The Goshen Core

Director, R. Peterson-Veatch, Associate Academic Dean

What we call “the Goshen Core” (sometimes called “General Education” at other schools) is the set of courses and requirements that applies to all students no matter what major they choose. A Bachelor’s Degree at Goshen consists of 120 credit hours. For most students, the Goshen Core curriculum is 42 credit hours. See www.goshen.edu/core/ for more detailed information about the Core for traditional programs. For the Goshen Core in Non-traditional programs, see details in the Business and Sociology, anthropology and social work sections of this catalog or the web site for the Office of Graduate and Contuining Studies.

Core Curriculum

We designed the Goshen Core with the college’s vision statement in mind. In that statement we express our aim to focus on “international, intercultural, interdisciplinary, and integrative teaching and learning that offers every student a life-orienting story embedded in Christ centered core values: global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking, servant leadership and passionate learning.” In order to express that through our curriculum, we developed a set of Student Learning Outcomes and then created a program with three main parts:

1. Three “threads” of course work:
   
   • The First Year Experience Thread, which develops students’ fundamental academic skills
   • The Intercultural Thread, which prepares students for the increasingly global world of the 21st century
   • The Perspectives Courses Thread, an interdisciplinary thread that helps students see how knowledge is created and revised in multiple areas of study
2. The Electronic Portfolio. Allows students to collect their work and then produce a “showcase” at the end of their first year and at the culmination of the Intercultural Thread.
3. Other requirements: convocation and chapel, prerequisites.
   Students at GC are required to attend and participate in Monday convocation and Friday chapel events that foster intellectual exploration and faith formation. We also require that students demonstrate competency in Quantitative Literacy through a test, or by taking a course. In order to prepare for intercultural study, students must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to two semesters of college-level study.

First Year Experience

First-year courses

See course descriptions below.

• CORE 100, Identity, Culture and Community3
• CORE 104, Learning Community 1
• CORE 110, The Academic Voice3
• CORE 115, Wellness for Life1
• CORE 120, Engaging the Bible3
• CORE (various), Goshen Seminar3
  Meets one of the five Perspectives requirements (see below)

Note: Transfer students and new students who begin in January take CORE 106, Culture and Community instead of CORE 100 and 104.

Communication Skills in the Goshen Core

The prerequisite for CORE 110 is a Verbal SAT score of 480 or above, or ACT English score of 20 or above, or completion of Engl 105, Introduction to College Writing.

Students who enter with an AP English composition score of 4 or 5, an IB SL English score of 5, 6 or 7 or transfer credit in a college composition or oral communication class have met the CORE 110 requirement and may enroll in a Goshen Seminar.

Students who enter with an IB HL score of 5, 6 or 7 or transfer credit in two college composition classes, or a composition class and a public speaking class may choose to take a Goshen Seminar or enroll in a fifth Perspectives class instead (see fuller explanation below).

Quantitative Literacy (QL)

Must be completed by fall of second year.
The QL requirement may be met in one of three ways:

1. For students entering with SAT Math scores below 480 or ACT Math scores below 20: complete the course Math 105, Quantitative Reasoning.
2. For students entering with SAT Math scores 480-540 or ACT Math scores 20-23: Either pass the QL exam (given at summer registration and at the beginning of each semester) or complete Math 105, Math 131, Math 141, or Math 170.
3. For students with any of the following, the QL requirement is met:
   • SAT Math score of 550 or higher
   • ACT Math score of 24 or higher
   • Minimum AP Calculus score of 4 (for AB level) or 3 (for BC level)
   • Minimum IB score of 5 in Mathematics of Mathematical Studies
   • College credit in 100-level or higher mathematics course

Intercultural Thread

One of the five core values at the foundation of Goshen College is global citizenship, so intercultural study is an important component of the Goshen Core. There are four basic ways to meet the intercultural study requirement, listed below. All except the nursing option are described in more detail in the International Education section of the catalog and at www.goshen.edu/sst.

Four intercultural study paths

1. International Study-Service Term (SST)13
   Immerses groups of students in a significantly different culture for a semester, with a faculty leader. Includes study of language and culture, a service learning placement, and homestays with host families. Prerequisite is language competence equivalent to two semesters of college-level study.
2. Domestic Study-Service Term (Latino Studies Program)13
   May be spread over one, two, three or four semesters. Includes a relationship with a host family, but not homestays. Prerequisite is Spanish competence equivalent to two semesters of college-level study.
   • Span 103/203, Spanish language study4
   • INTL 230, Intercultural Service Learning3
   • INTL 253, History & Culture of Latinos in the U.S.3
   • INTL 257, Arts & Literature of Latinos in the U.S.3
3. Modified requirement for Nursing students9-10
   • Spanish language course, at individual student's level3-4
   • INTL 253 and INTL 257 (above)6
   • Clinical placement in a Latino setting for NURS 408, Community Health Nursing
4. Intercultural study for international (F-1) students10
   • Comm 206, Communication Across Cultures3
   • INTC 253, U.S. History & Culture4
   • INTC 255, U.S. Arts & Literature3

CORE 300, Global Issues Seminar

After intercultural study is completed, all students take this 3 credit course. See description in the list of core courses below.

