Assigning Sections

The following are the readings assigned in the first week of a section of ENGL 1200 Writing II (at Fitchburg State University), which meets General Education Writing and Information Literacy requirements. Note that only those two sections from the learning outcomes are assigned, along with selected introductory material.

Sections from Why Do I Have to Take This Course?:

• Chapter I: What Is General Education?
  • Part 1: Terminology
  • Part 2: Brief Historical Overview
  • Part 3: How General Education Requirements Are Created?
  • Part 4: Final Thought
• Chapter II: Why General Education?
  • Part 1: More Than a Checkbox
  • Part 2: How to Human (Effectively!) 101
  • Part 3: The Student, The Person, The Professional
  • Part 4: Final Thought
• Chapter IV: Foundation
  • Part 1: Information Literacy
  • Part 5: Writing
  • Part 6: Final Thought

Assigning as Course Textbook

IDIS 4200 Course Learning Integration (at Fitchburg State University) uses Why Do I Have to Take This Course? as the main textbook for the course. Students are asked to read through the entire book by the end of the semester.

The course description and learning outcomes of this course are as follows:

Course Description: Throughout your college career, you have taken a variety of courses, both those for your major and those in the General Education Program. Each had its own unique focus, and it served to check off a box on your transcript. In the whirlwind of the college experience, we don’t always have the time to stop and consider why we are in higher education and what we hope to apply from all of these courses and their learning outcomes to the rest of our lives. In College Learning Integration, we have the opportunity to do just that. We will consider what a liberal arts and sciences education means to each of us, what we have learned in our studies, how our chosen careers work together with the goals of the General Education Program, and how to continue our lifelong learning.

From University Catalog: “IDIS 4200 College Learning Integration is the culminating learning experience in the General Education Program. Students taking this course will engage with questions such as: what does it mean to receive a degree from a liberal arts and sciences university? What do individual careers have in common with General Education learning outcomes and skills as students look ahead to their personal and professional lives post-graduation? In this General Education capstone course, primarily through the development of a portfolio as well as other activities, students will reflect on their progress through the General Education curriculum and probe the significance of what it means to be a college-educated individual.”

What Will We Learn?

At the end of this course, successful students will be able to: 

• articulate the value of and the personal reasons for earning a degree at a liberal arts and sciences institution, particularly to potential employers;

• apply General Education learning outcomes and skills to real-world personal and professional situations and simulations;

• demonstrate how General Education learning outcomes and skills can be integrated together, utilizing multiple areas of knowledge and multiple modes of inquiry and benefiting from multiple perspectives;

• assess intellectual progress through reflections on and revisions of previous work within a portfolio;

• develop their insights effectively through written and oral communication; and

• apply information literacy skills and the steps of the research process in creative and/or independent ways.

General Education Syllabi Statement Examples

From ENGL 2200 British Literature I: Adventure and Transformation (at Fitchburg State University):

This course is part of the Exploration section of the General Education (GE) curriculum, addressing the Literary Inquiry and Analysis (LI) learning outcome. LI in the GE curriculum is defined as courses that “[e]ngage with and answer questions associated with diverse literary texts in relation to historical periods, themes, genres, and/or critical theories using literary analysis, critical evaluation, and theoretical interpretations.” This course, in particular, will focus on the textual, historical, and cultural contexts of literary texts from a variety of time periods (from Beowulf to Milton) and genres.

In addition, this course will build upon the Foundation for Lifelong Learning skills that you developed during your first year here at Fitchburg State University (or equivalent for transfer students), especially the Writing skills that you learned in ENGL 1100 Writing I and ENGL 1200 Writing II and the Information Literacy skills in FYE and Writing II. Writing in the GE curriculum is defined as courses that lead students to “[c]raft original texts to develop and express ideas working with different media including words, data and images.” Information Literacy is defined as courses that lead students to “[r]ecognize what information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use that information effectively and ethically.”

Each student may be taking this course to fulfill different requirements, such as General Education, their major, an elective, etc. If you have any questions about which requirement this course meets for you, please talk with your advisor.

From IDIS 4200 Course Learning Integration (at Fitchburg State University):