The General Education Program of the University is administered by the Associate Provost
for Student Success. Appeals for exceptions to the General Education Program and/or
requirements should be made to the Associate Provost for Student Success. Students
who are unsatisfied with the Associate Provost's decision may appeal to the Degrees
Committee. Students who are unsatisfied with the Degrees Committee decision may appeal
to the Associate Provost for Student Success.
The Aim and Goals of General Education
The Aim of General Education
The aim of General Education at Missouri State University is to develop people capable
of making thoughtful choices that lead to creative and productive lives and to responsible
participation in society. The Goals for Learning in General Education is that portion
of the curriculum in which the University directly addresses the knowledge, skills,
habits, and dispositions of educated persons. General Education at Missouri State
provides for learning that educated persons will use throughout their lives in their
many roles and communities. To prepare students for a lifetime of important choices,
General Education has at least the following goals and outcomes for learning:
Identify and follow through on personally and socially relevant problems and reasonable
solutions to those problems.
Identify relevant information sources, make reasoned choices among those sources,
and follow where those sources lead with an open-mind.
Justify conclusions reached in the analysis of information.
Analyze evidence, statements, alternative viewpoints, graphics, and other forms of
information.
Develop creative and novel solutions to personally and socially relevant problems.
Take account of novel, alternative, contradictory, and even radical viewpoints in
creating new ideas, products, or solutions appropriate to the domain or subject matter.
Demonstrate consideration of context, audience, and purpose with a clear focus on
the assigned tasks (e.g., the writing aligns with audience, purpose, and context).
Demonstrate consistent use of important conventions particular to specific disciplines
and writing tasks, including organization, content, presentation, and stylistic choices.
Correctly use language that conveys meaning to readers.
Use writing for inquiry, learning, and thinking to find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize
appropriate primary and secondary sources and integrate their own ideas with those
of others.
Convey the central message clearly and consistently, using supporting material.
Demonstrate clearly and consistently an organizational pattern (specific introduction
and conclusion, sequenced material within the body, and transitions) within the presentation.
Demonstrate language choices that support the effectiveness of the communication and
are appropriate to the intended audience(s).
Employ interesting and effective delivery techniques (e.g., posture, gesture, eye
contact, and vocal expressiveness).
Employ supporting materials (e.g., explanations, examples, illustrations, statistics,
analogies, and quotations from relevant authorities) in a manner that establishes
the speaker’s credibility/authority on the topic.
Goal 5: Students will be able to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide
array of contexts and everyday life situations; understand and create logical arguments
supported by quantitative evidence; and clearly communicate those arguments in a variety
of formats (e.g., words, tables, and mathematical equations) as appropriate.
Interpret and communicate information presented in mathematical forms (e.g., equations,
functions, graphs, diagrams, tables, or words).
Convert relevant information into various mathematical forms (e.g., equations, functions,
graphs, diagrams, tables, or words).
Calculate numerically and symbolically to solve a problem.
Analyze data quantitatively as the basis for competent, valid, and reliable inferences
in order to draw reasonable and appropriate conclusions.
Use appropriate mathematical tools to explicitly describe assumptions, mathematical
relationships, and conclusions.
Express evidence in support of an argument by employing an appropriate form of presentation
(e.g., equations, functions, graphs, diagrams, tables, or words).
Completely define the scope of research questions or theses. Select information sources
needed to answer these research questions.
Access information using a variety of search strategies and relevant sources.
Evaluate critically the accuracy and validity of information sources and the relevant
contexts in which they are presented.
Organize, synthesize, and communicate information from sources so the intended purpose
is achieved.
Distinguish between common knowledge and ideas requiring attribution. Correctly choose
between paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting when incorporating citations.
Demonstrate a full understanding of the ethical and legal restrictions on the use
of published, confidential, and/or proprietary information.
Demonstrate understanding of the roles, skills, and behaviors required for effective
teamwork and goal attainment.
