General Education

E. Derek Taylor, PhD, Director

The General Education Program: Purpose, Criteria, Goals, Outcomes, and Core Courses

In support of the University’s mission of inspiring students to become citizen leaders for the common good, the purpose of the General Education Program at Longwood is the development of disciplined, informed, and creative minds. General Education is the foundation upon which all other learning is built and is therefore the central component of a Longwood education.

In seeking to develop foundational knowledge and skills, the General Education program at Longwood recognizes the benefits to students both of common educational experiences and of more diverse course offerings. Students share a common core of coursework that begins at the lower-level with a focus on active citizenship in a freshman seminar and ends at the upper-level with a general education capstone course that addresses citizen leadership through writing and with an internship, a field experience, or a directed research project where students put their skills to work. Also in the core program are courses in writing, western civilization, an intermediate-level foreign language, and health and fitness. Students exercise intellectual agency by choosing from a variety of courses to develop their knowledge and skills in scientific and quantitative reasoning, our cultural heritage as expressed in art and literature, social science, cultural diversity, and ethics.

General Education Course Criteria

All core courses are specifically designed to satisfy the following nine criteria. Together, these criteria define what a General Education course is at Longwood University.

Courses satisfying all goals except Goal 14 will:

1. Teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry (for example, literary analysis, statistical analysis, historical interpretation, philosophical reasoning, aesthetic judgment, the scientific method) and provide students with practice in applying their disciplinary mode of inquiry, critical thinking, or problem solving strategies.
2. Provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry.
3. Consider questions of ethical values.
4. Explore past, current, and future implications (for example, social, political, economic, psychological, technological, or philosophical) of disciplinary knowledge.
5. Encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives.
6. Provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data.
7. Require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words.
8. Foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines.
9. Provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen.

General Education Goals, Outcomes, and Core Courses

The General Education Program comprises fourteen goals. A total of 38 hours of credits is required.

Major programs may not require or specify courses to be used to satisfy general education goals, with the following exceptions:

• A major program may designate which Goal 12 course its students must take.
• A major program may include the course that its students take to satisfy Goal 12 as a requirement of the major.
• Students who complete a required internship, guided field experience or directed research experience as part of their major course of study are exempted from Goal 14.

The Dean may authorize a waiver for any goal when a student, due to major requirements, must take at least two courses listed for that goal. NOTE: Goals 12, 13, and 14 comprise requirements that are not fulfilled through articulation agreements.

In addition to addressing the general education criteria, all courses listed under each goal have also been designed to help students achieve the specific outcomes required for that goal.

Complete course descriptions can be found in the Academic Programs section of this Catalog. Normally, a General Education course should be offered at least once per year.

Lower-Division General Education Goals, Outcomes, and Courses

• Goal 1.
    
• Goal 2.
   
• Goal 3.
   
• Goal 4.
   
• Goal 5.
   
• Goal 6.
   
• Goal 7.
   
• Goal 8.
   
• Goal 9.
   
• Goal 10.
   
• Goal 11.
   

Upper-Division General Education Goals, Outcomes, and Courses

NOTE: Goals 12, 13, and 14 comprise upper-division requirements that are not fulfilled through articulation agreements.

• Goal 12.
   
• Goal 13.
    
• Goal 14.