Curriculum

Civic engagement is “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community through both political and non-political processes.” (Excerpted from Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, edited by Thomas Ehrlich, published by Oryx Press, 2000, Preface, page vi.).

In addition, civic engagement is participation in personal and public activities that are both life enriching and socially beneficial to the community.

Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. It involves writing in a variety of styles, genres, and technologies and mixing text, data, and images. Written communication abilities develop through repeated writing experiences across the disciplines.

Critical thinking is the use of deliberative thought, characterized by the comprehensive exploration of topics, ideas, artifacts or events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.

Using reason and experience to form informed judgments, the critical thinker combines or synthesizes existing ideas, images or expertise in original ways; and reacts to experience in imaginative ways, characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and risk-taking. The critical thinker solves problems by designing, evaluating and implementing a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.

Quantitative Literacy (QL) – also known as Numeracy or Quantitative Reasoning (QR) – is a “habit of mind,” competency, and comfort in working with numerical data. Individuals with strong QL skills possess the ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. They understand and can create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence and they can clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (using words, tables, graphs, mathematical equations, etc., as appropriate).

Entrepreneurship is the process of organizing tangible and intangible resources in order to pursue opportunities that generate value, meet an identified need, or satisfy an organizational or societal market (such as the creation of a business, organization, or laboratory).

At Harrisburg University, entrepreneurship represents a “frame of mind” demonstrated by both thinking and action.

Ethical decision making actualizes the realization and inclusion of the moral dimension for personal decision-making.

“Reasoning about right and wrong human conduct requires students to be able to 1) assess their own ethical values and the social context of problems, 2) recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, 3) think about how different ethical perspectives might be applied to ethical dilemmas, and 4) consider the ramifications of alternative actions.” (Source: AAC&U / VALUE rubric)

Ethical self-identity evolves both on individual and organizational (e.g., corporate) levels.

Global awareness is knowledge of the world citizenry’s common interests in community, social, political, informational and financial systems of different scales; appreciation and respect for diversity, culture, and environment; and the interactions and impacts of individuals, global systems and cultures.

Information literacy encompasses knowledge and familiarity with different media types, efficient data storage, retrieval methods, and research techniques. For the purposes of this rubric, “information” is not only text-based information, but also includes images, sounds, data sets, databases, artifacts, numerical and statistical data.

Teamwork and Collaboration encompass the ability to work effectively with others in a concerted effort toward a common goal. “Behaviors under the control of individual team members” include efforts put into team tasks, manner of interacting with others on the team, and the quantity and quality of contributions to team discussions. (Source: AAC&U / VALUE rubric)