Helping Students Design an Education

Overview & Synopsis

Most students embrace the incorporation of diverse disciplines into their educational plan when advisers and faculty members help them understand the added value of these courses in achieving their unique goals and how adding breadth can enhance their education and preparation. Individual advising is key to students gaining this perspective on their education. While most, if not all, institutions define and publish the rationale and learning outcomes for each of their general education requirements, these generic statements are not sufficient. They offer useful perspective on how the institution defines general education, but such statements do not provide individual students with the perspective to make informed selections of general education courses that enable a student to tailor her or his overall program of study to provide the best preparation to achieve her or his individual, long-term goals. A personal, individual rationale for the courses they take and the cocurricular opportunities they pursue resonates with students and parents. Both academic advisers and faculty members need to be prepared to explain how specific courses, particularly general education courses, contribute to each student's individual goals, not just to institutional goals.