Hello Geology Majors,
We started the forth week of the semester this week, so you probably have some exams coming up soon. Remember to visit with your course instructor in their office hours if you have questions. Depending on your course, you likely have a variety of resources to help you. If you don't know where to get help, please let me know, and I will do my best to get you pointed in the right direction.
As an undergraduate student in the Math major, you have to take a lot of non-Math courses to complete your degree. Have you given any thought as to why you have to take those courses? Every college and university requires a set of requirements that are common to all students, and these requirements are typically referred to as your general education or gen ed requirements. The general education requirements are normally based on a set of learning outcomes that you are expected to be proficient in by the time you graduate. But why these requirements and why these courses? It can be a really interesting question.
At UNL, you have to complete courses for the 10 learning outcomes of the Achievement-Centered Education (ACE) program. These are the learning outcomes that the UNL faculty agreed were essential to your success after graduation, and a robust system was created to both certify and re-certify courses as meeting these learning outcomes. For example, you need to know how to communication both verbally and orally (ACE 1 and ACE 2) to be successful, so you are expected to complete both a written communication course and a communication skills course.
In the College of Arts and Sciences, we also expect that you complete additional requirements called the College of Arts and Sciences Distribution Requirements (CDR) that cover learning outcomes with strong themes from the College: written communication, science, humanities, social science, breadth, and modern or classical languages. These general education requirements make up the liberal arts portion of your degree. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences strongly believes that you need to master written communication to be successful, so you have to take a second ACE 1: Written Communication course. Unfortunately, the CDR requirements don't overlap with your ACE requirements. However, both the ACE and CDR requirements can overlap with majors and minors.
After reading this, I bet you are saying to yourself, "Big deal, I already knew all of that. What's your point?" My point is have you given thought to why you are taking a particular ACE or CDR course? Are you did pick a course that your friend told you was easy? Your general education requirements are not hurdles or road blocks that we put in the way of you completing your degree. These courses are intended to teach you valuable skills and to give you important experiences that will help you learn the material of your major and help you succeed after you leave UNL. There is tremendous value in making wise, thought-out decisions about which courses to take for your ACE and CDR requirements. This is why resources like the list of the ACE courses offered each semester, the Undergraduate Catalog, and academic advisors exist. For example, maybe you have a side interest in history or politics, you could explore that side interest by taking history courses that meet your ACE 5, ACE 8, ACE 9, CDR Humanities, and CDR Human Diversity in U.S. Communities learning outcomes or by taking political science courses that meet ACE 6, ACE 8, ACE 9, CDR Social Sciences, and CDR Human Diversity in U.S. Communities learning outcomes. There isn't a right or wrong way to complete your ACE and CDR general education requirements, but only picking classes that someone told you were easy is going to be the least beneficial and least interesting way to complete your degree.
I would be glad to help with any general education course discussions.
Best wishes, Doug
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