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Moravian’s Integrated Learning Experience (MILE)

General Education Curriculum

The undergraduate general education curriculum, known as Moravian’s Integrated Learning Experience (MILE), embodies Moravian University’s mission by allowing students to engage with the richness of a liberal arts community, reflect on their diverse experiences and connect them to their study of focus (major), and articulate the transferable skills that they have gained through their education.

This curriculum, designed for students entering Moravian in Fall 2025 and after, integrates knowledge, attitudes, and skills to promote critical inquiry, creativity, and reflection while connecting disciplinary areas of study with larger networks of learning experiences.

Program Overview

MILE is a 10-unit general education program designed to enhance liberal arts education and complement professional studies. 

Note: Transfer students with an associates of arts or associate of science degree only complete a specially crafted University Foundations course along with a Beyond the Classroom experience and the Connections course in their major. Transfers who have an associate in applied arts or applied science do not qualify for the core to core agreement. All transfer students may contact Executive Director of Transfer Enrollment, Erika Mondok, at mondoke@moravian.edu with any questions. 

Integrated Learning Communities

2 units

A Foundational Literacies course (MILE 101) is paired with a second introductory-level course (MILE 102) so cohorts of first-year students can explore an overarching topic through the viewpoint of two different disciplinary lenses.

  • Examine intersecting areas of study related to a broad spectrum of ideas connected by a common theme across two courses in a shared cohort
  • Begin development of a digital portfolio in support of knowledge integration throughout their general education journey 
  • Reflect on learning to make interdisciplinary connections between the two Integrated Learning Community Courses
  • Publicly demonstrate knowledge integration related to the connected Integrated Learning Community Course’s topics in a culminating experience
     

University Foundations

0.5 unit

By participating in various experiences and events on campus, students will be able to personally, socially, and academically adjust to Moravian University.

  • Aid students in their personal, social, and academic adjustment to Moravian University
  • Familiarize students with campus resources, support services, technologies, academic programs and processes, and university policies
  • Foster a sense of belonging with the Moravian community
  • Increase students’ self-efficacy

Paths to Knowledge

6 units

Students take at least one 1-unit course in each of the following paths to knowledge: creativity, global connections, humanistic inquiry, logic and reasoning, scientific process, and social systems.

Student Learning Outcomes:

  • Develop creative processes to explore different models or ways of thinking
  • Demonstrate and evaluate different frameworks/principles of innovative or creative thinking
  • Engage in a creative experience or produce some form of creative expression
  • Create a new object, idea, approach or solution, or adapt and model an exemplar
  • Reflect on alternate, divergent, revisionist, or contradictory perspectives in relation to the creative experience

  • Within the context of the course, define global diversity
  • Describe how individual actions affect both local and global communities and how communities and cultures shape individuals
  • Analyze the complexity of major global issues
  • Reflect on the ways that regional and power differences and/or ideologies shape peoples’ understanding and assessment of various global issues

  • Critically analyze and interpret the contexts, meanings, and purposes of cultural artifacts
  • Apply intellectual and/or experiential methods and approaches for study, analysis, and/or expression of the human experience
  • Reflect upon worldviews that demonstrate different ways of narrating and expressing the meaning of human experience

  • Explain rules of inductive and/or deductive reasoning
  • Evaluate the validity of the evidence
  • Apply techniques to discern patterns from the synthesize of multiple observations AND / OR apply techniques to make appropriate inferences based upon available evidence
  • Use formal reasoning to evaluate one’s own arguments and identify and evaluate the arguments of others

  • Articulate the scientific method to evaluate a hypothesis, answer a question, and analyze results or outcomes to reach conclusion
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the breadth and nuances of scientific disciplines in the world
  • Explain the place of science in a broader context through the application of foundational scientific knowledge to real world problems and evaluation of ethical standards associated with scientific experimentation
  • Communicate the value of scientific literacy and its importance to society
  • Evaluate the impact of scientific discovery and its historical influences

  • Explain how qualitative or quantitative methods are used to explore behavior and social organization
  • Recognize and evaluate social, behavioral, and/or environmental forces that contribute to the complexities of social systems
  • Analyze the roles, relationships, and interactions of individuals and/or groups within larger social contexts
     

Beyond the Classroom 

0.5 unit

Designed to take students outside of the normal classroom environment, Beyond the Classroom includes experiences such as study abroad, research, internships, performance, practicums, honors, clinicals, and student teaching.

  • Learn from diverse communities and/or cultures through credit-bearing experiences such as research, study away, performance, exhibition, internship, clinical experience, field experience, and/or civic engagement
  • Work collaboratively and communicate effectively across and/or within communities/contexts
  • Recognize and understand multiple ideas, theories, perspectives and methods, and examine their ability to address challenges
  • Reflect on and analyze experiential learning activities with respect to one's own goals and accomplishments

Connections 

1 unit

The curriculum concludes with a connection back to the student’s major, ideally in the form of a capstone course and professional development. Students will complete a reflective digital portfolio and integrate their general education experiences with their disciplinary expertise.

