General Studies B.A.

General Studies Major

The B.A. General Studies major requires a minimum of 120 total hours to graduate. This total includes UNIFI/General Education requirements and the following specified major requirements, plus electives to complete the minimum of 120 hours.

This is a diversified liberal arts major supervised by the Coordinator of the Individual Studies Program.

A General Studies major enables students to take a wide variety of courses from many different departments. This can lead to a well-rounded liberal arts education. The major is not directed toward any particular vocation or certification. The emphasis of this major is on distribution rather than concentration. Each General Studies major student is encouraged to develop a program of study according to their own needs, interests, and career goals. The selection of courses is largely left to the student. Students may not declare a second major and be registered for the General Studies major.

*The four colleges are:

1. Wilson College of Business;
2. College of Education;
3. College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences; and
4. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Learning Outcomes

General Studies, B.A.

Four essential student learning outcomes have been identified for the Bachelor of Liberal Studies and General Studies majors.

• effective written communication;
• critical thinking;
• information literacy and
• integrative learning.

These student outcomes are expressly meant to prepare GS and BLS students for success in a rapidly changing, globally competitive and culturally diverse world and to lead productive and responsible lives. The details of each outcome are defined as follows:

Learning Outcome #1: Effective written communication – written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. For written communication to be effective, one must possess the ability to use written language in a precise and user- friendly way in order to clearly express oneself to the intended audience. Students will achieve this goal by:

• Composing and presenting effective written messages with a variety of audiences using appropriate academic discourse and technologies.
• Scoring a 4, 3, or 2 for all components within the AAC&U Written Communication VALUE Rubric for artifacts submitted to demonstrate written communication.

Learning Outcome #2: Critical thinking – critical thinking is the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion. To exercise critical thinking, one must possess the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking and understand the logical connection between ideas. Students will achieve this goal by:

• Clearly identifying an issue or problem and carefully analyzing it using relevant sources of information in order to formulate logical conclusions.
• Scoring a 4, 3, or 2 for all components within the AAC&U Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric for artifacts submitted to demonstrate critical thinking.

Learning Outcome #3: Information literacy – information literacy is the ability to know when information is needed. To be an information literate person, one must be able to identify, locate, evaluate and effectively use sources of information for an issue or problem at hand. Students will achieve this goal by:

• Determining the extent of information needed, accessing information using well designed strategies and evaluating it critically through ethical and legal means.
• Scoring a 4, 3, or 2 for all components within the Information Literacy Rubric (adopted from the AAC&U Information Literacy VALUE Rubric, the ACRL Information Literacy Framework and the PALNI consortium information literacy learning objectives) for artifacts submitted to demonstrate information literacy.

Learning Outcome #4: Integrative Learning – integrative learning is the ability to make connections across disciplines. To effectively use integrative learning, one must be able to make connections among ideas and experiences and transfer learning to new situations. Students will achieve this goal by:

• Connecting relevant experience and academic knowledge across disciplines and applying them to new situations.
• Scoring a 4, 3, or 2 for all components within the AAC&U Integrative Learning Rubric for artifacts submitted to demonstrate integrative learning.