Resources for First Year Teaching and Learning
I've gathered materials on First Year Seminars from a variety of online sources. Please browse these links. Compare your teaching goals with those of other programs. If you encounter topics that you believe we should discuss and/or consider, please let me know. See also Links for Teachers and Learners for information on a wide range of pedagogical issues. Best wishes, Rich Slatta, Professor of History, FYI program interim directory. I would welcome additions to these lists.
Resources for Students and Faculty
- An Introduction to Teaching First Year Seminars
- NCSU's First Year College Some FYI classes "link" with UDS 101, a course taught by FYC faculty/advistors.
- Brief Handout on First Year Goals and Issues
created by David Zonderman, NCSU History. You're welcome to adapt this document to your own needs.
- Study Guides and Strategies by Joseph F Landsberger
- How College Differs from High School A summary chart
- High School Versus College Life A Freshman Year Guide to Different Student Academic Expectations by Naomi Rockler-Gladen
- Writing in College by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney. Some crucial differences between high school and college writing
- High School versus College from Pierce College, Woodland Hills, California
- Guide to Online Schools In-Depth List of Online Study Help Resources Extensive resources of all types.
- Coping with College
- NCSU Tutorial Center
Resources for FYI Instructors
NCSU-specific resources
- NCSU Office of Advising Support, Information and Services (OASIS)
Advisor Toolkit
- N.C. State Handbook for Advising and Teaching (HAT)
- Office of the Provost Regs
- NCSU Advising Central
- Student Affairs Counseling Center, Office of Student Conduct, and more
- Disability Services Office
- Coordinators of Advising
Generic teaching assistance
- Extensive Resources on all aspects of First-Year Teaching
- Excellent teaching advice from Rich Felder, NCSU Emeritus
- UNC Publications on Effective Teaching
- Inquiry-Guided Learning Univ. of Illinois
- Merlot sites on IGL
- A wealth of teaching tips of all sorts
- Before turning specifically to FYS, it's worth pondering the SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD PRACTICE IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION By Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson.
Good practice in undergraduate education:
- encourages contact between students and faculty,
- develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
- encourages active learning,
- gives prompt feedback,
- emphasizes time on task,
- communicates high expectations, and
- respects diverse talents and ways of learning
See also these Implementing the 7 principles web sites
- Links to First-Year Seminar Pages at Colleges and Universities
-
Resource List of FYS Texts and Study Guides (Updated April 2002)
- First-Year Inquiry Program at NC State University
Sample Learning Outcomes for First Year Programs and Seminars
- Upon completion of the CFYS courses [CHASS First Year Seminar
Program, defunct as of December 2004], the freshmen students in the
program will be able to:
- demonstrate in writing an ability to articulate and critically
evaluate a problem or issue relating to the common theme of Ethics
and Justice in Global Perspective;
- inquire about, reflect upon, and discuss with others a series
of complex problems or questions related to the common theme;
- compare and contrast different approaches and perspectives with
respect to the theme within the context of each course;
- develop and refine a disposition for critical thinking (according
to Bloom's Taxonomy of The Cognitive Domain)
- demonstrate taking responsibility for one's own learning by developing
a personal code of behavior that is consistent with intellectual growth
and maturity.
- Past UNC FYS
Goals
As a guide to instructors, the Program's Steering Committee listed
several goals. All seminars, we hope, share these features:
- Issue-oriented: Courses "should engage issues and highlight
topics." They are not introductory surveys, even if they might
cover a wide range of knowledge.
- Methodologically self-conscious: They "share a common focus
on how scholars pose problems, discover solutions, resolve controversies,
and evaluate knowledge." These seminars introduce students to
one or more modes of inquiry or fields of study.
- Active-learning: The seminars encourage "self-directed inquiry."
That means exhorting students to take responsibility for producing
knowledge. That means student participation in class and assignments
that encourage original research and creative activity.
- Communication-intensive: The courses aim to refine students' communication
skills--their ability to speak clearly and write persuasively. Seminars
emphasize oral as well as written communication, and instructors might
assign group as well as individual projects.
- Multiple modes of assessment: Instructors are encouraged to use
multiple classroom procedures and testing strategies to accommodate
students' diverse learning styles and varied cognitive stages. In practical
terms, for example, that might mean more frequent but shorter written
assignments, as well as a variety in the types of assessment, verbal
and non-verbal.
- Past Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi core curriculum goals
Each course in this group of required courses has been reviewed and
approved on the basis of its potential to contribute to the achievement
of the following core goals:
- To introduce students to the content and methods of a broad range
of disciplines (e.g., natural sciences, social sciences, fine arts);
- To help students develop intellectual skills (including reading,
writing, speaking, listening, mathematical competency, and critical
thinking) which are essential for learning in various disciplines,
and for continued learning in life outside of the University;
- To provide students with multiple perspectives on, and contrasting
views of, the world in which they live (e.g., various views of society,
of the phenomena of the physical world, and of the relationship of
the individual to society and to physical phenomena; perspectives on
ethics, and on the relationships among abstract quantities);
- And to help students recognize connections between different disciplines
and perspectives.
Achieving the goals listed above prepares students for academic work
in the majors, enables them to develop their own goals, values, and
perspectives, and helps them become reflective, productive citizens.
