By introducing students to fundamental intellectual skills and methods, or modes of inquiry, employed in the pursuit of knowledge, the core curriculum cultivates a broad range of student intellectual abilities. The Rockhurst core curriculum includes required courses in seven modes of inquiry as well as courses in three academic proficiencies that support the modes. The Proficiencies Proficiency in Oral Communication. This proficiency involves skill in critical listening and oral communication.
Students become proficient through regular, sustained, intensive practice.
They learn to recognize, identify, and analyze interpersonal, public, cross-cultural, verbal, and nonverbal communication, and they learn to apply these skills in a variety of situations. Proficiency in Written Communication. Proficient writing is the process of selecting, combining, and developing ideas in effective sentences, paragraphs, and longer units of discourse. Learning to write at the college level involves developing skill in using and combining these variables to shape appropriate messages for various situations. Advanced students may satisfy the proficiency in written communication by one approved advanced composition course.