Undergraduate education at IUPUI, in all academic and professional programs, is structured around six general principles of undergraduate learning (PULs). These six principles highlight core skills and ways of thinking and learning that are important not just for academic success and achievement but also for future careers, graduate education, and lifelong learning. You will find connections between your specific course of studies and these PULs throughout your undergraduate career at IUPUI.

1. Core Communication and Quantitative Skills
The foundational areas of writing, reading, speaking, listening, quantitative analysis and use
of information technology - the core skills for IUPUI students - are demonstrated, respectively,
by the ability to:

a) express ideas, opinions, beliefs, and facts to others effectively in a variety of written formats (i.e. basic writing composition, general written communication, and professional or research writing);
b) comprehend, interpret, and analyze written text in reading;
c) communicate effectively (speak and listen) one-on-one and in small and large group settings,
as well as identify factors that facilitate and impede communication;
d) perform quantitative functions and analyses; and
e) use information technology for academic, personal, and professional needs. These foundational skills are introduced in specific courses and developed and extended throughout the disciplines.

2. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a sophisticated cognitive process which involves the careful examination of ideas and information from multiple perspectives in order to clarify and improve our understanding and to develop ideas that are unique, useful, and worthy of further elaboration. Critical thinking is demonstrated by

a) solving challenging problems;
b) analyzing complex issues and making informed decisions;
c) synthesizing information to arrive at reasoned conclusions;
d) evaluating the logic, relevance, and validity of data
e) using knowledge and understanding to raise and explore new questions.

3. Intellectual Depth, Breadth, and Adaptiveness
Intellectual depth, breadth, and adaptiveness is the ability to examine, organize, and apply disciplinary ways of knowing to specific issues. Intellectual depth is demonstrated by substantial knowledge in one area, usually the major, but, where applicable, in a minor or other concentration of study. Intellectual breadth is demonstrated by the ability to compare and contrast approaches to knowledge in different disciplines and by the ability to define what counts as evidence in each disciplines. Adaptiveness is demonstrated by modifying ones approach to a problem or question based on the requirements of a particular situation.

4. Integration and Application of Knowledge
Integration of knowledge is demonstrated when students articulate and apply concepts or constructs from two or more disciplinary areas to personal, academic, professional, or community activities. Application of knowledge occurs when students participate in experiences that enable them to link their knowledge to their own intellectual development, to their professional goals, and to the goals of society.

5. Understanding Society and Culture
Understanding society and culture is the ability to place one's own cultural traditions in a broader human context. This ability is demonstrated by writing, actions, and speech which indicate knowledge of the range of diversity in traditions, history, and values.

6. Values and Ethics
An undergraduate education fosters the development of a sense of aesthetics, values, and ethical standards. The enactment of values and ethics occurs when students make informed and ethical decisions in their personal, academic, and professional endeavors.

For more information, please call The Office for Integrating Learning at 317-278-1846 or University College at 317-274-5036.