In this case study, two librarians reflect upon our efforts to design STEM-focused information literacy instruction for undergraduate students at an R1, land grant university. Designed around the principles of culturally relevant pedagogy, our curriculum integrates community-focused and regionally specific topics reflecting our students' lived…

Contemporary literature underscores the salience of First-Year seminars (FYS) in supporting the success of college students. The problem is that the research outlining the characteristics of FYS at two-year colleges is sparse, particularly when certain populations are required to enroll in these courses. There is little information about how these…

This article focuses on techniques used in professional development to strengthen the community of faculty in FYE courses, while aiming at improving the classroom experience for today's learners, specifically those related to providing content, building community, and strengthening understanding. To provide a solid foundation, creating a course…

The profile of students entering higher education is ever-changing, deeming it critical to understand the impact on institutions and teaching methods that foster student learning across perspectives. This article will highlight the need for advancing first-year student curriculum through teaching socially just seminars. Specifically, the article…

The first-year seminar has historically been concerned with socializing students into collegiate life. As with any type of socialization, the first-year seminar perpetuates and is perpetuated by assumptions of "the good." Despite these moral assumptions, little research has discussed the first-year seminar in moral terms. In this…

Since 2009 almost 90% of the surveyed college freshmen have identified "getting a better job" as a major reason for attending college (Pryor et al). College educators can help students work towards this goal by producing mature, critical-thinking graduates who are well-prepared not only for life but also for a career. Many students,…

The author created and has been teaching a first-year seminar (FYS) called "Food for Thought: Rhetoric of the Edible" for the past three years. Sustainability and ethics in the production and consumption of food have been tangential topics that have arisen in the course. While her academic background is composition and rhetoric, food has…

The modern concept of first-year seminars was introduced in 1972. Ninety-four percent of America's accredited 4-year colleges and universities offered a seminar by 2002. "First-year seminar" defines a fairly diverse instructional construct, but the goal remains to improve student retention rates. Research trends indicate a positive and…

First-year experience courses, although common on university campuses, are conducted in a variety of formats. This article outlines strategies and activities used at a large urban commuter campus in a first-year experience sequence run by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for the College of Science. The course, designed for freshmen…

Political science faculty have access to a wealth of innovative pedagogies thanks to a comprehensive literature on teaching and learning in the discipline and related fields. Yet, from among the hundreds of documented possibilities, how does one go about deciding which to incorporate into a given course? Few articles have much to say in response…

The authors describe an assignment in which first-year university students develop a sense of community by discussing personally relevant topics via the shared experience enabled by the social media tools Twitter and Paper.li. A list of references and suggested readings is included.

Concern in the United States for adequate public school education in mathematics dates back at least to the response to Sputnik in 1957, but at that time focused on preparing a cadre of students for quantitatively demanding careers in science and engineering. More recently, however, there has been increasing appreciation of the value of broadly…

Presents appropriate freshman seminar topics and related activities geared toward meeting 13 objectives of the National Business Education Standards. (SK)

Describes a community service-learning seminar for college freshmen, focusing on education for empowerment. Notes an inherent dichotomy: students need to learn specific, empowering ways to interact with community members even while confronting uncomfortable issues but remain empowered themselves by how the service-learning course is designed and…

The development of a freshman seminar at Ohio State University over 70 years is chronicled, looking at the impact of historical influences and the changing values of higher education on the character of the course. The structure and content of the current course are also outlined. (MSE)