First-Year Experience

Specifics: Faculty Qualifications and Expectations; Meeting Format

Seminar Component
Extended Orientation Component
Course Meeting Times

Seminar Component

Logistics
The seminar component is designed to introduce students to college-level inquiry in a thematic environment that will engage them.  A secondary goal is for students to develop a relationship with a faculty member with whom they share an interest in a small classroom setting.  For this reason, it is typically taught by full-time faculty, although staff/administrators with credentials to teach in one of the colleges are also welcome to express interest in teaching.  The seminar portion comprises 75 percent of the course which equates to 1.5 contact hours or an average of 75 minutes per week.  75 percent of the course grade also derives from the seminar. 

Faculty Expectations
Three student learning outcomes shape the common content for the seminar, which are typically addressed through readings, class discussions and exercises designed to help students evaluate resources.  See the main FYE 1220 page for links to various resources (some available now, others in development for release later this Spring) to reach these ends, including consultations with and/or presentations by Henderson library faculty, information sessions on teaching information literacy, on-line resources, and WebCT Vista modules for use in the course, as well as other resources under consideration.  Faculty have a great deal of latitude in creating additional outcomes and the structure of the course around the chosen theme.  Faculty should plan to meet individually with each member of the class at least once during the semester.     

Extended Orientation Component

Logistics
The extended orientation component of FYE 1220 provides an introduction to university resources and a set of competencies that is necessary for success at the collegiate level.  It resembles a condensed version of the current GSU 1210.  Full-time faculty or staff with master's degrees and one year of experience on campus may teach the extended orientation component of FYE 1220.  For Fall 2008, FYE will pilot using advanced undergraduates to serve as teaching assistants for this portion of the course.  These teaching assistants will meet weekly with FYE staff to discuss course material for the following week.  The extended orientation component of the course comprises 25 percent of the course, which equates to .5 contact hours, or the equivalent of eight 50-minute class sessions.

Faculty Expectations
As for the seminar component, addressing the student learning outcomes for the course is the primary responsibility for those teaching the extended orientation portion of the course.  See the main FYE 1220 page for links to various resources.  Instructors for this component use WebCT Vista, in part because one of the program outcomes of the course is to expose students to Vista, but also because material for many of the outcomes can be addressed through Vista modules without using class time.  This resource takes on added importance given the condensed nature of the extended orientation aspect of the course.   

Course Meeting Times

Sections of FYE 1220 are established one of two ways, depending on whether or not the faculty member teaching the seminar also teaches the extended orientation component of the course.

When the faculty member for the seminar is NOT also teaching the extended orientation component, the seminar meets for 75-minutes once a week for the entire semester.  The extended orientation component for this section meets for 50 minutes for the first eight weeks beginning at the same time as the seminar on a "companion" day (Monday, Wednesday and Friday are companion days; Tuesday and Thursday are as well).  For instance, if the seminar meets on Tuesdays from 9:30-10:45 (all semester), the extended orientation component would meet on Thursdays from 9:30-10:20 for the first eight weeks.

When the faculty member for the seminar IS also teaching the extended orientation component, dividing the time between the two components becomes the responsibility of the faculty member teaching the section.  Typically classes run two days each week for 50 minutes (e.g., MW 9-9:50).  Where faculty have a strong preference, there is a possibility that classes may run for one hour and 40 minutes one day a week, but this format makes it more difficult to schedule rooms and for students to construct a schedule, and because of this, the two-day-a-week format is preferred. 

[Return to "Teaching FYE 1220"]