Interdisciplinary Studies

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Courses

IC 102: Introduction to Information Literacy and Critical Thinking

This course will teach students the ins and outs of college-level research. It will ensure students are prepared to meet their professors' research expectations when it comes to preparing papers, presentations, speeches, and other projects. Students will learn a variety of searching techniques and information evaluation strategies. Taught by a librarian who will work closely with students throughout the course. 

IC 107: Pathways to Success

This class is meant to support your academic success at IC and is designed to challenge your thinking about what it actually means, and takes, to be a “good” and “successful” student. Your engagement in this course is a requirement of your academic success plan. It’s not enough to master the actions of college, but to practice holistic actions that contribute to living a successful life. You must explore what you don’t know and challenge yourself to put the past semester behind you and move forward in your academic endeavors. Furthermore, if you commit to the work and successfully complete the course, this is an opportunity to improve your overall GPA and academic progress.

IC 121: Career Exploration in Liberal Arts

The purpose of this course will be for students to begin to understand how their career exploration can be enhanced by their liberal arts experience. Students will utilize various methods of self-discovery to help them identify potential majors and career directions that might align with their skills, qualities, and interests, while also exploring what IC has to offer through its general education curriculum.

IC 421: Graduate READY: Career Strategies

Students will learn how to transition from the college campus to a workplace environment through this interactive course. Within a supportive learning community, students will develop strategies from executing a successful job search to beginning their entry-level job or graduate program. Course topics in preparing for the role as new young professional include determining personal strengths through self-reflection and assessment, locating and applying for available positions, successfully interviewing, and identifying workplace “rules of the game."

IS 130: Go Pro!

What determines who we are? College is a time to really explore who you’ve been and who you want to become. It is a time to understand the multiple layers of our identities and use that knowledge to find success in the classroom and beyond. Students will utilize storytelling in peeling away these layers to examine and evaluate their own cooperating and competing identities. Throughout the semester, students will analyze various texts  literature, film, music, videos – to explore the value of narratives in understanding identities we choose and those chosen for us and how those identities can help and hinder us when navigating college.

IS 130: Becoming a Leader

What does it mean to be the first in your family to go to college? How does being first make you a leader? What if you don’t believe you are a leader? What if who you’re asked to be is different than who you’re meant to be? In this course, you will examine concepts of leadership, exploration, and what it means to be first in your family to go to college. This course will be supported through contextual mediums including literature, articles, poetry, videos, podcasts, and personal reflection. Strengths-based assessments will be used alongside as tools to take on your newest challenge, becoming a leader. (This course is open to first-generation college students to assist in navigating Illinois College. You must apply and be accepted into the Yates Fellowship Program.)