Purpose of General Education
The purpose of general education at CalSouthern, a member of the AIU System, is to provide learners with a wide array of courses strategically crafted to integrate liberal arts, science, and general knowledge. This integration is geared towards fostering both personal and professional growth. The goal is to shape and empower learners into capable global citizens ready to meet the evolving demands of the workplace.
The framework and philosophy of the General Education curricula are shaped by the AIU System Mission, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Essential Learning Outcomes (Essential Learning Outcomes, n.d.) and the Lumina Foundation’s Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) (Lumina Foundation, 2014).
General Education courses are intended to teach students cross functional and transferable skills that can be applied to any discipline or professional setting and build a broad range of knowledge and skills that serve as the foundation for academic and professional success, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) Employer Survey. The courses offered in the general education curriculum aim to provide a holistic learning experience through intensive study of liberal arts topics. Through this approach, the curriculum aims to develop, refine, and derive creative-thinking techniques that can be applied directly to a discipline or profession. Other general education courses relate to academic preparation and non-cognitive (soft) skills. Students are required to take courses from each of the following distribution areas: Academic and Professional Success, English, Social Sciences, Math, Humanities, and Natural Sciences.
The System’s General Education Outcomes (GEOs), represent skills at the very core of liberal education and are designed to provide the foundation for each student’s personal development, to foster a love for lifelong learning as they advance through towards program completion. In addition, the GEOs represent skills valued by employers that help students prepare for professional success.
- INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATION Apply concepts, principles, methods, and prior knowledge from multiple domains (humanities, social, behavioral, and natural sciences) in the development of reasoned conclusions.
- COMMUNICATION Convey ideas, arguments, and information clearly and concisely.
- QUANTITATIVE REASONING Apply logic to draw conclusions based on mathematical information.
- INFORMATION LITERACY Use information from credible sources effectively and ethically.
- CRITICAL THINKING Develop reasoned conclusions by integrating information from multiple perspectives.
- DIVERSITY Integrate multiple and differing interpersonal and intercultural perspectives to address equity and inclusion in the development of reasoned conclusions.
- ETHICS Apply ethical principles and theories to situations.