The General Education Framework at MSOE includes a General Education program that specifies requirements for all undergraduate students at MSOE. Some of these requirements are met by required courses within the curriculum for each program. Other requirements must be met through student-selected electives. This page is intended to help clarify those requirements for advisors and students.

The General Education Framework is designed to ensure that all undergraduate students at MSOE receive a common general education that supports the acheivement of seven Common Learning Outcomes (CLOs). The General Education program consists of a set of courses that require that at least one of the CLOs be addressed and assessed as part of the coursework.

Common Learning Outcomes

  1. Communicate Effectively
    • Articulate and explain complex ideas clearly across a range of media and audiences
  2. Collaborate Successfully
    • Work constructively with others towards a common goal
  3. Integrate Learning
    • Synthesize and transfer learning across new contexts to address complex problems
  4. Demonstrate Ethical Understanding
    • Engage in independent ethical inquiry on pressing ethical challenges and foster ethical behavior in personal and professional life
  5. Think Critically
    • Apply sound principles of critical or analytical reasoning and evaluation of evidence
  6. Exhibit Curiosity
    • Practice open-minded intellectual inquiry, creative exploration, and engagement with different perspectives
  7. Embrace Diversity
    • Demonstrate inclusivity toward others, pursuing intercultural understanding and exploring ways to address historical or existing barriers to social equity

Typically Required Courses

The General Education program is specified in item 6 of the General Education Framework, and sets forth the following requirements for courses that are typically explicitly required by the program curricula:

Additional courses are required for all programs, but the specific courses may vary from one program to another.

Student-Selected Elective Courses

The General Education program is specified in item 6 of the General Education Framework, and sets forth the following requirements for student-selected elective courses. Programs may limit the range of courses beyond what is described below.

This section will list all of the approved semester courses that will meet the requirements for the different areas.

General Education program 6.c.

9 credit hours of foundational knowledge in the humanities and social sciences (three 3 credit hour courses, one for each area) to demonstrate an ability to exhibit curiosity, embrace diversity, and demonstrate ethical understanding. At least 6 of these credits must be student-selected electives. Unless otherwise approved, these courses are offered by the Humanities, Social Science and Communication department. (This is part c.)

Here are the list of courses that can be used to meet the elective requirements. These lists do not imply that these course will be offered in any given term.

Demonstrate Ethical Understanding

Note: Some programs may require a specific one of these. For example, the Computer Science program requires PHL3103.

Exhibit Curiosity

Embrace Diversity

General Education program 6.d.

3 credit hours of foundational knowledge in the humanities, sciences, mathematics, social sciences and arts to demonstrate an ability to collaborate successfully, think critically, demonstrate ethical understanding, exhibit curiosity, or embrace diversity. These 3 credits must be a student-selected elective. Unless otherwise approved, these courses are offered by the Humanities, Social Science and Communication, Mathematics, or Physics & Chemistry departments. (This is part d.)

The following courses address and assess one or more of the required CLOs.

Offered by the Humanities, Social Science and Communication Department

Offered by the Mathematics Department

Offered by the Physics & Chemistry Department

Offered by Other Departments