General education courses are required at most institutions of higher education. BRICKS is Ohio University’s 38 credit hour general education requirements framework. General education models are created to give students fundamental and breadth of knowledge learning and experience. BRICKS replaced OHIO’s Tiers general education requirements model that had been in place since 1979 and became effective with the 2021-2022 academic year.
It is important for students to understand BRICKS and how the courses work with their major requirements. You may find that there is cross-over with a course satisfying both a BRICKS general education requirement and a major requirement. But that won’t always be the case. You will also see that while there is a minimum 38 credit hour requirement, most students will exceed that due to semester courses generally being 3 or 4 credit hours. That is not to say that a student should feel like they are “wasting time” in a course that exceeds the credit hour requirement.
BRICKS is divided into five categories: foundations, pillars, arches, bridges, and capstones. All undergraduate students, except for those enrolled in Honors Tutorial College, are required to complete BRICKS. Read on to understand more about BRICKS.
OHIO’s BRICKS General Education Requirements
Foundations include 11 credit hours with required coursework in written communications (first year composition – 3 hours and junior year advanced writing – 3 hours), quantitative reasoning (math – 3 hours), and intercultural exploration (2 hours). The idea is that courses give the student the foundation from which they will build their academic journey on. The credit hour requirement can become confusing. For example, intercultural exploration only requires 2 credit hours yet most courses that satisfy this requirement are 3 credit hours with some even being 4 credit hours. To compound this, an intercultural exploration course may simultaneously satisfy a Pillar or Arch requirement, but cannot be used to satisfy the Bridges diversity and practice requirement.
Pillars courses are meant to support the knowledge that will be gained with a 12 credit hour requirement. There are four subcategories in the Pillars requirement: humanities – texts and contexts (3 hours), humanities – arts (3 hours), natural sciences (3 hours), and social or behavioral sciences (3 hours). While a pillar course may also qualify as an accepted course for an Arches requirement, a student may not count a course for both meaning no double dipping.
Arches coursework span disciplinary perspectives and 9 credit hours are required across the categories of connected world (3 hours), constructed world (3 hours), and natural world (3 hours). Again remember that you cannot use the same course to satisfy both a Pillar and Arch requirement.
Bridges require 4 credit hours connecting disciplines to common goals. There are four focus areas that include speaking and listening, ethics and reasoning, diversity and practice, and learning and doing. A student is expected to satisfy one earned credit hour in each of these four areas.
This is where it can become a bit tricky for students to navigate what courses satisfy these requirements. It is recommended that they search for the focus area words in the course description. For example, COMS 1030 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking, a 3 credit hour course, will satisfy the required 1 credit hour each from Bridges: Speaking and Listening, Bridges: Ethics and Reasoning, and Bridges: Diversity and Practice. Some majors also have courses that satisfy portions of the Bridges requirement. An example would be NRSE 4510 – Professional Nursing Practice, a 4 credit hour course, that meets the Bridges: Ethics and Reasoning and Bridges: Speaking and Listening requirements.
The final requirement of BRICKS is the Capstone for 2 credit hours. It should be possible to complete the Capstone requirement by taking a course in the major. You can find out what courses meet the Capstone and the Bridges requirement by using the keyword search in the course description page on the undergraduate catalog.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it: BRICKS is a bit of a challenge to understand. I worked in higher education for more than 10 years and still struggle to explain it succinctly. I cannot stress enough that the student must work closely with their academic advisor to ensure that they are maximizing their need to satisfy the BRICKS requirements with those of their academic major.
As the student works towards completing the general education requirements, it will show up in the DARS (degree audit reporting system) report. Read our blog post How To Read The DARS: Ohio University’s Snapshot on Degree Progress.
