The Core Curriculum at Marshall University requires students to complete 9 hours of Core I courses: a First Year Seminar (FYS) and two courses with a critical thinking (CT) designation.  Together these courses introduce first year students to the nine Marshall University Learning Outcomes common to all majors at Marshall. While Core I is an introduction to the Marshall outcomes, students will continue to practice these outcomes throughout their degree programs and will demonstrate proficiency in these outcomes in the Capstone Experience.

1. Communication
2. Creative Thinking
3. Ethical and Civic Thinking
4. Inquiry-based Thinking
5. Informational Literacy
6. Integrative Thinking
7. Intercultural thinking
8. Metacognitive Thinking
9. Quantitative Fluency

First Year Seminar

Taught by faculty drawn from across the university, FYS is an interdisciplinary seminar (22 students maximum) focusing on critical thinking. While each section may explore a different theme, all sections of the course emphasize problem solving and use student-centered, hands-on experiential activities and projects to address five of the nine Marshall Outcomes (outcomes #4 through #8).

Other Core I Courses

Students are required to complete six-hours of CT-designated courses with an emphasis on critical thinking and learner-centered course design.  Only 100- and 200-level courses are eligible to hold the CT-designation. These courses must meet the Criteria for CT Courses passed by the Faculty Senate.  New courses meeting these criteria may be created or existing courses may be modified to meet these criteria.  CT-designated courses may be offered by any department once the course is submitted through the university’s course addition or course change process.   The basic process for submitting CT courses for approval is outlined on the Faculty Senate website.

Adding CT-designated courses to your department’s curriculum:

1. Complete the Course Addition forms available on the Faculty Senate/University Curriculum Committee website.
2. For CT-designated courses, you must complete the Critical Thinking Designator Form.
3. With the Course Addition form, the Critical Thinking Designator Form, and a copy of the syllabus, the proposed course addition can be submitted for approval in turn by the department, the Registrar, the college curriculum committee, the General Education Council and the University Curriculum Committee.

Modifying existing courses to create a CT-designated course:

1. Complete a Course Change form available on the Faculty Senate/University Curriculum Committee website.
2. Complete the Critical Thinking Designator Form.
3. With the Course Change form, the Critical Thinking Designator form, and a copy of the syllabus, the proposed course change can be submitted for approval in turn by the department, the college curriculum committee, the General Education Council and the University Curriculum Committee.