General Education Requirements

OIE collaborates with and supports the efforts of the GER Subcommittee of CUE and the CSLA GER Assessment Committee to assess NJIT’s General Education Requirements (GER) program.

Assessment

NJIT’s General Education Requirements (GER)

The philosophy of our GER program states that we are “dedicated to producing graduates who have the knowledge, skills, and motivation necessary to advance the state-of-the-art knowledge in their respective fields in addition to possessing a devotion to lifelong personal development as well as intellectual discovery beyond their discipline.” 

The GER also effectively ensures that students acquire the essential skills outlined by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (Middle States): oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, technological competency, and information literacy. Through upper-level Cultural and Social Science Literacy courses, students also develop skills for critical reasoning and understanding of values, ethics, and diverse perspectives.

Please view the GER Catalog page to learn more about the requirements of the program and current GER courses.

A GER course must completely satisfy at least two-thirds of the core learning outcomes of a literacy to be a GER course.

The tools and processes for assessing the GER's student learning outcomes, based on the Middle States requirements listed above, are currently in development in collaboration with the GER Subcommittee of CUE and the CSLA GER Assessment Committee.

GER Literacies

  1. Analyze society and culture using the perspective of the liberal arts, including: (a) communications; (b) ethics; (c) history; (d) literature; (e)  philosophy; (f) politics; (g) religion, and (h) the performing and visual arts.
  2. Conduct primary and secondary research through: (a) critical reading; (b) data collection; and (c) source evaluation.
  3. Compose effective oral and written artifacts through: (a) knowledge of process (i.e., composing process); and (b) knowledge of the conventions of  academic and/or professional communication; and (c) rhetorical awareness. 
  1. Analyze, define, and explain scientific principles, concepts, and mechanisms, principally within the domain of at least one of the following basic  sciences: (a) biology; (b) chemistry; or (c) physics.
  2. Investigate naturally occurring phenomena in the basic sciences using experimental methods, including: (a) design; (b) execution; (c) analysis; and  (d) reporting of findings. 
  3. Interpret scientific theories and concepts in at least one of the basic sciences in order to engage in the process of scientific deduction and reasoning,  including: (a) prediction; (b) hypothesis testing; (c) data interpretation; and (d) empirical assessment. 
  1. Define and explain fundamental principles, concepts, and mechanisms within the domain of mathematics and/or statistics.
  2. Apply logical reasoning, problem solving, and inference as informed by the principles of statistics, including: probability; data measurement;  distribution; and communication and representation of statistical data. 
  3. Apply logical reasoning, problem solving, and inference as informed by principles of algebraic analysis, including the foundational tenets of  trigonometry and calculus. 
  1. Identify, articulate, and critically analyze the principles, concepts, theories and/or experiential learning associated with contemporary social science  fields, including: (a) anthropology; (b) economics; (c) geography; (d) political science; (e) psychology; (f) sociology; and (g) managerial functions  (such as including human resources, organizational behavior, accounting, purchasing and logistics, marketing, technological change and innovation  management, entrepreneurship and commercialization of innovations, and project management).
  2. Analyze systematically human behavior and/or organizational behavior and strategies using data collected via one or more social science research  methodologies. The course content should include one or more of the following methods: (a) accounting and financial records; (b) case studies; (c)  content analysis; (d) ethnography; (e) experiments; (f) focus groups; (g) grounded theory; (h) in-depth interviews; (i) network analysis; (j) surveys; (k) textual analysis; (l) thematic analysis; and (m) quantitative analysis.
  3. Apply understanding of dynamic social systems, including their formation and the circumstances by which they interact with natural environment  and industrial organizations; and are upheld, maintained, and/or altered over time.
  1. Formulate a problem in various domains in terms of quantified, specified inputs and desired outputs.
  2. Design a precise and complete step-by-step solution (algorithm) that produces a desired output from a specified input.
  3. Implement a solution to an algorithmic problem using the syntax and semantics of a high-level programming language.

Middle States Institutional Accreditation Standard Regarding General Education Programs

Requirements for GER Programs per Standard III of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (Middle States) Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation.

  1. Offers a sufficient scope to draw students into new areas of intellectual experience
  2. Expands students’ cultural and global awareness and cultural sensitivity
  3. Prepares students to make well-reasoned judgments outside as well as within their academic field
  4. Students acquire and demonstrate the essential skills listed below:
    • Oral Communication
    • Written Communication
    • Scientific Reasoning
    • Quantitative Reasoning
    • Critical Analysis & Reasoning
    • Technological Competency
    • Information Literacy
    • Study of Ethics
    • Study of Diverse Perspectives
    • Study of Values

GER Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

SLO SLO Statement SLO Rubric
Written Communication Students will be able to compose clear and fluent written documents utilizing appropriate content and applying the conventions of relevant genres. Word Doc
Oral Communication Students will be able to orally communicate a central message in a way that is responsive and appropriate to particular topics and audiences and successfully achieves their stated goal. Word Doc
Information Literacy Students will be able to identify needed information, judge its quality, and apply it effectively to support an argument or solve a problem. Word Doc
Critical Analysis and Reasoning In Development In Development
Study of Value and Ethics In Development In Development
Study of Diverse Perspectives In Development In Development
Scientific Literacy Students will be able to identify questions, analyze phenomena, evaluate evidence, scrutinize assumptions, and draw evidence-based conclusions. Word Doc
Quantitative Reasoning Students will be able to understand, interpret, and communicate mathematical information in the context of everyday life. Word Doc
Technological Competency In Development In Development

Assessment of the GER Program

In 2021, OIE collaborated with the GER Subcommittee of CUE to perform a comprehensive review of GER courses based on the NJIT and Middle States literacies, as well as the more recently defined NJIT sub-literacies. Departments and course instructors identified the literacy and sub-literacies satisfied by each course, empowering the subcommittee with the necessary data to confirm that all students have ample and diverse opportunities to experience all NJIT sub-literacies through the GER program. The review also formally identified the Middle States literacies aligned with each course to confirm that all students have ample and diverse opportunities to attain the skills defined in MSCHE Standard III.5.

The GER Subcommittee and the CSLA GER Assessment Committee, supported by OIE, are currently in the process of designing a system for performing outcomes-based assessment of the GER program to inform future continuous improvement of the program through the GER Course Approval Policy. Resources will be added to this page as this GER assessment initiative develops.

Documents & Resources