General Education Core Competencies/Learner-Centered Outcomes - Approved Fall 2022

Core Competencies

1. Christian Worldview and Faith Development

2. Civic and Cultural Engagement

3. Communication

4. Critical Thinking

5. Personal Competency Development.

In pursuit of the fulfillment of our mission to produce Christ-centered servant leaders ready to meet the challenges of a constantly changing world, Dallas Baptist University has identified the following five core competencies for student achievement in its undergraduate programs. We believe that, in addition to the targeted skills students develop in their major field of study, these five competencies are vital to the success of our graduates as they integrate faith and learning through their respective callings.

Core Competency 1: Christian Worldview and Faith Development

We believe that as they develop their Christian worldview and mature in their faith, DBU graduates will demonstrate their ability to integrate and apply biblical principles, servant leadership, and ethical reasoning through excellence in academic, professional, social, and familial pursuits. We expect our graduates to take a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the importance of a Christian worldview into the world, advancing the Kingdom of God in all that they do.

Student Learning Outcome: DBU Graduates will apply a biblically-based, Christian worldview to learning and to life.

Core Competency 2: Civic and Cultural Engagement

We know that the world DBU graduates enter into is increasingly pluralistic, increasingly complex, and increasingly in need of the transformative power of the Gospel. Therefore, they require the ability to identify, understand, and address issues of public concern with sensitivity to and a critical appreciation of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and media as they engage culture. They require a sense of global and local civic responsibility along with an appreciation for diversity and inclusion. Our commitment is to produce graduates with hearts for service ready and able to engage the world through institutions, organizations, and social groupings, critically evaluating issues and messages and addressing them through all appropriate and available avenues.

Student Learning Outcome: DBU Graduates will demonstrate the ability to engage and evaluate culture and institutions critically and redemptively.

Core Competency 3: Communication

Engaging the world requires the ability to communicate appropriately in a wide variety of situations, through a wide variety of media, for a wide variety of audiences, and a wide variety of purposes. DBU is committed to producing graduates with excellent oral, written, visual, and virtual communication skills. We expect our graduates to be able to evaluate communication needs and purposes and to be able to utilize the tools of rhetoric and persuasion ethically and effectively. We are committed to ensuring that our graduates possess communication skills that enable them to develop and adapt to emerging technologies and media as well as traditional and creative paths for communication.

Student Learning Outcome: DBU Graduates will demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly in oral, written, visual, and virtual formats appropriate to a variety of purposes, audiences, and situations.

Core Competency 4: Critical Thinking

The ability to think critically, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and create, is demonstrated through comprehensive exploration of ideas, events, issues, and artifacts before forming an opinion, drawing a conclusion, determining a course of action, or crafting a solution. We expect our graduates to have research skills, logical habits of thought, and sound judgment to process, organize, and interpret data and other information they encounter and to creatively, innovatively, and transformationally approach issues and situations in every aspect of life.

Student Learning Outcome: DBU Graduates will demonstrate the ability to gather, process, and evaluate information critically and creatively to draw conclusions and support arguments.

Core Competency 5: Personal Competency Development

DBU is committed to the holistic development of our students. We expect our graduates to have the intrapersonal skills of adaptability, self-efficacy, self-discipline, persistence, and wellness that lead to and support their interpersonal skills of leadership, teamwork, cooperation, professionalism, and accountability. The servant leaders who graduate from DBU must be able to engage the world from a position of physical, emotional, and spiritual health so they can develop and maintain positive social, professional, and spiritual relationships.

Student Learning Outcome: DBU Graduates will demonstrate the ability to achieve and maintain intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.