Perspectives courses

Perspectives courses focus on the investigation of a complex problem or issue. The professor's discipline will serve as a platform for approaching the topic, but courses will also include examining various perspectives within an interdisciplinary framework. These courses can be taken at any time during the four years. Students take one Perspectives course in each of five categories. The Goshen Seminar meets one of the five requirements. Descriptions of individual Perspectives courses are in academic department pages. Perspectives courses are designated on the printed and .pdf course offering lists with RW, SW, NW, AW or PX. For a list of current Perspectives courses, see the Registrar's office homepage at www.goshen.edu/registrar.

Religious World (RW) - 3 credit hours

Introduction to the study of religious traditions; studies of the Christian faith within the context of the broader religious world.

Social World (SW) - 3 credit hours

Values and histories underlying cultures, societies and religious traditions and the relationships between them. These courses include a significant quantitative literacy (QL) project. Prerequisite: QL requirement.

Natural World (NW) - 3 credit hours

The natural created order, including the earth and its systems. These courses include a significant quantitative literacy (QL) project. Prerequisite: QL requirement.

Artistic World (AW) - 3 credit hours

Forms of human thought, movement imagination and innovation.

Peacemaking (PX) - 3 credit hours

The factors that create and sustain frameworks for the essential relationships between and among humans, God and the natural world.

E-Portfolio

Students will form an electronic portfolio to document their learning and growth in college. Each course taken in the Goshen Core will include assignments to be included in the e-portfolio. Courses in major, minor and professional programs may also offer additional materials for the e-portfolio.

Convocation and chapel

Convocation and chapel programs gather the Goshen College campus community together each Monday and Friday at 10:00 a.m. for shared learning experiences and for worship, usually in the church-chapel sanctuary. Students are asked to attend about half of these events.

The purpose of Chapel is to tend to the Christian spiritual formation of our gathered community. Chapel calls us to come before God together in worship and seek to be continually formed into the image of Christ. Convocation provides integrative learning opportunities for personal, intellectual, and social growth. In convocation, we explore complex problems and big questions. We also support and celebrate each others' learning. Speakers for both Chapel and Convocation may be faculty, students or campus guests.

Student learning outcomes

The Goshen Core uses Student Learning Outcomes as both a target for student achievement and a foundation for planning and development. The following learning outcomes form the basis of our curricular and co-curricular goals and address the essential knowledge, skills, and responsibilities that shape the environment we construct to support student learning. This integrative approach to learning will assist students in defining their identities and preparing them to engage twenty-first century challenges. As we continue to create a community of faith and learning, we believe that the learning outcomes must serve students in living out the five core values.

Overall primary outcome: integrative learning

The Goshen Core’s explicit focus is on Integrative Learning as the primary learning outcome. As such the program has three curricular (3) “threads”: a) fundamental academic skills, b) intercultural skills and experiences, and c) interdisciplinary frameworks for learning and developing dispositions appropriate for integration of knowledge, skills and responsibilities. Students will begin with a first year designed to cement their fundamental academic skills and to launch them into the intercultural and interdisciplinary realms. Either an intensive or extended encounter learning about an intercultural environment will follow. Courses designed to highlight the perspectives of the following areas of study will round out the Core experience: The Religious World, The Social World, The Natural World, The Artistic World and Peacemaking.

Outcomes by area of learning:

KNOWLEDGE

In our academic and campus life programs, students will develop knowledge of:

• The Christian Story: The biblical basis and theological exploration of Christian faith
• Identity: Self, personal growth, and one’s relationship to multiple communities
• The Social World (see above)
• The Natural World
• The Artistic World
• Peacemaking

SKILLS

In our academic and campus life programs, students will grow in their mastery of the following intellectual and practical skills:

• Communication: Listening, reading, writing, speaking and interacting effectively
• Quantitative literacy: Using basic mathematical concepts and operations required for problem-solving and decision-making
• Inquiry: Using visual and information literacy to gather appropriate evidence from multiple data sources
• Critical and reflective thinking: Analyzing, interpreting, evaluating and using evidence to make good judgments
• Problem solving: Working individually and collaboratively for creative solutions
• Intercultural competence: Acquiring language and cross-cultural communication skills to interact effectively with people from diverse communities

RESPONSIBILITIES

In our academic and campus life programs, students will develop a sense of personal and social responsibility for:

• Faith in Action: Reflecting on the relationship between personal faith and life choices that support God’s justice, reconciliation, and peace
• Ethical reasoning: Living and serving with integrity in a variety of communities
• Intercultural openness: Creating partnerships with people across difference to learn from one another and work towards equity
• Local and global community engagement: Understanding human systems and knowing how to bring about change peacefully
• Lifelong learning: Remaining curious and occupying an inquiry stance in the face of challenges to current understandings of oneself and of the world
• Living Sustainably: Working to create restorative relationships with the natural world

INTEGRATIVE LEARNING

Integrative learning is an understanding and disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus. We promote integration of learning across disciplines because we believe the acquisition and application of knowledge is most successful when shaped by various perspectives. An integrative approach highlights these realities and supports students in understanding how to select and apply appropriate techniques and methodologies for solving complex and significant problems.