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Teaching in Gen Ed
Through deep study of a specific topic, students develop habits of mind, civic virtues, and ethical judgment to prepare them with generalizable skills they can use as citizens and leaders.
The Gen Ed program aims to prepare students for a life of civic and ethical engagement with a changing world, a world in which one’s identity flows out of the societies and traditions in which one is grounded, even as one’s way of existence helps to shape and those very traditions … On this account, Gen Ed prepares students for Ars Vivendi in Mundo—an art of living wisely in the world.
Gen Ed Review Committee, 2016
What defines Gen Ed?
Connection
Courses make explicit connections beyond the classroom, integrating course topics with students’ lives and preparing them to grapple with questions outside of their concentration.
Challenge
Thought-provoking discussion and rigorous assessments encourage students to engage deeply with course materials, synthesize what they’ve learned, and think critically about course topics.
Community
Interaction with their peers and teaching staff helps students encounter varied perspectives and connect with classmates in a shared learning community.
A liberal arts education is “essential preparation for our lives as citizens and responsible individuals, not only because it will help us to appreciate the historical and cultural context in which civic and ethical decisions get their significance, but just as importantly because it will de-familiarize our settled presuppositions about that context, and help us to re-imagine it for the better.”
Gen Ed Review Committee, 2016
Shape how students see the world
Aesthetics & Culture courses foster critical engagement with diverse artistic and creative endeavors and traditions across history and geographical locations, helping students situate themselves and others as participants in and products of art and culture.
In A&C courses, students do one or more of the following:
- Explore how aesthetic objects and practices affect our senses, emotions, and thoughts, and invite our interpretations.
- Engage directly with aesthetic objects, practices, and texts, broadly conceived, to develop students’ skills of close reading, listening, and observation and to support analysis of the production and reception of these objects in their cultural contexts.
- Engage in critical analysis of artistic and cultural production from a variety of approaches, including art-making, hands-on, or participatory/experiential assignments.
- Examine the roles that artistic and creative endeavors play in shaping and reshaping societies.
Histories, Societies, Individuals courses explore the dynamic relationships between individuals and larger social, economic and political structures, both historically and in the present moment.
In HSI courses, students do one or more of the following:
- Examine change over time to understand the historical origins of the contemporary world.
- Analyze the interplay between individuals, groups, and larger social, economic, and political structures in the making of the modern world.
- Compare societies across time and space to broaden students’ understandings of the complexities of global experiences.
Ethics & Civics courses examine the dilemmas that individuals, communities, and societies face as they explore questions of virtue, justice, equity, inclusion, and the greater good.
In E&C courses, students do one or more of the following:
- Analyze the foundations and ramifications of diverse modes of ethical inquiry and practice.
- Situate ideas about ethics and civic engagement in their historical, cultural, and social contexts.
- Explore real-world ethical questions, ranging from problems in individual lives to the challenges of meeting civic responsibility at local, national, and global levels.
Science & Technology in Society courses explore scientific and technological ideas and practices in their social and historical contexts, providing a foundation to assess their promise and perils. STS courses engage students in the practice of science, not just the study of scientific findings.
In STS courses, students do one or more of the following:
- Engage in scientific methods of inquiry, such as theoretical framing, structured observation or experimentation, and quantitative analysis.
- Examine the influence of social, economic, cultural, and political factors on science and engineering.
- Analyze the ethical, social, and political implications of scientific and technological ideas and practices, including their potential and risks.
Gen Ed Courses at a Glance
- Undergraduate focused
- Interdisciplinary by design
- Fulfill a single category
- Enroll 60+ students
- Regularly reviewed by the GESC
- Meet program guidelines
Dig Deeper
Our present: General Education Review Committee Final Report, 2016 (HarvardKey login required)
Our foundation: Excerpts from the Redbook by James Conant, 1946 (HarvardKey login required)