GVSU General Education Program

ESSENTIAL SKILLS OUTCOMES |TOP|

Graduates are proficient in:

1. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
   • Creates an environment in which everyone feels they can contribute as well as constructively building on or synthesizing the contributions of others. Notices when someone is not participating and works to engage them. Provides a way to assess and address team members' concerns as the project proceeds.
   • Participates in creating a plan that effectively utilizes members' strengths or helps them develop new skills, clearly articulates and allocates roles and tasks to meet deadlines, and establishes a mutually agreed upon accountability system.
   • Completes all assigned tasks by the deadline, revising and adjusting plans as needed; proactively helps other team members complete their assigned tasks. 
2. Critical thinking: Comprehensively evaluate issues, ideas, artifacts, or events before forming a conclusion.
   • States an issue clearly and describes it comprehensively.
   • Develops a position or interpretation, based on evidence, that thoroughly takes into account the complexities of an issue, idea, artifact, or event, the limits of the position or interpretation, and other points of view.
   • Develops conclusions, implications, and consequences that are logical and reflect an informed evaluation based on strength of evidence. 
3. Ethical reasoning: Apply ethical principles and codes of conduct to decision making.
   • Recognizes ethical issues when presented in a complex, multilayered (gray) context and can recognize interrelationships among the issues.
   • Applies ethical theories to a complex issue accurately and considers the full implications of the application.
   • States a position in-depth and effectively defends against other ethical perspectives. 
4. Information literacy: Identify the need for information; access, evaluate, and use information effectively, ethically, and legally.
   • Defines the scope of the research question or thesis with clarity and appropriate depth.
   • Accesses information by using effective, well-designed search strategies and the most relevant research tools.
   • Chooses a variety of quality sources appropriate to the scope and discipline of the research question, incorporating seminal works and essential theorists/thinkers by using multiple evaluative criteria.
   • Organizes and synthesizes information from sources to fully achieve the intended purpose, with clarity and depth. Completely and accurately cites all information sources used. 
5. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.
   • Connects examples, facts, or theories from multiple disciplines and applies them to new, complex situations. 
6. Oral communication: Effectively prepare and deliver a formal oral presentation.
   • Organizes the presentation in a clear, consistent, and cohesive manner, while also stating a thesis that is compelling, precisely stated, appropriately repeated, and strongly linked to the supporting material.
   • Uses language and delivery techniques that make the presentation compelling and the speaker appears polished and confident.
   • Uses a variety of supporting materials that significantly enhances the presentation. 
7. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
   • Constructs a clear and insightful problem statement that includes all relevant contextual factors.
   • Identifies multiple approaches for solving the problem that applies to a specific context.
   • Proposes one or more solutions/hypotheses that are sensitive to contextual factors and the ethical, logical, and cultural dimensions of the problem. 
8. Quantitative Literacy: Work effectively with numerical data.
   • Calculations are correct, solve the problem, and are presented clearly and concisely.
   • Skillfully converts data into an insightful mathematical portrayal in a way that contributes to a deeper understanding.
   • Uses the quantitative analysis of data as the basis for deep and thoughtful judgments, drawing insightful, carefully qualified conclusions. 
9. Written communication: Write effectively for multiple purposes and audiences.
   • Develops relevant and compelling content that is appropriate for the intended audience and purpose and illustrates the writer's mastery of the subject.
   • Successfully follows and executes a wide range of writing practices particular to a specific discipline, audience, purpose, and writing task.
   • Skillfully integrates high-quality, credible, relevant sources that are appropriate for the discipline, audience, purpose, and writing task to develop the writer's own ideas.
   • Uses language that skillfully communicates meaning to readers with clarity and fluency; consistently follows appropriate grammatical conventions.

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WRITING REQUIREMENTS |TOP|

1. General Education Foundations Writing requirement
2. SWS requirement (two courses)

1. General Education Writing Requirement

Students can complete the GE Foundations Writing requirement by taking either WRT 150 or WRT 120 and 130. If you feel confident in your writing skills and have experience writing researched essays, it is recommended you take WRT 150 during the fall or winter of your first year. If you have less experience writing in high school or you would like more practice and support to develop your writing skills, you should register for WRT 120 in the fall and WRT 130 in the winter.

WRT 120 — Strategies in Writing - Stretch IThe first course in a two-course sequence designed for students who desire more time, practice, and support to complete the first-year writing requirement. Students will practice drafting and researching strategies and gain confidence in their writing and research skills. Students develop fluency and master conventions of standard academic writing.

WRT 130 — Strategies in Writing - Stretch IIContinuation of WRT 120. Students learn strategies for research-based writing. They practice writing processes to build well-supported arguments and incorporate sources. Students must earn a grade of C (not C-) or better to fulfill the Foundations – Writing requirement. WRT 120 and 130 or WRT 150 are prerequisites to SWS courses.

WRT 150 — Strategies in WritingStudents practice different kinds of academic writing and learn strategies for rhetorical research-based writing. They practice writing processes to build well-supported arguments and incorporate sources. Students must receive a grade of C (not C-) or better to fulfill the Foundations – Writing requirement. WRT 150 is a prerequisite for any SWS course. Credits: 4
2. Supplemental Skills Writing Skills Requirement

After completing WRT 130 or WRT 150 with a grade of C (not C-) or better, students must take two courses designated SWS. These courses are designated SWS in each semester's course schedule. Not all sections of a multisection course are designated SWS; only those sections that carry the designation will result in SWS credit. Supplemental Writing Skills.

• Transfer students with a MACRAO or MTA associate's degree must pass one SWS course with a grade of C or better.

Guidelines for Enrolling in SWS Courses

• Students must earn a grade of C (not C-) or better to receive SWS credit. If a student does not earn at least a C in an SWS course, they can repeat the course or take and successfully complete another SWS course.
• Students should complete the Foundations - Writing requirement with a grade of C (not C-) or better before enrolling in an SWS class.

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HEALTH |TOP| 

Including issues related to equity, disparities, health systems, finance, ethics, access, quality of care, safety, happiness, human development, genetics, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about health.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.

• Courses in this Category

HUMAN RIGHTS |TOP| 

Including issues related to political systems, power, war, peace, violence, terrorism, wealth, poverty, privacy, religion, gender, women, children, disabilities, labor, aging, incarceration, torture, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about human rights.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.

• Courses in this Category

IDENTITY |TOP| 

Including issues related to gender, sexuality, religion, culture, race, class, family, community, difference, education, technology, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about identity.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.

• Courses in this Category

INFORMATION, INNOVATION, OR TECHNOLOGY |TOP| 

Including issues related to media, privacy, access, transparency, intellectual property, ethics, economics, creativity, education, politics, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about information, innovation, or technology.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.

• Courses in this Category

SUSTAINABILITY |TOP| 

Including issues related to the environment, population, natural resources, economic development, social justice, energy, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how complementary and competing perspectives contribute to the ongoing discussion about sustainability.
2. Collaboration: Effectively work on a team.
3. Problem solving: Design and evaluate an approach to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
4. Integration: Apply knowledge from multiple disciplines to new, complex situations.

• Courses in this Category

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