General Education Electives

The capacity of a person to recognize and evaluate artistic and creative achievements is useful in many aspects of their life. Since artistic expression is a fundamentally human activity, which both reflects and anticipates developments in the larger culture, its study will enhance the student’s cultural and self-awareness. Courses in this theme provide students with an understanding of the importance of visual and creative arts in human affairs, of the artist’s and writer’s perceptions of the world and the means by which those perceptions are translated into the language of literature and artistic expression.

In order for individuals to live responsibly and to reach their potential as individuals and as citizens of society, they need to understand the patterns of human relationships that underlie the orderly interactions of a society's various structural units. Informed people will have knowledge of the meaning of civic life in relation to diverse communities at the local, national, and global level, and an awareness of international issues and Canada’s place in the international community. Courses in this theme provide students with an understanding of the meaning of freedoms, rights, and participation in community and public life, in addition to a working knowledge of the structure and function of various levels of government in Canada and/or in an international context. They may also provide an historical understanding of major political issues affecting relations between the various levels of government in Canada and their constituents.

Knowledge of the patterns and precedents of the past provide the means for a person to gain an awareness of his or her place in contemporary culture and society. In addition to this awareness, students will acquire a sense of the main currents of their culture and that of other cultures over an extended period to link personal history to the broader study of culture. Courses in this theme deal broadly with major social and cultural themes. These courses may also stress the nature and validity of historical evidence and the variety of historical interpretation of events. Courses will provide the students with a view and understanding of the impact of cultural, social, ethnic, or linguistic characteristics.

Educated people are equipped for life-long understanding and development of themselves as integrated physiological and psychological entities. They are aware of the ideal need to be fully functioning persons: mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and vocationally. Courses in this theme focus on understanding the individual: his or her evolution; situation; relationship with others; place in the environment and universe; achievements and problems; and their meaning and purpose. They will also allow students the opportunity to study institutionalized human social behaviour in a systematic way. Courses fulfilling this requirement may be oriented to the study of the individual within a variety of contexts.

Matter and energy are universal concepts in science, forming a basis for understanding the interactions that occur in living and non-living systems in our universe. Study in this area provides an understanding of the behaviour of matter that provides a foundation for further scientific study and the creation of broader understanding about natural phenomena. Similarly, the various applications and developments in technology have an increasing impact on all aspects of human endeavour and have numerous social, economic, and philosophical implications. Courses in this area should stress scientific inquiry and deal with basic or fundamental questions of science rather than applied ones. They may be formulated from traditional basic courses in such areas of study as: biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology. As well, courses may be related to understanding the role and functions of technologies in a non-applied manner to provide students with an opportunity to explore the impact of these concepts and practices on their lives.

The following general education electives are designed for English language learners. Please note that course offerings vary from semester to semester. For more information contact communication [at] mohawkcollege.ca (communication[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca)

At Mohawk College, students in most diploma programs are required to take two or three General Education Electives. To find out how many General Education Electives you are required to take for your program, consult your MAP (My Academic Progress), which displays your entire program of study including completed, in-progress, and remaining course work. MAP can be found on MyMohawk → Academics → My Grades → My Academic Progress (MAP).

Each program selects specific semesters in which students are scheduled to take their General Education Electives. Please review your program of study on MAP (My Academic Progress) to determine in which semesters you are required to take your General Education Electives. It is highly recommended that you take your Elective when it is scheduled for your program of study.

The Department of Liberal Studies offers a variety of interesting General Education Electives each semester. You can find a list of courses that may be offered to full-time students on the General Education-Electives page. Please note that course offerings vary from semester to semester, and that some courses are not eligible as Electives for all programs.

If there is a General Education Elective scheduled in your current semester, you will choose an Elective when registering for your mandatory program courses on MyMohawk. In the block below your mandatory program courses you will be offered a custom selection of Elective courses based on your program and timetable.

General Education Electives must be clearly distinct from the vocational outcomes for your program of study. This means that some courses are not eligible as Electives for all programs. When registering for a regularly scheduled Elective on MyMohawk, you will only be offered Electives that are approved for your program. However, if you are selecting an Elective off-cycle it is the your responsibility to consult the Elective – Program Restrictions to ensure that the course is eligible as an Elective for your program. For more information on Elective exclusions for specific programs, please contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca)

You are advised to register as soon as the registration system will allow (check your MyMohawk email or announcements for your program’s registration date and time). Elective courses are filled on a first come-first serve basis, and seats are limited, so you may need to consider a second or third choice. The MyMohawk Registration portal is updated in real time, so you can continue logging in to see if any spaces become available in your preferred Elective course right up until the last day of the add/drop period for the semester.

If all the elective options in your block are full, please contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) to request special authorization to register for another elective that fits in your timetable. In the meantime, keep checking on MyMohawk to see if any spaces become available. 

As long as it’s during the add/drop period for the semester, you can add, drop or change your General Education Elective via Choose/Change My Timetable in MyMohawk. Please refer to the Academic Schedule on the Mohawk College website for current semester add/drop dates. After the last day of the add/drop period, you will not be able to change or add a new General Education Elective to your timetable.

If you missed, failed, or dropped an Elective from a previous semester you can contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) to request special authorization to take your elective off-cycle, in which case you will be directed to complete the Elective Request Form. In some cases, you may be able to self-register for a missed/ failed Elective via “Choose/ Change My Timetable” on MyMohawk during the add/drop period, if you have access to a list of “Missed/ Failed” Courses. If selecting an Elective from the “Missed/ Failed Courses” block, please consult the Elective – Program Restrictions to ensure that the course you want to take is eligible as an Elective for your program.