Demonstrate values, knowledge, and skills, such as building upon the ideas of others
and treating team members with respect, which support a collaborative culture.
Understand conflict and employ responses that strengthen collaboration; formulate
productive responses to criticism and conflict.
Appraise alternative solutions or courses of action that build on the ideas of others.
Explain and compare social institutions, structures, and processes across a range
of historical periods and cultures around the globe.
Understand the past and how it influences present world societies and contemporary
problems.
Use social science methods to explain or predict individual and collective human behavior
and decision-making.
Articulate interdependence of people and places around the globe.
Understand and differentiate biological, cognitive, and social environmental factors
that influence human behavior.
Understand and apply behavioral science principles to personal, social, and organizational
issues.
General Goal (9): Students will cultivate their intellect, imagination, and creativity
as they develop an understanding of how social, cultural, linguistic, artistic, religious,
philosophical, and historical contexts have shaped the thoughts and actions of people
worldwide.
Understand how various forms of written, oral, musical, visual, and bodily expression
contribute to human knowledge and experience.
Utilize knowledge of various critical and theoretical frameworks to analyze and respond
to works in humanities and the arts.
Develop creative capabilities.
Interpret texts and other cultural products in ways that reflect informed understanding
of relevant contextual factors, including socio-cultural influence and cultural traditions,
perspectives, and behavioral patterns.
Analytically compare the influences of community, institutions, and other constructions
such as class, gender, and race on the ways of thinking, believing, and acting in
cultural and historical settings other than one’s own.
Understand living systems by describing their nature, organization, and evolution.
Understand and use the processes by which scientific knowledge of living things is
generated.
Develop knowledge of living things through hypothesis testing and gain the ability
to draw defensible conclusions regarding living things.
Make logical connections between key concepts in the life sciences and describe the
interaction between human lives and other living things.
Understanding the human species as a biological organism.
Understand the ways the environment impacts humanity and how human actions affect
the environment.
Demonstrate knowledge of the physical universe and planet earth, including its origin
and physical processes.
Understand and use the processes by which knowledge of the physical world is generated.
Develop knowledge and principles of the physical world through hypothesis testing
and gain the ability to draw defensible conclusions regarding the physical world.
Make logical connections between key concepts in the physical sciences and describe
the interaction between human lives and the physical world.
Understand the ways the environment impacts humanity and how human actions affect
the environment.
Apply scientific models to make both qualitative and quantitative predictions about
the behavior of matter.
Other discipline-specific achievement(s) supporting the General Goal.
Identify the rights and responsibilities they have in their own communities and the
broader society.
Recognize the ways in which they can exercise their rights and responsibilities.
Utilize knowledge from academic fields, making relevant connections to civic and political
participation.
Recognize the needs of the communities to which they belong and understand how to
address those needs.
Examine and articulate perspectives and behaviors they acquire in their homes, schools,
and communities.
Understand, critically examine, and articulate key similarities and differences between
their own cultural practices and perspectives and those of other cultures, past and
present.
Identify the importance and best practices of developing skills for working/interacting
with others.
Analyze the role that different languages, cultures, institutions, and beliefs have
in shaping individual and collective behavior.
Engage in self-evaluation of their personal values and the degree to which their ethical
values and behaviors are congruent.
Understand the foundations for ethical thought and action.
Identify areas of difficulty in responding to situations demanding ethical inquiry.
Analyze complex ethical dilemmas facing the world.
Understand and evaluate the causes of societal problems and potential solutions.
Understand the importance of actions related to personal health, well-being, and self-awareness
to the effective leadership of others.
Utilize academic knowledge to develop solutions to complex problems.
Integrate knowledge, abilities and skills across disciplines to understand real life
experiences and/or social situations.
Evaluate and integrate issues from multiple perspectives in order to develop creative
solutions.
Adapt and apply knowledge gained in one situation to subsequent situations
