• Home
• The New GE Program
• Recent Changes to GE
  • Special Topics (380 Courses)
  • Newly Added or Changed Courses
  • Change to MTH 110
  • Change to Theme Requirement
  • WRT 305 placement / Junior-level writing requirement
  • Courses Removed from General Education
• Handbook and Quick Guide
• FAQ
  • FAQ General Education
  • FAQ Themes
  • FAQ Assessment
• Strategic Plan
  • Mission, Vision, and Values
  • Goals
  • Strategic and Assessment Plan
• Video
• Faculty Advising Tips
  • Advising Tips
• Assessment
  • Results: Student Learning in the GE Program
  • Goals for each GE Category
  • FAQ-Assessment
  • Flow Chart
  • Internal Flow Chart
  • Bloom's Taxonomy
  • Course Assessment Plan (CAP)
    • Blank CAP Form
  • Course Assessment Report (CAR)
    • Blank CAR Form
  • Collection Cycle
  • GE Assessment Rubric
  • GE Objectives
• GE Committee (GEC)
  • Meetings, Agendas and Minutes (F11 - W12)
  • Members
  • Archives - Past Agendas and Minutes
• Message from the Director

General Education Program

• Print
• Site Index
• Contact Us

Goals of the General Education Program

The General Education Program teaches the skills and knowledge needed to intelligently participate in public discourse. Mastery of critical content and the development of skills occur concurrently in all General Education courses.

Knowledge Goals:

1. The major areas of human investigation and accomplishment - the arts, the humanities, the mathematical sciences, the natural sciences, and the social sciences.

A generally educated person is able to understand a variety of disciplinary perspectives, their respective contributions to the growth of human knowledge, and the various approaches through which knowledge is generated, tested, and used.

2. An understanding of one's own culture and the cultures of others.

A generally educated person is able to comprehend and respond constructively to the world's diversity, a diversity manifested not only in ideas and ways of knowing but also in populations and cultures. As citizens of the United States, students should be familiar with our pluralistic heritage. As citizens of the world, students should be knowledgeable about cultures and perspectives different from their own.

3. The tradition of humane inquiry that informs moral and ethical choices.

A generally educated person is able to identify the values that shape his/her choices, assess the consequences of those choices, and understand alternate value perspectives. This enables one to make informed choices in light of ethical, moral, and practical concerns.

Skills goals:

1. To engage in articulate expression through effective writing and speaking.

A generally educated person has mastered the various forms of written and oral communication that permit full participation in a society and world dependent on the free interchange of ideas and information.

2. To think critically and creatively.

A generally educated person is able to think logically and creatively. Expressiveness, imagination, and originality are needed for innovation. Innovative ideas must be subjected to critical evaluation, which involves distinguishing information, judgment, and assumption; evaluating evidence and the logic of arguments; identifying and assessing differing perspectives and assumptions; and reasoning systematically in support of arguments.

3. To locate, evaluate, and use information effectively.

A generally educated person is able to locate, gather, assess, and process information from a variety of sources, and evaluate and use that information as the basis of informed judgments and intelligent decisions.

4. To integrate different areas of knowledge and view ideas from multiple perspectives.

A generally educated person is able to correlate and synthesize facts, basic concepts, and disparate knowledge into a coherent and meaningful whole. Making sense of a variety of data and experiences allows one to address human concerns in a broader way than can be accomplished through any one discipline.