General education courses provides the experiences, knowledge and skills you need to successfully manage life’s challenges. Benedictine’s General Education Curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, community, and real-world experiences that link classroom knowledge with current problems.
Your major will prepare you for your first job, but General Education will prepare you for the rest of your life.
General education courses provide the experiences, knowledge and skills you need to successfully manage life’s challenges. They teach students that there are multiple ways to study and solve problems, and stress the importance of being an informed and active citizen. Benedictine’s General Education Curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, community, and real-world experiences that link classroom knowledge with current problems. The curriculum includes Basic Skills courses, Distribution Requirements and an emphasis on global and sustainability issues. In addition, we require two Interdisciplinary Seminars and experiential learning (which includes a Learning Community or an Engaged Learning experience).
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At Benedictine University, our General Education Curriculum is at the heart of all undergraduate education. The General Education Curriculum requires all undergraduates to complete a course of study with experiences that help them to learn multiple disciplinary approaches and modes of problem-solving. It develops students’ critical skill and knowledge areas for active and responsible citizenship and stewardship of the earth, lifelong learning, global awareness, integrative knowledge and effective interpersonal communication. The curriculum includes coursework and experiential learning to connect education in the classroom with the problems facing our interconnected world.
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Demonstrate critical thinking and analysis
Identify, study and solve problems
Achieve computational skills and an ability to understand and interpret numerical data
Work cooperatively as a member of a team
Communication
Express concepts and ideas clearly, creatively and effectively in oral and written forms
Understand and interpret written, oral, visual and aural forms of communication
Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills consistent with effective academic discourse
Information Fluency
Navigate different information formats and media technologies to find pertinent information
Evaluate sources of information critically to conduct responsible research
Become an active, informed and creative user of established and emerging technologies
Global Perspective
Recognize the interdependence of peoples and nations, and understand the forces that connect and divide them
Understand the benefits of diversity of perspectives, abilities and cultures
Understand the relationship between language and culture, and communicate effectively and respectfully across cultural boundaries
Relate the person to community and the local to the global
Social Responsibility
Engage ethical problems thoughtfully and actively, and contribute to the work of peace and social justice
Understand conflict resolution processes
Practice stewardship of self and the environment, and understand the principles of wellness and sustainability
Develop the traits of good citizenship, and gain knowledge and skills necessary for civic engagement
Personal Growth
Develop intellectual curiosity and a desire for lifelong learning
Strive for a life lived in balance
Cultivate leadership skills
Nurture the capacity for creative and artistic expression
Breadth of Knowledge and Integrative Learning
Use knowledge, theories and methods from the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences to raise and address questions germane to those areas of study
Recognize relationships among different disciplinary approaches to the study of human cultures and the natural world
Integrate learning from different disciplines to illuminate intersecting topics of investigation
Explore connections between classroom knowledge and real-world experiences
Catholic and Benedictine Traditions
Understand the Catholic intellectual tradition: its philosophy, theology, practice, history and engagement with questions of our time
Understand the Rule of St. Benedict and the contributions of Benedictine monasticism to history, culture, spirituality and education
Show knowledge of how different religions and philosophies view the human person, spirituality and the divine
Requirements
The general education curriculum includes:
Basic Skills Courses
Distribution Requirements
Writing Intensive Courses
Global and Sustainability Courses
Interdisciplinary Seminars
Learning Community or Engaged Learning experiences
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Requirements for Transfer Students
Transfer students often satisfy the Basic Skills and Distribution Requirements at the institutions they attended before coming to Benedictine. Many courses taken prior to attending Benedictine will also satisfy the Global and/or Sustainability requirement(s).
Once students are at Benedictine, major and IDS courses will satisfy the Writing Intensive, Global and Sustainability designations, and usually the Learning Community/Engaged Learning requirement. Each of these designations can be searched for in MyBenU.
