Yes, students in the old program can use Inter-Domain courses toward either domain in which the course is designated. Using GEOG 30N (GS, GN, Inter-Domain) as an example, a student may use this course as either GS or GN. This is the same as if a student had taken CHEM/ENGL 233 previously – this course had both GN and GH designations before Inter-Domain existed as a designation at Penn State. Linked courses can be used toward the domain in which the course is designated.

This is also how the audit will “read” the course toward the program requirements. If a student has an opening in both GS and GN and takes GEOG 30N (GN, GS, Inter-Domain), the course will slot into the first opening. If this is not where the student wants to use the course, the student could ask for it to be moved to the other domain.

Petitions are always at the discretion of the college, but since courses have gone through a curriculum review to receive this new designation, this substitution most likely is not appropriate. In this example, in order for this course to now carry the both the GS and GH designations, it may have needed to change the focus of the course and material it covers. The way the course was taught and offered when the student took the course it did not necessarily achieve the Integrative Studies component that it does now that the course changed. The student information system knows which attributes a course carried when the student completed the course and with use the course accordingly in the What-if report/degree audit.

To follow this example a bit future, the use of these credits is not tied to whether students are following the old vs. new Gen Ed requirements, but rather when they took the course. Two different scenarios illustrate this.

Scenario 1: Students who both started in FA16. Both are following the old Gen Ed requirements. Student A took this course during SP17 and student B took the course during FA18.  Student A can only use these credits as GS, while student B can use the credits as either GS or GH.  

Scenario 2: Students who are both starting in FA18. Both are following the new Gen Ed requirements. Student A took this course through dual enrollment during FA17 while still in HS. Student B is taking the course in FA18.  Student A can use these credits toward the single domain requirement for GS. Student B cannot because his version of the course was an integrative studies course. Similarly, student B can use these credits towards the integrative studies requirement, but student A cannot.