  • Adapt and apply skills, abilities, theories, or methodologies gained in general education to solve problems or explore complex issues with an interdisciplinary lens
  • Describe any connections between non-curricular/extracurricular experiences (e.g. outreach, internships, scholarship, community service, athletics, employment) and the major
  • Explain how the general education curriculum ties into their chosen field of study
  • Reflect on vocational/professional development
  • Finalize a reflective digital portfolio

Transferable and Guided Skills (TAGS)

As students progress through their university experience, the transferable skills that they are learning across the entire curriculum will be recognized in the form of Transferable and Guided Skills (TAGS). Students will attain the following TAGS before graduating (a total of 10 TAGS).

Critical Reading (x2)

*One of the two Critical Reading TAGS is built into the Integrated Learning Communities.

  • Utilize active reading strategies (via annotation, note taking, etc.) to aid comprehension and interpretation of texts
  • Analyze texts using context appropriate approaches and lenses
  • Identify texts within and across genres, disciplines/discourse communities, and rhetorical situations
  • Use textual evidence to substantiate interpretations and arguments
  • Recognize and reflect on ideologies presented within texts

Cultural and Linguistic Competencies

  • Examine contemporary and/or historic culture(s) through lenses, which may include language, customs, beliefs, and/or contributions to global society
  • Identify and analyze how culture influences values and perspectives with respect to specific issues
  • Analyze how and why complexities of human diversity are socially and/or historically constructed
  • Reflect on the interdependence of humanity, cultures, and environments

Equity and Inclusion

  • Explain the differences between equality, equity, and fairness, and illustrate with specific examples
  • Identify and reflect on personal biases in the context of the course
  • Analyze the institutions and structures, both historical and current, that create and maintain inequalities and inequities among social groups 
  • Provide informed assessments of the impact of assumptions, judgments, and/or biases related to one’s own and other cultures
  • Practice mutual respect for people, values, beliefs, and experiences that are different from one’s own
  • Reflect on how advocacy has worked to remove barriers to inclusion

Ethical Deliberation

  • Identify interconnections between ultimate questions, ethical issues, and/or moral dilemmas
  • Demonstrate why these questions are of critical importance to individuals and to society
  • Apply ethical principles, frameworks and theories to processes regarding formation of identity, individual and social values, and/or decision making
  • Critically evaluate and reflect on ethical and/or moral frameworks

Information and Digital Literacy

*This TAGS is built into the Integrated Learning Communities.

  • Articulate key elements in research questions to develop and execute a search strategy
  • Investigate differing viewpoints encountered in strategic exploration of topics to develop informed arguments or hypotheses
  • Recognize and evaluate diverse sources of information and use suitable resources appropriately for information needs
  • Distinguish between personal ideas and the intellectual property of others to ethically use information and demonstrate academic integrity
  • Communicate ideas responsibly in a variety of genres and digital media
  • Reflect on one's role and responsibility in communicating and creating knowledge

Public Speaking

  • Develop skills to organize presentations effectively and deliver a central message
  • Use evidence and supporting material to support the central message
  • Examine various effective strategies and delivery techniques
  • Use language, delivery style, and medium appropriate to the material and the setting
  • Reflect on public speaking goals and self-assess public speaking abilities

Quantitative Reasoning

  • Interpret and explain numerical data represented in various forms (e.g. words, equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, models)
  • Assess and communicate assumptions and limitations of numerical data
  • Communicate numerical data in various mathematical forms (e.g. words, equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, models)
  • Use or evaluate the use of numerical data in support or opposition to an assertion or argument

Writing (x2)

*One of the two Writing TAGS is built into the Integrated Learning Communities.

  • Communicate effectively in scholarly, creative, public, and/or professional writing situations
  • Recognize and be responsive to rhetorical situations
  • Incorporate relevant and credible sources and attribute ethically for a given context
  • Revise writing using self-assessment and feedback
  • Reflect on process choices and conceptual knowledge of writing

Any course at the university can have up to two TAGS, including courses contributing to any major/minor or those that are otherwise components of MILE. Consult Moravian’s course catalog for information about what TAGS are associated with a course. 

Reflective Portfolio

The digital portfolio is a place where students will reflect on and critically assess the connections, knowledge, and skills woven throughout the MILE program and their major(s). Students will upload assignments and reflections from the following components of the curriculum:

  • Integrated Learning Community courses
  • Paths to Knowledge courses
  • Beyond the Classroom course
  • TAGS courses (reflection only)