First-Year Experience

These syllabi are in .doc format and you are free to cut, paste, and use whatever ideas and language is useful to you (without attribution).  However, please note:  they are provided as examples of how a course might be arranged; they are by no means meant to be prescriptive. Faculty who would like to discuss the layout of the course are welcome to touch base with Chris Caplinger individually (478-1456; caplinca@georgiasouthern.edu).   

General Expectations

As the faculty member teaching the course, you have the freedom to craft the topics discussed in class, the class assignments and the grading, within the parameters of the course description, student learning outcomes, and additional requirements enumerated when signing up to teach the course.  As a reminder, these additional requirements are:  1) faculty teaching the seminar will meet individually with students at least once over the course of the semester; and, 2) faculty teaching the extended orientation component will provide at least minimal exposure to WebCT Vista.  Upon recommendation of the Academic Advisement Council, extended orientation faculty should also expose students to the WebCT Vista module entitled "Your Academic Future."  (Faculty accessing the FYE 1220 course for the first time in July should adopt the FYE template in order to do this; electronic guides for doing so coming soon; in-person assistance will also be available through numerous hands-on customization workshops offered in July and August).

The seminar constitutes 75 percent of both the meeting time of the course and the grading; conversely, the extended orientation component constitutes 25 percent of both the course meeting and grading.   

Syllabus Specifics

Your syllabus should include the following:

• Your contact information
• Your theme description
• The course catalog description (which includes the statement that students cannot withdraw)
• The student learning outcomes for FYE 1220
• Your attendance policy:  Being specific in this regard can stave off problems! 
• A statement about the honor code and accommodations for special needs
• Assessment/evaluation structure    

Of course, your syllabus may include many other things as well, including a schedule of class meetings and assignments and other expectations you have for classroom decorum. 

Considerations for Faculty Teaching Pairs

The syllabi samples above assume that in cases where the instructors teaching the seminar and extended orientation components are different people that there are separate syllabi.  In some cases, we're aware of teaching pairs planning to write a joint syllabus.  Another option might be a common document outlining course policies and individual listings of class assignments and due dates for the separate components.  Here are some additional issues to consider:

• Will you have a unified attendance policies for each component, or separate ones?  Please note:  One faculty member should not institute a policy by which students will automatically fail after missing a certain number of classes in a specific component, unless that's agreed to by the other faculty member.
• The seminar will count 75 percent of the grade and the extended orientation component 25 percent.  But will you use a unified point system (in which case there should be three times the number of points in the seminar as in the extended orientation component) or will you each devise your own system?  
• Will you attend any class meetings of the other components?  We know that many pairs plan to both attend the first meeting.

FYE Success Series Programming

There will be five events in the FYE Success Series this year:

• Sex Signals: August 26 (7, 9 p.m.) and August 27 (3:30, 7, 9 p.m.)

• Jumpstart Your Personal Finances: Sept. 15 (3:30 & 7 p.m.) and Sept. 16 (3:30 & 7)

• Tim Wise on Diversity:  September 3 (3:30 & 7 p.m.)

• Major in Success: September 24 (3:30 & 7 p.m.)

• Rick Barnes' "Drink Think":  September 30 (7 p.m.) and October 1 (3:30 & 7 p.m.)

More details about each of these programs will be provided soon on the FYE Success Series website.  The Sex Signals event has been very popular in the past; because it is offered five times, it is reasonable to require students to attend this event.  In other cases where an event is offered only once or twice, it is more difficult to require attendance.  The FYE Councils recommends requiring students to attend three of the five events, and allowing them some degree of freedom to choose a program that interests them.  

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