cultural life. This primary objective is pursued through the advanced academic study of applied ethics and moral, social, political, and cultural philosophy so as to develop essential capabilities in ethical decision-making, cultural understanding, and analytic reasoning. The program's aim is excellence in general comprehension of the relation between normative issues and institutional, social, cultural, and political contexts, while equally leading students toward independent and original scholarship. Its philosophical focus consists in (i) applying ethical reflection to specific dilemmas encountered in public and professional life; (ii) understanding the normative and philosophical assumptions that inform our experience of cultural, political, and social phenomena; and (iii) appreciating the complex interconnections between applied and theoretical considerations with regard to social, cultural, and political contexts. The particular relevance of the MA is claimed by addressing issues of immediate social importance, such as health care reform, cloning, stem cell research, the environment, effects of economic globalization, the reach of universal human rights, global terrorism, multiculturalism, race and gender, and the conditions of intercultural and cross-religious dialogue, among others. The department is committed to regular and ongoing self-scrutiny of all its efforts, including its pedagogy, curriculum, recruitment and retention practices, as well as its ability to place its graduates in relevant professions and/or to prepare them for further graduate study.

General Learning Outcomes
• To achieve a comprehensive, sophisticated, and critical understanding of the major developments and historical traditions in applied ethics and practical philosophy.
• To display sovereign mastery in the ability to apply theoretical insights to concrete issues of ethical, social, and professional concern, as addressed in bioethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, government and legal ethics, multiculturalism theory, race and gender theory, globalization theory.
• To display superior critical reasoning and philosophical argumentation skills, both written and oral, with regard to conceptual and normative analysis, especially as relevant for assessing pressing issues in culture, society, public life, and the professions.
• To master the methods and argumentative procedures needed to develop a sustained, thesis-driven, well-argued and convincing argument that provides an in-depth analysis of some concrete problem or problems in economic, medical, legal, pedagogical, cultural, and governmental contexts.

Assessment Strategies/Approaches
We suggest that the assessment strategy follows the ´embedded approach,' by which is meant the analysis of in-class student-generated material that is a regular part of the MA curriculum, but which will be analyzed using a specifically designed spread-sheet based on the GLOs. Contrary to merely analyzing the student´s progress at the completion of the 2-year program, which consists in the MA thesis or an Internship report plus research essay, we suggest to continuously monitor progress toward achieving the GLOs.

Concrete suggestion:
1. Level (relating to the first year of study)
The term paper of each one of the two Proseminars (Proseminar 1: Practical Philosophy in Culture and Society, and Proseminar 2: Methods in Applied Ethics) is analyzed according to a spread-sheet entailing the four GLO-categories and a ranking system of achievement (1 - 5)
2. Level (relating to the second year of study)
The final thesis, consisting either of one MA-thesis or an extensive internship report and a related research essay, is analyzed according to a spread-sheet entailing the four GLO-categories and a ranking system of achievement (1 - 5).

This system allows to monitor the progress that each individual student makes, as well as showing how the program as a whole achieves the realization of its declared learning outcomes by monitoring its internal phases. Year 1 and year 2 would be assessed with reference to their different emphasis: the first year being directed more toward comprehensive knowledge, the second year more directed toward independent and innovative scholarship.

Improvement
The self-monitoring system suggested above will allow to begin improving and ameliorating possible problems not only at the end of one class (so as to benefit the subsequent ones), but already with regard to each class at stake. Since the first data will be about a class´ first year, the process of improving any area of content, knowledge, or skill can ´kick in´ while the students are in their second year. We suggest that at the completion of the academic year, the graduate committee will retreat/meet to discuss evaluation data, evaluate accomplishments and perceived deficits of that year's performance, and set goals for the next academic year.