A New Look at General Education

Abstract

I summarize our general education model, compare it with other popular approaches, and discuss our approach to common challenges. All students complete the same four freshman seminars; each lasts the year and is fully active: no lectures. Approximately 115 learning objectives span four core competencies: critical and creative thinking and effective communication and interaction. This model differs from the four dominant models found in ~290 representative institutions of higher education. We avoided many challenges by building our plans into the foundations of the university from its inception, using a highly diverse team-based course development and teaching program, and continuing assessment on the learning objectives throughout all four years.