- Past Minneota State College- Mankato College First Year Seminar Goals
The main goals of First year Seminar are to promote further development
of student success skills, such as reading, writing and speaking in
order to help students gain intellectual confidence, build in the expectation
of academic success, and to provide assistance in making the transition
to the University. With the help of the course students will be able
to:
- Experience higher personal expectations of his/her ability to
meaningfully participate in academic life.
- Define and give examples of critical thinking.
- Interact with other students regarding academic matters.
- Affirm that careful thinking is an important aspect of the educational
process.
- Make a comfortable transition to college life.
- California State University--Monterey Bay:
What will I learn as a student participating in First Year Seminar?
We have established five goals for the First Year Seminar. Each goal
is associated with specific course outcomes. These outcomes take the
form of specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes. They may be achieved
in a classroom, the traditional university venue, or outside the classroom
in everyday life.
Goal 1: Students will explore their identities as new members
of an academic community. Academic communities are defined by sets
of behaviors, activities, and histories. They are composed of people
who study, do research, and perform analyses. They are located, in
part, on campuses, in classrooms, in institutions. These communities
are sometimes less informal than everyday life, with sanctioned approaches,
strategies, and methods. They have their own sets of acceptable and
accepted arguments, evidence, and proof.
Outcomes
• Students explain the general concept of an academic community
and compare it to other communities.
• Students use CSUMB's Vision and core values to define what is
unique about the CSUMB academic community.
• Students identify and discuss what the first two outcomes mean
for them as learners and members of CSUMB's academic community.
• Students identify their expectations for a college classroom
and learning experiences. They identify their needs as learners and
characterize the type of classroom culture that supports them, drawing
on past learning experiences, life experience, etc.
• Students participate in collaborative endeavors. They analyze
criteria for successes and challenges for themselves and for the groups
they work in.
Goal 2: Students will understand and articulate outcomes-based
education. Outcomes based education is one of the fundamental aspects
of CSUMB's academic mission. An outcome is an observable, measurable
product or process that can be accomplished by taking a course or through
life and work experience. Each major has established a set of Major
Learning Outcomes and many courses have specified Course Learning Outcomes.
Outcomes
• Students design outcomes for themselves. Specifically, students
set personal outcomes for the course, the semester, their time at the
university, and about the communities that they live in.
• Students describe how outcomes-based approaches support their
learning.
Goal 3: Students will be introduced to CSUMB's fields of study
and university learning requirements. CSUMB's programs don't sound
like traditional university programs. For example, there's no English
or Biology department. Still, students learn the material associated
with English departments—composition, rhetoric, reading different
literatures, etc.—in Human Communication and learn biology in
Earth Systems Science & Policy. The General Education required in all
California State Universities has been reimagined as CSUMB's University
Learning Requirements. Rather than have a single area focus, these
University Learning Requirements are interdisciplinary. They also embody
the university's core values and the ideals of the Vision Statement.
Outcomes
• Students assess themselves, their interests, preferences, attractions,
avocations, life experiences, and aversions to determine possible academic
pathways and career decisions.
• Students analyze six campus programs for theoretical and conceptual
frameworks in relation to how professionals in disciplines think and
work.
• Students make informed decisions for their Individualized Learning
Plans.
• Students work on their ILPs with advisors, and they make better
decisions and choices if they understand the university's perspective.
Goal 4: Students will explore their identities as members of
a multicultural, global community. The USA is a society made up of
many groups of people with different cultures, ethnic backgrounds,
races, religions, incomes, sexual orientations, educations, from different
regions, with different genders, languages, and so on. Every member
of the society lives in this complex world and needs to be able to
negotiate a complicated social landscape. It is important to learn
about personal perspectives and those of other people. This investigation
involves discovering social identity and group membership, and looking
at socialization. Students get some understanding of what is meant
by culture, how cultures differ, and what global community might mean.
Outcomes
• Students describe their social and cultural identities, bearing
in mind that identity can be extremely fluid. They discuss these identities
in terms of their origins, life histories, and current relationships.
• Students express a conceptual definition of multiculturalism
and diversity, and identify the implications of multiculturalism for
their role in this academic community.
Goal 5: Students will explore what it means to be an educated
person. When asked why they have come to college, students often respond,
“to get educated.” Still, what does education mean? Secondary
education in the USA has two goals: preparing students for the workplace,
and expanding their understanding of themselves and the world. Students
investigate the demands of the working world. For example, what does
someone need to prepare for a specific career? Students also think
about and define personal desires for education, identifying what it
means to broaden perspectives, to become a larger person, a more informed
citizen.
Outcomes
• Students describe what it means to be a knowledgeable and responsible
citizen
a. Students list knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for the
first outcome.
b. Students list knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for particular
career paths
• Students carry out self-assessment to plan learning that will
carry them to the first outcome.
• Students use critical thinking to analyze textual, visual, and
verbal resources.
• Students communicate ideas in written and spoken forms.
• Students distinguish facts from opinions, differentiate between
different points of view, and display these understandings as written
or oral evidence.
- Western New England College: WHAT DOES
THE FIRST YEAR PROGRAM DO?
The first year program offers help in the following ways:
1. making students aware of services and resources
2. identifying a network of educational and emotional support
3. identify specific goals for academic, physical and personal accomplishment
4. encouraging involvement and participation in campus life
5. assisting in development of an educational plan
6. helping in social adjustment
7. monitoring academic progress and encouraging academic engagement
8. fostering awareness of the value of a college education
9. introducing the discussion of ideas
10. creating a realistic perspective on the academic community
11. building student confidence
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