The General Education Program at Westmont

1. The General Education Program at Westmont Its goals and how to navigate the requirements

2. 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 your major department • Meet the senior residence requirement

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

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

5. Common Contexts – Purpose • Ground our pursuit of knowledge in the context of God’s revelation • Provide contextual background, concepts, vocabulary to support exploration in other areas

6. 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

7. Common Contexts Special Considerations • Common Contexts courses must be taken at Westmont • Take these courses early. Try to complete these requirements by the end of your second year.

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

9. 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

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

11. Common Inquiries Special Considerations • These are method, not departmentally, based • Be conscious of the requirement that 68 units be taken outside the major department when selecting these courses • One time only, you can use one course to satisfy two Common Inquiries requirements

12. 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

13. 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)

14. 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

15. Common Skills Writing for the Liberal Arts • You should take this during your first year • ENG 002: Composition is typically required • You may use an alternate writing-intensive course if you have a qualifying test score (ACT, SAT WR II, TSWE) • A qualifying score does not exempt you from the requirement – it gives you more course options.

16. Common Skills Writing/Speech-Intensive Courses • Take these at a rate of one per year • Take these in the context of another GE or major course • Writing/Speech-Intensive courses in the major are typically offered as upper division courses • Sections C and D of RS 20: Doctrine are writing-intensive

17. Common Skills Modern/Foreign Language • If you will be continuing in a language, your course level will be established by a placement exam • 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.

18. Common Skills Physical Education • All students must take Fitness for Life (not necessarily first) and three additional activity courses • You should take the PE Activity courses at the rate of at least one per year • Only one PE Activity course per term will count toward your total unit count or the GE requirement • Athletes can use their sport one time

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

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

21. Competent and Compassionate Action – Details • These experiences are intended to be culminations of your studies – they should be done in your 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 your major

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

23. AP, IB and A-Levels • Credit toward the total 124 required units is awarded for AP scores of 4 and 5 and IB (HL) scores of 5, 6 or 7 • Credit will be awarded after the registrar’s office has received official notice of the results • You can tell what credit has been awarded by checking the GE checklist • A maximum of 32 units will be accepted

24. AP, IB, A-Levels and the GE • AP/IB credit may not be used to satisfy Common Contexts requirements • Credit may be applied for up to three appropriate CommonInquiries requirements without restriction • AP credit may be applied to additional CommonInquiries areas upon completing an advanced course in the area at Westmont • Upon completion of the course, the student must file a form with the registrar's office

25. Planning for an Off-Campus Experience • Plan early • Talk with your major advisor • GE courses that are not likely to duplicate off-campus offerings • Common Contexts courses (5) • Reading Imaginative Literature • Exploring the Physical Sciences • Exploring the Life Sciences • Reasoning Abstractly

26. Liberal Studies Majors(Prospective Elementary School Teachers) • You will need to make specific choices for your GE courses to fit with your major • Consult carefully with your departmental advisor

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