Susan Mendoza
Director of Integrative Learning
Phone: 616-331-8100
integrative@gvsu.edu

181 Lake Ontario Hall
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401
LIB 100 Co-curriculm

Grand Valley State University recognizes that part of embracing the mission of liberal education means students also need to understand liberal education in order to fully claim its benefits. The Liberal Studies Department and the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, therefore added, starting in fall 2005, forty-two additional sections of Introduction to Liberal Education (LIB 100) to the university’s class schedule.  

We, along with the admissions office, advising faculty, and student affairs, encourage first year students to select LIB 100 in their first or second semester.  Faculty members from various disciplines teach these courses. These first-year only Lib 100 sections include the integration of a co-curriculum.

The co-curriculum is modeled after the American Association of Colleges and Universities
(AAC&U) Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) learning outcomes.

“Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is an initiative that champions the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essential learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study“
www.aacu.org

These outcomes are defined as the following:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World, including:

  •  Study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, including:

  •  Inquiry and analysis
  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Written and oral communication
  • Quantitative literacy
  • Information literacy
  • Teamwork and problem solving

Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility, including:

  • Civic knowledge and engagement -- local and global
  • Intercultural knowledge and competence
  • Ethical reasoning and action
  • Foundations and skills for lifelong learning

Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

Integrative Learning, including:

  •  Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies

Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems

Each student is obligated to attend an event which will facilitate learning towards one of these learning outcomes.  The student will determine which event will fulfill each goal based on the program's description and objectives.

  Last Modified Date: September 1, 2009
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