Perspectives

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Perspectives

The Perspective course categories require a minimum of 24 credit hours of coursework (for the BS degree) and are designed to introduce students to a variety of important areas of inquiry that model different approaches to learning about the world.

Typically taken in the first and second years, the Perspective courses introduce students to fundamentals of liberal arts and sciences disciplines (methods, concepts, and theories) while addressing specific general education learning outcomes.

Categories include: global, social, ethical, artistic, scientific principles, scientific inquiry, and mathematical. The number of courses required in each category varies by degree type (e.g. BS, BFA, AS, and AAS). Note that students may count no more than three required courses (not including labs) from their program’s primary discipline as meeting General Education requirements.

Learn more about General Education degree requirements

Courses in this category focus on ethical aspects of decision-making and argument, whether at the individual, group, national, or international level. Because RIT expects its graduates to be leaders in their careers and communities, these courses provide students with an understanding of how ethical issues can be conceived, discussed, and resolved, and how ethical forms of reasoning emerge and are applied to address such issues.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Identify contemporary ethical questions and relevant stakeholder outcomes

Courses in this category focus on the analysis of forms of artistic expression in the context of the societies and cultures that produced and sustained them. These courses provide insight into the creative process, the nature of aesthetic experience, the fundamentals of criticism and aesthetic discrimination, and the ways in which societies and cultures express their values through their art.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Interpret and evaluate artistic expression considering the cultural context in which it was created

Acting wisely as global citizens requires the ability to imagine how one’s choices affect other people; courses in this category encourage students to see life from a perspective wider than their own and to understand the diversity of human cultures within an interconnected global society. Courses in this category may explore the interconnectedness of the local and the global in today’s world or in historical examples, and encourage students to see how global forces reverberate at the local level.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Examine connections among the world’s populations

Courses in this category focus on the analysis of human behavior within the context of social systems and institutions. Because RIT recognizes that student success depends on the ability to understand how social groups function and operate, these courses provide insight into the workings of social institutions’ processes.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Analyze similarities and differences in human experiences and consequent perspectives

Science is more than a collection of facts and theories, so students will be expected to understand and participate in the process of science inquiry. Courses in this category focus on the basic principles and concepts of one or more of the natural sciences. In these classes, students apply methods of scientific inquiry and problem solving in a laboratory or field experience.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Explain basic principles and concepts of one of the natural sciences
  • Apply methods of scientific inquiry and problem solving to contemporary issues

The courses in this category will focus on the foundational principles of one ore more of the natural sciences or will provide an opportunity to apply methods of scientific inquiry in the natural or social sciences. Courses in this category may or may not include a laboratory experience.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Explain basic principles and concepts of one of the natural sciences
    OR
  • Apply methods of scientific inquiry and problem solving to contemporary issues

Courses in this category will introduce students to the role that mathematics and computational practices play in the world. In these courses, students comprehend and evaluate mathematical or statistical information or computational practices and perform college-level mathematical operations on quantitative data.

At a minimum, these courses will enable students to:

  • Comprehend and evaluate mathematical or statistical information
  • Perform college-level mathematical operations on quantitative data