Further developing the skills that are introduced to students long before they arrive at college, General Education at ETSU strengthens those foundational skills in ways that will enhance and inspire a lifetime of learning. General Education at ETSU enhances students’ abilities to:
THINK CRITICALLY
COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY
UNDERSTAND SOCIAL AND NATURAL WORLDS
CULTIVATE AESTHETIC AWARENESS
COLLABORATE AND BUILD COMMUNITY
GROW AS A RESPONSIBLE AND PRODUCTIVE CITIZEN
THINK CRITICALLY
Critical thinking involves the use of reasoning and evidence to reach sensible judgments about methods, assumptions, and results. Critical thinkers evaluate the relevance of evidence and its significance. They can distinguish reliable from flawed information and use appropriate mathematical concepts. They are alert and responsive to the effects of their personal biases and limitations, and familiar with suitable methods for analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data.
Learning Outcomes:
- Evaluate sources for credibility, accuracy, and use of evidence.
- Identify cognitive biases that influence decision-making and interpretation of new information.
- Evaluate research design as well as data collection and analysis in studies that employ quantitative and qualitative methodologies and present data in various media or forms.
- Use relevant evidence, reasoning, and technological tools—ethically and legally—in the process of proposing, supporting, and evaluating potential solutions to problems.
- Identify historic, economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information.
COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY
Effective communication includes sharing ideas through appropriate oral and written forms of expression, in ways that demonstrate awareness of audience, purpose, and context. Communication takes many forms, including writing, public speaking, and conversation, and utilizes artistic expression and information design. Effective communication involves mindful interpretation along with active reading and listening.
Learning Outcomes:
- Apply written, verbal, and/or visual communication theories, strategies, and evidence that are appropriate for the audience, purpose, and message.
- Analyze, interpret, and evaluate messages in a variety of forms and contexts, including those that utilize emerging technology.
- Engage in conversation as a speaker, writer, listener, and reader;ask questions to understand other perspectives; and offer productive ideas and evidence.
- Demonstrate ethical and appropriate grammar, usage, conventions, and citations selected for audience and purpose in written, oral, and visual texts.
UNDERSTAND SOCIAL AND NATURAL WORLDS
Understanding the social and natural worlds requires careful observation, experimentation, reasoning, and analysis. It is achieved by identifying reliable sources of information and integrating evidence from a variety of perspectives, but also by cultivating a sense of curiosity, asking questions, and learning how to find useful and credible answers.
Learning Outcomes:
- Demonstrate a broad understanding of scientific principles and methods used to conduct research.
- Apply scientific concepts and methods to solve complex problems.
- Articulate complex questions and identify how science impacts and is impacted by political, social, economic, or ethical dimensions.
- Analyze and evaluate the impact of scientific discovery on human thought and behavior.
CULTIVATE AESTHETIC AWARENESS
Studying the fine and performing arts cultivates aesthetic awareness, which is essential to the human experience, providing us with valuable forms of expression and important lenses through which we can better understand ourselves, our circumstances, and the worlds we inhabit. Artistic expression is developed through creation and performance, as well as the analysis of artistic works.
Learning Outcomes:
- Apply appropriate methods to explore how meanings are attached to artistic or creative works.
- Link artistic or creative work to culture, identity, and the broader human context (e.g., historical, social, ethnic, geographic, and economic).
- Understand and engage in the creative process to express ideas, solve problems and/or collaborate.
COLLABORATE AND BUILD COMMUNITY
In a world of increasing specialization, solving complex problems requires significant collaboration and interdisciplinary innovations. Social problems also require the ability to develop and evaluate moral arguments, in ways that are sensitive to different social values and perspectives. General education teaches us how to build communities and better understand our roles within them.
Learning Outcomes:
- Solicit and integrate diverse opinions through strategies that are inclusive, ethical, and evidence-based.
- Understand cultural similarities and differences in values, behavior, goals, and communication styles, for purposes of making ethically informed decisions in professional and personal contexts.
- Solve problems in ways that require the ability to work effectively with others.
GROW AS A RESPONSIBLE AND PRODUCTIVE CITIZEN
Productive citizens are resilient and self-aware. They monitor their own welfare and circumstances, and they strive to maximize their physical, financial, emotional, and social wellness. They look outwards as well as inward, developing awareness of the differences between diverse cultures and their significance. They interact respectfully with people from diverse communities and backgrounds and work towards creating a more equitable world.
Learning Outcomes:
- Cultivate a strong sense of self to become an active, engaged citizen in a complex and diverse society.
- Understand how individual and sociocultural factors interact in the development of beliefs, behaviors, and experiences of oneself and others.
- Apply concepts of physical, mental, and psychosocial wellness to individual and community well-being.
- Develop a general understanding of financial concepts and the tools and resources used to improve financial wellness for an individual and community.