General Education Goals

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Every student who graduates from Friends University will complete a general education program intentionally designed to build essential skills and prepare you for a diverse and ever-changing work environment. General Education courses are provided by different academic divisions to provide a cross-discipline approach to developing skills in critical thinking, quantitative analysis, written and verbal communications, and collaboration with peers from different disciplines.

Required Criteria for General Education Course Inclusion

The instructor must provide a sufficient amount of evidence to demonstrate how they are meeting the objectives with specific details. In most instances, 1-3 artifacts would be sufficient, but the General Education Committee may ask for more clarification.
The instructor must demonstrate expertise in the field according to the current faculty handbook.
All classes 500 level and above, that want to be a general education course, must allow undergrads to enroll in the course.

Eight Educational Goals

The University’s General Education Program has eight educational goals, each providing a number of distinct learning outcomes, which can be met by a variety of courses and educational experiences. General Education goals are best met early in a student’s undergraduate career, however, there are courses that are appropriate to take in a student’s junior and senior years.

Below are the eight educational goals of the Program with summary statements.

General Education Goal 1: Intellectual and Practical Skills

Developing relationships and skills to be used while in college: Students will be able to analyze and evaluate assumptions, claims, evidence, arguments, and forms of expression; develop effective study skills, find campus resources, and interact with others in the university community.

General Education Goal 2: Quantitative Literacy

Quantitative problem solving: Students will be able to define a problem, analyze numerical information, apply mathematical principles, and integrate quantitative methods into problem-solving.

General Education Goal 3: Communication Skills

Developing writing and speaking skills: Students will be able to generate, explore, organize, and convey ideas in writing and orally, using language and other media (for example, digital texts, images, and graphs) to present those ideas clearly, confidently, and in a manner appropriate to specific communication situations.

General Education Goal 4: Breadth of Knowledge

Exploring traditional disciplines: Students will be able to demonstrate basic competence in the principles, theories, and analytic methods used in each of the following: humanities, natural sciences, business, arts, social sciences, and history.

General Education Goal 5: Culture and Diversity

Examining diverse cultures: Students will be able to investigate the diversity of human experience within the United States and abroad, considering, for example, age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, and social class, and appreciate the contributions of different social groups. Students will examine a variety of perspectives in the global community, distinguish their own cultural patterns, and respond flexibly to multiple worldviews.

General Education Goal 6: Personal and Social Responsibility

Examining responsibility to self and society: Students will be able to develop and apply a combination of knowledge and skills to demonstrate an understanding of social responsibility and ethical behavior. Furthermore, students will be able to act on this understanding of social responsibility and ethical behavior to others in one’s local, national, or global community, and contribute positively via leadership, collaboration, or other direct action.

General Education Goal 7: Integration, Applied, Learning, Creativity

Synthesis of acquired knowledge put to use: Students will be able to analyze and combine information from different areas within or across disciplines to approach and explain existing questions and problems from new perspectives, pose new questions and generate new ideas. Furthermore, students will be able to think, react, and work in imaginative ways that produce innovative expressions and original perspectives.

General Education Goal 8: World Religion and Christianity

Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the role of Christian faith in contemporary society.