The SNL curriculum is organized around the knowledge, skills and abilities that describe an educated adult in contemporary society. The undergraduate program is defined by a framework of 50 competencies grouped in three areas, the Lifelong Learning Area, the Individual Focus Area, and the Liberal Learning Area. The various statements of competence are designed to describe the outcomes of a liberal education; all student work, including prior learning, degree steps and courses, is directed toward accomplishing one or more of the required competencies. SNL courses are specifically designed to teach competencies. For most students, they are an efficient way to achieve competence within the SNL program. The Lifelong Learning Area encompasses twelve requirements that develop fundamental skills in reading, writing, goal setting, decision-making, teamwork, and research. Students may demonstrate some of these requirements by using independent learning projects or transfer coursework, in addition to specific SNL courses.
The Liberal Learning Area contains three categories that focus on liberal arts skills, knowledge, and attitudes: the Arts & Ideas, the Human Community, and the Scientific World.
Students must complete eight competencies in each of the categories and two additional Advanced Elective competencies. Six of these competencies in each of the Arts & Ideas, Human Community, and Scientific World categories are selected from an extensive menu of possibilities that are found within the subcategories in the category.
The individual Focus Area reflects the student’s individualized focus of study that comes out from their personal and professional goals. These twelve competencies are defined by the student with the advice and approval of his/her Academic Committee.
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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Courses in the School for New Learning are designed for adult learners, 24 years of age and older. SNL courses are multi-disciplinary, and designed around problems, issuers or themes. The curriculum evolves from year-to-year to reflect the interests and needs of students.
The following courses are illustrative of SNL offerings in each area of the program. Approximately 400 courses are offered through SNL each year. Most may be taken to satisfy either one or two competencies (two or four credit hours). For a listing of current courses, consult the SNL class schedule and registration instructions which are available online at http://snl.depaul.edu.
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HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK TEAMS.
Today’s business environment frequently requires groups of individuals to work together as a team, but usually without the training to understand what this really means. This course focuses on the skills needed to develop a business work group in a High Performance Team. It details the definition and requirements for good team development and concentrates on facilitation and negotiation techniques for team meetings; as well as on the communication and conflict resolution between team members. Since the purpose of most teams is to resolve problems, a scientific approach to problem-solving is also introduced. This is a highly interactive course which actively involves the students, encouraging the sharing of practical ideas and techniques. The course has sufficient flexibility to allow for the exploration and analysis of many typical team situations that are of interest to the students: what is discussed during class can be applied the next day at work.
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Competance Areas
