3. B.2. The institution articulates the purposes, content, and intended learning outcomes of its undergraduate general education requirements. The program of general education is grounded in a philosophy or framework developed by the institution or adopted from an established framework. It imparts broad knowledge and intellectual concepts to students, and develops skills and attitudes that the institution believes every college-educated person should possess.
Philosophy and Beliefs
The Robert B. Miller College believes an educated person is one who possesses knowledge, skills, approaches to inquiry, and global understandings that will prepare the graduate in what is necessary to continue a life of inquiry and continual learning which includes oral and written communication skills. The College communicates these beliefs through different media including the College catalog, the student handbook, the Miller College Website, and in each course syllabus distributed to students at the beginning of a semester. In this way, the College articulates the purposes, content, and intended learning outcomes of its undergraduate general education requirements.
Core Courses
The core courses are grounded in the philosophy and corresponding framework that students must have a range of skills that would then be applicable to any program and that historically describe the liberally educated college graduate. The program of general education focuses on students acquiring a breadth of knowledge and skills, most notably through the core courses required by all students. These include science, math, Junior Seminar, Advanced Composition and Textual Analysis and Senior Seminar, and globally-oriented course for which there are choices for course fulfillment. The design of each class involves inquiry and the study of problems from multiple perspectives. One example is SOCI 310: Human Diversity. Ethnographic research designs send students into the community to answer research questions about issues of poverty, cultural and gender, as well as, physically and mentally challenged populations (See Course Descriptions for Human Diversity (348 KB, PDF)). Some type of research is involved in each of the core courses, and the cooperation of these core courses prepares the student to use knowledge from different disciplines to solve problems and accomplish goals. The courses in statistics and research design are obvious examples, and less obvious is Senior Seminar which requires students to present artifacts from each class taken and examine, among other reflective questions, the interrelationship of course products. A general education influences more specific program goals. This cooperation of studies continues within programs: Managerial Accounting, Finance I and II, Business and Strategic Planning, and Senior Seminar are dove-tailed and sequenced in knowledge and skill application. This model is an exemplar for similar sequencing of skills and knowledge in other Miller College programs. This breadth of skills is preserved and promoted through evaluation of curriculum and instruction involving alumni and other external constituents who understand the course relationship (See Survey to Alumni). Miller College Core Requirements are included in an annual review of the Miller College Catalog and Student Handbook by the Academic Affairs Committee, the Academic Policies Committee, and the Miller College Board of Trustees.
Evidence:
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