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GE Course Development

The Objectives of General Education

General education is central to a university education, and should enhance students' awareness of themselves in a complex universe, drawing upon multiple points of view. As a result of the general education experience, students should acquire knowledge of diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives, develop skills in comparing, contrasting, applying, and communicating these perspectives effectively, and cultivate attitudes of openness, curiosity and respect towards different viewpoints. These attributes are essential for engaging thoughtfully and responsibly in tasks considered appropriate to particular courses.

The General Education Program at Cal State Fullerton is divided into six major areas:

  • 1. English Communication
  • 2. Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning
  • 3. Arts and Humanities
  • 4. Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • 5. Physical and Biological Sciences
  • 6. Ethnic Studies

Additionally, the General Education program includes one Overlay, Z. Cultural Diversity, that adds content but no additional units to designated General Education Courses.

To review the university's GE learning goals and the related expectation of GE instructors, see UPS 411.201.

Choose a section below for more information and self-review forms.

1. English Communication

English Communication includes English Composition, Critical Thinking, and Oral Communication. These shall be lower-division courses.

Overall Objectives

Students taking courses in Area 1 shall practice and enhance their skills and abilities to:

  • Organize one's thoughts and communicate them clearly and effectively, using language that demonstrates sensitivity to gender and cultural differences.
  • Find, evaluate, select, synthesize, organize, cite and present information and arguments clearly and effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.
  • Recognize and evaluate the features, functions, and contexts of language that express and influence meaning.
  • Compare and contrast with care and accuracy the relative merits of alternative or opposing arguments, interpretation, assumptions, and cultural values.
  • Reflect in an open-minded manner on one's own thinking in relation to the ideas of others.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

2. Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning

Courses in 2A shall be lower-division courses. Courses in 2U shall be upper-division courses.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

3. Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities include Introduction to the Arts (3A), Introduction to Humanities (3B), and Explorations in the Arts or Humanities (3U).

Courses in 3A and 3B shall be lower-division courses. Courses in 3U shall be upper-division courses.

Overall Learning Objectives

After completing course requirements in Area 3, students shall:

  1. Cultivate their intellect, imagination, sensibility, and sensitivity through the study of the arts and humanities.
  2. Understand and explicate major concepts, themes, and imagery found in the arts and humanities and recognize aesthetic qualities and processes that characterize works of the human intellect and imagination.
  3. Understand how significant works in the arts and humanities respond to and address enduring problems of human existence.
  4. Appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of the arts and humanities, including disciplines both within and outside the arts and humanities.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

4. Social and Behavioral Sciences

Social and Behavioral Sciences include Introduction to the Social and Behavioral Sciences, American History, Institutions, and Values, and Explorations in Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Courses in 4A and 4B shall be lower-division courses. Courses in 4U shall be upper-division courses.

Overall Learning Objectives

After completing courses from different disciplinary perspectives in Area 4, students shall:

  1. Understand the ways that social, political, and economic institutions and human behavior are interconnected.
  2. Understand problems and issues from respective disciplinary perspectives and examine issues in their contemporary as well as historical settings and in a variety of cultural contexts.
  3. Understand the principles, value systems, ethics, and methodologies employed in social science inquiry.
  4. Understand the ways cultures construct social differences, such as those based on ethnicity, gender, race, class, and sexual orientation, and their effects on the individual and society.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

5. Physical and Biological Sciences

Physical and Biological Sciences includes Physical Science, Biological Science, Laboratory Experience, and Implications and Explorations in Physical and Biological Sciences.

Courses in 5A through 5C shall be lower-division courses. Courses in 5U shall be upper-division courses.

Shared Learning Objectives

  • 5A Physical Science
  • 5B. Biological Science
  • 5C. Laboratory Experience 

Subareas 5A, 5B, and 5C share a set of core learning objectives. Students taking courses in subareas 5A, 5B, and 5C shall:

  1. Understand the nature of scientific inquiry and the unique way that the natural sciences and mathematics describe the universe.
  2. Evaluate the validity and limitations of theories and scientific claims in interpreting experimental results.
  3. Understand the dynamic and evolving nature of the sciences.
  4. Recognize the importance of scientific paradigms and methods in understanding scientific concepts.
  5. Use quantitative techniques and scientific reasoning to investigate problems and phenomena in the natural universe.
  6. Understand the potential limits of scientific endeavors and the value systems and ethics associated with human inquiry.
  7. Understand different types of uncertainty and its impact on scientific methodology and reasoning.
  8. Analyze and manipulate graphical representations of data.
  9. Formulate and evaluate hypotheses using quantitative techniques.
  10. Use statistical techniques to evaluate uncertainty in experimental data.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

6. Ethnic Studies

An "Ethnic Studies course" is a course taught by faculty from the African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Chicana and Chicano Studies departments and identified in the catalog as taught through the African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Chicana and Chicano Studies departments as home departments, if cross-listed.

Only the Ethnic Studies Requirement Committee may interpret California State University core competencies for the Ethnic Studies Requirement into CSUF GE Area 6 learning objectives to be used to select courses to fulfill the requirement. Courses that satisfy the Ethnic Studies requirement shall meet learning objectives that address at least three of the five CSU core competencies.

Courses in Area 6 may be upper-division courses so long as adequate numbers of lower-division course options in Area 6 are available to students.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.

Z. Cultural Diversity

Courses that satisfy the Cultural Diversity requirement must include all of the following learning objectives and in addition be approved GE courses in any area except Areas 1, 2A, or 6. A course satisfying Overlay Z shall be taken at CSU Fullerton.

Self-Review Forms

Please use these self-review forms to evaluate whether your course follows GE course requirements, and modify your course to incorporate missing elements.