If you are wanting to work ahead by taking a general education elective before you are scheduled to do so, you will not be able to register for your course via MyMohawk. Special authorization to register for an additional elective may be granted during the add/drop period after the on-cycle students have had a chance to register for their Electives first. To request special authorization, please contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) 

Yes, grades earned in your General Education Elective courses are included in the calculation of your overall Grade Point Average (GPA).

Students who are enrolled in a full-time program are encouraged to take their General Education Elective courses as part of the regular program delivery. However, if you are interested in taking Electives through Continuing Education (CE)/Part-Time Studies, you can  do so at your own expense (fees for these courses are NOT included in regular full-time tuition fees). Only courses on the CE General Education Electives list are accepted as credit towards the General Education requirements for most diploma programs. Before registering for a CE General Education course, please consult the Elective Program Restrictions list to ensure that the course is an appropriate Elective for your program. For all questions pertaining to the delivery and registration for Continuing Education courses you can contact CECreative [at] mohawkcollege.ca (CECreative[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca).

Courses completed through Continuing Education (CE) will appear on your MAP (My Academic Progress) under “Other Course Activity”. Once your official final grade is submitted the credit should be automatically applied towards one of your General Education requirement slots. If after receiving your final grades the course is not automatically applied to your General Education Requirement, please contact the General Education Coordinator at gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) to request an exemption.

If the General Education requirements for your program are already fulfilled on your MAP, taking an extra Elective may NOT help in raising your GPA. The additional Elective would appear under "Other Course Activity" and we cannot guarantee that it would be used in the calculation of your overall GPA. Some academic areas will manually calculate a student’s GPA using the highest Elective grade even if the Elective is listed as "Other Course Activity", but you would have to verify this with your program area. To boost your GPA, you might consider re-taking a core program courses in which case the higher grade would replace the lower grade on your MAP and be used in the calculation of your GPA.

Maybe. If you have an outstanding Elective from a previous or upcoming semester then you can request special authorization to add that Elective to your timetable. If your program general education requirements are already fulfilled, you can request to take an additional elective if space is available.

Most General Education Electives taken at Mohawk college, will automatically transfer if you change from one Mohawk College program to another (or register in another Mohawk program after you have completed one). This means that most students who have already completed General Education Electives at Mohawk College are not required to apply for exemptions.

If you have previously completed General Education Electives at Mohawk College, please check your MAP (My Academic Progress) report through MyMohawk to see if your Electives have been applied to the General Education spaces for your current program of study. If your previously completed Electives are under the “Other Course Activity” section of the MAP report, contact gened [at] mohawkcollege.ca (gened[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca) to inquire about the eligibility of your prior Mohawk College credits for General Education credit.

If you previously completed courses at another post-secondary institution you might be eligible for exemption from one or more of your General Education Electives. There are several factors to consider when selecting a course to use for a General Education exemption request. To qualify for General Education credit, the transfer course must meet all the following requirements.

• The course must be awarded by an accredited post-secondary College/University.
• The course must support learning in one of the five General Education themes: Arts in Society, Civic Life, Social and Cultural Understanding, Personal Understanding, Understanding Science and Technology. Most courses in the Arts (e.g., Literature), Humanities (e.g., Philosophy, History), and Social Sciences (e.g., Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science), as well as, some broad introductory science courses (e.g., Astronomy, Environmental Science, etc.) qualify as General Education.
• The content of the course must be unrelated to the vocational outcomes or courses for the student’s program of study. For example, students in Police Foundations cannot use a Criminology course to exempt from their General Education requirement.
• Courses that focus on vocational, professional, technical, general interest or applied skills and knowledge do not qualify as General Education.
  This includes language acquisition courses, advanced science/math, computer, or applied arts courses, and courses that involve placement, practicum, or laboratory components.
• The course must be a minimum of 3 credits or 42 contact hours
• The final grade on the official transcript must be 60% (C) or higher (50% for courses taken at Mohawk College). Courses with non-numerical grades or that are evaluated on a pass/fail basis are not eligible for Credit Transfer.

Note: To receive transfer credit/ exemption for a program mandated General Education course (i.e., a specific General Education course that all students in a specific program are required to take), the transferring course must match at least 80% of the learning outcomes for the respective Mohawk College course.

If you have work/life or educational experience that does not meet the criteria for credit transfer/ exemption, you may wish to explore the possibility of having your learning assessed through Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition. PLAR is available for most of our General Education courses and/or for each of the five General Education Themes. Please note that there is a non-refundable PLAR challenge fee. To obtain further assistance and information about PLAR, please contact the college’s Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition office at: plar [at] mohawkcollege.ca (plar[at]mohawkcollege[dot]ca)

You can apply for a General Education Exemption online via MyMohawk. For step by step instructions please see: Apply for an Exemption in 5 Easy Steps.

Note: Do not assume your application will be approved! If you are scheduled to take your General Education Elective, register and remain in your course until you are notified about the outcome of your request. If approved, your Elective will be automatically dropped from your timetable.

If you are not currently registered in an Elective and/or you are requesting an exemption for a General Education Elective that you are scheduled to take in a future semester, you can apply for the exemption(s) at any time. If you are trying to exempt from an Elective that you are currently registered in, your application should be received before classes begin in order to be processed before the drop deadline.

Timelines can vary depending on the time of year; however, applications are normally assessed within 10 business days from the time the assessing Department receives your paperwork.

Do not assume your exemption request will be approved! If you are scheduled to take your General Education Elective, register and remain in an Elective course until you have been notified about the outcome of your application. If your exemption request is approved, your Elective course will be dropped automatically from your timetable.

Yes. Each credit sought through exemption requires its own Exemption Request form.

General Education Exemptions are represented as “E” on your transcript/MAP and are not calculated as part of your overall GPA.