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Building a Freshman Experience (FOCUS) and Seminar at UW-Green Bay

Building a Freshman Experience (FOCUS) and Seminar at UW-Green Bay . Presentation at the 26 th Annual Conference on the First Year Experience Addison, Texas February 16-20, 2007. Overview (Andy). Primary Objective: To develop an integrated first year experience

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Building a Freshman Experience (FOCUS) and Seminar at UW-Green Bay

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  1. Building a Freshman Experience (FOCUS) and Seminar at UW-Green Bay Presentation at the 26th Annual Conference on the First Year Experience Addison, Texas February 16-20, 2007

  2. Overview (Andy) Primary Objective: To develop an integrated first year experience • FOCUS – Collaborative effort between Academic and Student Affairs • Freshman Seminar Experience • Common Lesson project • Assessment • Benefits and Challenges

  3. Development of FOCUS (Brenda) • Comprehensive/coherent FY Experience • Year long series of activities • Collaborative • Co-Directed by Academic and Student Affairs • Planning done by offices from around campus • Increased student involvement and development (Ambassadors) • Major component missing

  4. The Freshman Seminar Experience (Scott) • First-semester freshmen • Existing gen ed courses (cap @25) • Content based courses • Classes meet same day/same time

  5. Objectives of the Freshman Seminar: (Scott) • Engagement • Critical thinking/Problem solving • Communication skills • Creativity/Innovation • Exploring value systems • Information literacy • Interdisciplinarity

  6. Mechanisms for Achieving Objectives: (Scott) • Interaction with faculty (both at FOCUS and throughout semester) • E.g., Informal advising opportunities • Written work – at least 25% of course grade • FYE Film Series • Required annotated bibliography • Co-Curricular activities • Diversity, Leadership, Health • E.g., Sexual Assault, Steps to Make a Difference Walk, “Inside Iraq” • Common Lesson

  7. Common Lesson Plan (Denise) • Wanted a group project including all classes that was interdisciplinary in nature • Objectives of Lesson Plan: • Interdisciplinary problem solving • Active Engagement • Communication skills • University of Tra-Eh Set up: In the year 2018, the world has discovered that our sun is actually one of a binary star system. Upon exploration of our “sister” solar system, it becomes clear that at least one planet, coincidentally the third, has the ability to support life as we know it. A “first contact” mission finds a thriving population and it is determined that the two societies need to share information about their worlds, history, cultures, knowledge, etc. The Earth governments decide that the best way to do this is to establish a university on Tra-Eh that will enroll students and teach them about Earth.

  8. Assessment of Common Lesson • Interdisciplinary problem solving • 30-48% reported the lesson helped their understanding of interdisciplinarity • Active engagement • Responses supported more engagement • 65% stated it allowed them to apply knowledge to problems • Communication skills • >68% stated the lesson promoted communication skills • Correlation between perceived achievement of objectives

  9. Assessment of Freshman Seminar Experience (Regan) • What are we hoping to find? • Research Design • Different tools • Different Comparisons and Analyses

  10. Seminar Students Score Higher on NSSE Items

  11. Benefits: Greater engagement Orientation/Class connection Classroom dynamics Student-faculty relations Better meets the objectives of FOCUS Faculty development Issues: Use of existing courses Better connection of common activities Student peer comparisons Expansion Benefits and Challenges(Regan)

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