The General Education Program at Westmont

The General Education Program at Westmont Its goals and vision

The Graduation Requirements • Complete at least 124 units with at least a 2.0 GPA. • Complete the general education requirements • Complete a major with • at least 2.0 average in the upper-division major courses • at least one half of the upper division major requirements taken “at Westmont” • Complete 68 units outside the major department • Meet the senior residence requirement

The Purpose of the GE • Provide • Support for the major area of study • Tools to relate specialized knowledge to other areas of learning, to life, and to the world • Foster • Intellectual vitality • Christian character • Commitment to service

The Components of General Education at Westmont • Common Contexts • Common Inquiries • Commons Skills • Competent and Compassionate Action

Common Contexts – Purpose • Provide contextual background, concepts, vocabulary to support exploration in other areas • Ground our pursuit of knowledge in the context of God’s revelation • Orient students to the idea of a Christian Liberal Arts education

Common Contexts – Content • Biblical and Theological Canons • Life and Literature of the New Testament • Introduction to Christian Doctrine • Life and Literature of the Old Testament • Introduction to the Christian Liberal Arts • Philosophical Reflections on Truth and Value • World Civilizations in Christian Perspective

Common Contexts Special Considerations • Common Contexts courses must be taken at Westmont • These courses should be taken early – if possible, by the end of the second year.

Common Inquiries – Purpose • Provide an introduction to a range of methodological approaches to knowledge and ways of thinking • Provide a broad context within which to place the major discipline

Common Inquiries – Content • Reading Imaginative Literature • Exploring the Physical Sciences • Exploring the Life Sciences • Performing and Interpreting the Arts • Reasoning Abstractly • Thinking Globally • Thinking Historically • Understanding Society

Common Inquiries Special Considerations • These are method, not departmentally, based • You are encouraged to develop and submit courses from your discipline that address one of these categories • One time only, a student can use one course to satisfy two area requirements

Common Skills – Purpose • Improve communication skills to support academic, professional and personal life • Enhance the capacity to work with numerical data and analytic models • Develop physical skills and habits of fitness to support a healthy and active life

Common Skills – Content • Three writing or speech intensive courses • Writing for the Liberal Arts • writing/speech-intensive course in the major • writing/speech-intensive course outside the major • Quantitative and Analytical Reasoning • Modern/Foreign Language • Physical Education (4)

Common Skills Special Considerations The first two parts (A and B) are not assigned units – they should be done in the context of other GE or major courses

Common Skills Writing for the Liberal Arts • This course should be taken this during your first year • ENG 002: Composition is typically required • With a qualifying test score (ACT, SAT WR II, TSWE) a student may take an alternate writing-intensive course

Common Skills Modern/Foreign Language • Students must take a language course at their current level of expertise • Student placing into the fourth semester of a language or with an AP score of 4 or 5 are not required to take an additional language course. However, they are encouraged to do so.

Common Skills Physical Education • All students must take Fitness for Life (not necessarily first) and three additional activity courses • Since these courses are designed to establish a habit of life-long physical activity, only one PE Activity course per term will count toward the total unit count or the GE requirement • Athletes can use their sport one time

Competent and Compassionate Action – Purpose • Provide an opportunity to integrate the entire educational experience • Put learning into practice • Initiate the practice of life-long, reflective service

Competent and Compassionate Action – Contents • One of • Productions and Presentations • Integrating the Major Discipline • One of • Serving Society; Enacting Justice • Communicating Cross-Culturally

Competent and Compassionate Action – Details • These experiences are intended to be culminations of a student’s studies – they should be done in the junior or senior year • These must be done with the academic oversight, but need not be connected with a particular course • It is preferable, but not required, to satisfy these requirements in the context of the major

The Flow of a Westmont Education Major Competent & Compassionate Action Common Inquiries Common Skills Common Contexts

A Bit of Historical Context • The GE is currently referred to as the “New GE” • This year’s incoming class is the first group that will graduate under the new GE curriculum • This program is the result of five years of work – three years of development and two years of review for implementation

More Historical Context • We are still in the process of developing and approving courses • Few courses in the area of Competent and Compassionate Action have been approved yet • This year will focus on developing courses for the Serving Society; Enacting Justice area

A Bit of Political Context The new GE structure represents several significant shifts • Courses are oriented toward objectives and goals rather than being resources distributed to departments • The GE Committee reviews and approves courses for GE credit • Course syllabi are expected to explicitly address issues relevant to the GE area for which they are approved. • The GE areas and their courses will be reviewed on a rotating basis

A Call For Participation • Eventually, you will be involved in advising students in the new GE – Talk it up! • You are invited to develop and submit courses in any of the areas

The Course Submission Process • Review the specifications for the GE area • Consult as needed with experts in the area • Create/modify your syllabus in light of On the Role of the Syllabus • Complete the course submission form • Submit the proposal to the GE Committee via the Provost’s Office

Important Resources(Accessible through the curriculum link on the Provost’s web page or www.westmont.edu/ge) • The GE Document • The Supplemental Document • What Makes an Appropriate GE Course? • On the Role of the Syllabus • Syllabus Template • Course Submission Form • Lists of approved GE courses • This slide show

Questions? Major Competent & Compassionate Action Common Inquiries Common Skills Common Contexts

The General Education Program at Westmont