academics
GENERAL LEARNING requirements
Our accreditation agency requires us to have writing portfolio assignment and a general-learning element in all of our bachelor degrees.
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Writing Portfolio
For the writing portfolio, each undergraduate student must submit a collection of 4 to 7 written items totaling 10,000 words for assessment to the Open Latch Education Foundation. This portfolio must be graded by two OLEF assessors before the student can enter the exit years of any program (usually, the last 2 years). Each item must have a cover sheet explaining its audience, its genre or mode, and its rhetorical goals.
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As for the general learning, there are two ways we can do this. We can choose one over the other, or we can go back and forth between the two.
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Literacy Habits
Using engaging, layered material of our choice, we have students read fiction or nonfiction books (not directly related to their degrees), watch movies, listen to audiobooks, write in styles and genres they are interested in, and participate in public communication. Students can pick the writing and speaking content, platform, and context. Students and mentors discuss the material in small groups or one-on-one.
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The goal here is to form a lifelong habit of meaningful textual interaction. If our students are regularly involved with interesting, engaging material that entertains and educates at the same time, the chances are high that they will continue the habit on their own.
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Learning Categories
OLEF has 5 categories of general learning. Each one is associated with a common discipline and also has three specific words to illustrate the expansion of the category:
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HISTORY (Civilization/Community/Culture)
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LITERATURE (Story/Text/Media)
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SCIENCE (World/Body/Mind)
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PHILOSOPHY (Philosophy/Religion/Ethics)
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BUSINESS (Business/Trade/Finance)
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The quarters system required by OLEF, wherein each quarter is 8 weeks long, means that readings in each of these categories can be the focus for 8 weeks at least once a year, the 5th category being a summer session.
When we do the categories, we take those categories in order, so the general learning for our year looks like this:
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Quarter 1
(late Aug to late Oct)
History/Society/Civilization
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Quarter 2
(early Nov to mid Jan)
Literature/Information/Media
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Quarter 3
(late Jan to late Mar)
World/Body/Mind
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Quarter 4
(early Apr to late May)
Philosophy/Religion/Ethics
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Summer Session
(variable, between May and Aug)
Business/Trade/Finance​​
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