General Education (GE) courses provide broad foundational knowledge to contextualize learning and ensure focused practice of transferable skills requisite to a lifetime of learning. Assuming little to no prior knowledge, each course focuses on foundational skill development beginning with simple concepts and elevating to more advanced knowledge construction through the courses. This process is designed to assist learners in reaching a complexity of deep learning to allow integration of new knowledge and application of skills in novel scenarios. Supporting learners’ transition into college-level academics to encourage engaged and motivated learners, the GE courses have the following characteristics:

• Courses assume little to no prior learner knowledge in course content, except in the case of courses with prerequisite requirements.
• Courses begin with simple and/or informal assignments and elevate to more complex and/or challenging work, providing scenarios to master skills and extend the learning.
• Regular and substantive evaluation of learner work, thinking, and discussions assists and motivates learners toward deepening their reasoning and ensuring academic success.
• Models or rubrics, which define and make academic expectations transparent to learners, allow learners to evaluate their performance against the standard and achieve at a desired level.
• Varied teaching and assessment strategies are interlaced throughout the semester to provide different types of engagement with the course content, which allows for individualized pathways to achieve the stated learning outcomes.
• Course structures promote learners’ engagement with each other whenever possible through group discussions, study groups, peer comments, supplemental instruction, and other activities as appropriate to widen the learner’s understanding and support the wider community of learning.
• Technology-based solutions and supplemental tools for concept exploration are provided to support engaged learning and permit the learner to pursue a topic or skill in greater depth beyond the classroom.

Learners’ commitment to academic integrity and understanding of consequences for misconduct on community obligations, trust, and learning are continually reinforced.