There are a few courses that are not a part of a cluster. The mandatory Personal & Professional Development course and the 100-level Dutch course for example. These courses build skills that transcend the cluster-based curriculum.
Course descriptions
100-level Personal & Professional Development
This course is a first-year requirement and aims to stimulate personal development, namely, being able to actively, consciously and ethically orientate oneself in relation to others and the world. It supports the development of core personal and academic skills that enhance critical thinking and independent learning. It seeks to improve and develop academic writing and presenting skills and helps students develop the foundational skills and attitudes to reflect on societal issues and engage with societal partners.
The course stimulates core academic skills, namely:
- Select and critically analyze academic sources
- Articulate research questions, thesis statements and arguments
- Improve communication skills through various forms of writing and speaking activities
The course fosters personal, social and civic competencies, namely:
- Craft own academic and personal learning goals
- Critically reflect on own learning
- Develop effective collaborative learning approaches with peers, instructors and external partners
- Valuing community engagement, including the value of different knowledge types and perspectives
100-level Dutch
This course aims to develop basic skills and strategies necessary to successfully handle uncomplicated oral and written communication in Dutch in a variety of social situations that you may encounter in daily life in the Netherlands. The emphasis in the course will be on speaking in Dutch in day-to-day situations on the one hand and understanding Dutch culture on the other hand. At the end of the course students can orally express and write about themselves in Dutch, who they are, describe their family background, and interact with others in a simple way.
