In addition to major and minor requirements, all four-year degree students are required to complete a minimum 39 credits of general education course work within the three curriculum groups outlined below. Selected lower division courses numbered 100 and 200 are used to fulfill general education requirements. Exceptions to this rule are the upper division courses numbered at the 300 level approved in the general education curriculum.
General Education Curriculum
Group I - Communication and Technology
Students are required to complete nine credits of communication coursework with at least one course from lists A, B, and C.
List A. English Composition I
List B. English Composition II
List C. Public Speaking
| COMM 110 | Fundamentals Of Public Speaking | 3 |
| COMM 111H | Honors Public Speaking | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
Group II - Citizenship
Students are required to complete 11-12 credits of citizenship coursework with at least one course from lists A, B, C, and D.
List A. Technology
| CSCI 101 | Introduction To Computers | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 3 |
List B. Global Perspectives
List C. Human Behavior and Governance
List D. Well-being
| HPER 100 | Concepts of Fitness and Wellness | 2 |
| NURS 240 | Fundamentals of Nutrition | 2 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 2 |
Group III - Critical and Creative Thinking
Students are required to complete a minimum of three credits from lists A, B, C, and D and at least four credits including a laboratory science from list E.
List A. Creative Expressions
List B. Literature
List C. Mathematics
List D. Social Science
List E. Natural Science
General Education Elective
Select one additional General Education Elective:
Students are required to take one additional course of three or more credits from the General Education curriculum (3-4 SH)
Digital Literacy Requirement
Select one of the following:
CSCI 101 - Introduction to Computers
NDUS Institution Approved Training Course
NDUS Institution Designated Digital Literacy Course
General Education Student Learning Outcomes
Communication
Definition: Communication is the sharing of ideas through written, oral, and symbolic language. It involves the active expression and reception of ideas through multiple technologies, physical and spoken language, mixed texts, data, and images.
Goal Statement: Students will apply multiple conventions of expression to achieve shared understanding of meaning.
Student Outcomes:
- Adapt modes and styles of writing to different purposes, audiences, media, and contexts
- Develop effective pre-writing, researching, drafting, revising, proofreading, and editing processes
- Utilize writing technologies crucial to performance in today’s writing-intensive professions
- Organize and convey a central message via oral communication, using supporting evidence and adapting language and delivery for audience
- Initiate and negotiate in a collaborative setting by listening to, building upon, verifying, or challenging others’ ideas and conclusions
Citizenship
Definition: Citizenship involves individuals attuned to the multiple perspectives inherent in our socially and culturally diverse world. Citizens are cognizant of their own health and well-being, demonstrate an understanding of the impact one has on the arenas outside of the self, and engage with complex, authentic issues both locally and globally.
Goal Statement: Students will progressively maintain their personal health and well-being and consider diverse social-cultural perspectives as they integrate and evaluate approaches to local and global issues.
Student Outcomes:
- Identify and incorporate strategies leading to individual health and well-being
- Predict and analyze the effects that one’s decisions have on the well-being of others
- Integrate political, social, and cultural structures, utilizing multiple viewpoints, to contribute to a community’s values and practices
- Apply technology effectively, safely and ethically in an evolving society
Critical and Creative Thinking
Definition: Critical and creative thinking are intellectual skills in which knowledge and literacy are used to process information, construct understanding, apply knowledge, solve problems, and conduct inquiry.
Goal Statement: Upon completion of the General Education curriculum, students integrate critical and creative thinking skills while gaining knowledge of the Arts and Humanities, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.
Student Outcomes:
- Process information by collecting, generating, organizing, retrieving, recognizing underlying assumptions, or validating evidence.
- Construct understanding by analyzing, synthesizing, revealing meaning, or validating knowledge.
- Apply knowledge by performing, modeling, being creative in a new context, or validating results.
- Solve problems by identifying components, structuring information, anticipating consequences, or creating and improving solutions.
- Conduct inquiry by formulating research questions, obtaining evidence, explaining knowledge, depicting knowledge, validating or evaluating scholarship.
Digital Literacy Requirement
Students must demonstrate knowledge in digital literacy. Digital literacy is defined as the ability to use technology to find information, evaluate sources, create content, and communicate with others effectively. It’s a skill set used to navigate the new technological paradigm in which society operates.
Students meet this requirement by successfully completing CSCI 101 at Dickinson State University, a CSCI 101 equivalent course from a nationally or regionally accredited institution, a North Dakota University System (NDUS) institution approved training course, or a North Dakota University System (NDUS) institution designated digital literacy course.
North Dakota University System General Education Requirement Transfer Agreement (GERTA)
General Education courses above in Groups I, II, and III, with the exception of those listed below, are GERTA approved courses. Be aware that any course identified below as an exception to GERTA will not count toward meeting the GERTA regulations.
Transfer of Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees
If a student transfers to Dickinson State University from a regionally or nationally accredited institution and has earned and Associate in Arts or Associate in Science degree and has completed six credit hours of freshman composition courses and also three credit hours in a public speaking course, the student will be considered complete with respect to his/her general education requirements. However, some Dickinson State University majors require very specific courses as part of their general education program. If those specific courses were not completed as part of the associate’s degree, those specific courses would need to be completed at Dickinson State University.
Students seeking a degree from Dickinson State University, who have already earned a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, will be considered complete with respect to their general education requirements. However, specific general education classes which are also considered program requirements with respect to specific majors for licensure or certification program requirements will need to be completed before the degree will be granted.
Any course substitutions/waivers related to general education requirements must be approved by the School dean that supervises the specific course or group.