Instruments for teaching and assessing student understanding of the five core concepts in biology from "Vision and Change" are needed. We developed four Biology Core Concept Instruments (BCCIs) that teach and assess students' ability to describe a concept in their own words, identify concepts represented in biological phenomena, and make…

Our faculty development (FD) work applies Dee Fink's (2013) integrated course design model. In this article, we describe the situational factors related to supporting faculty who teach a required, academically-focused First Year Seminar course at a large public university. We then describe how we designed a suite of FD opportunities with goals…

We analyze the identity trajectory of a single case study, Cassidy, within the physics community. We focus our analysis on two settings in the physics community: an undergraduate research experience, and undergraduate coursework. We use video data from three interviews (spanning roughly fifteen months) to longitudinally analyze shifts in…

This study brings together insights from the Science Education Initiative with a new course, "Spy Novel Diplomacy: Propaganda and International Relations," which has been taught as a General Education Seminar for first year students. The class will continue on an annual basis from the spring semester of 2020 onward. Thus what follows is…

Students acting as co-creators of academic material is growing in popularity as a pedagogical approach in higher education. With student engagement and persistence consistently being emphasized for student and institution well-being, educational praxis must foster engaged, high-retention student cohorts. This exploratory research uses a…

This chapter presents mindfulness relaxation activities used in a first-year seminar, discusses Eastern ancient meditation methods as alternative Western contemplative inquiry, and suggests teaching practices in adult and higher education for holistic education and well-being.

In fall 2018, our university launched revised first-year experience course. The curriculum focused on topics of identity, self-awareness, inclusion, diversity, and community, along with the existing outcomes of socialization, wellness, and university-level skill development necessary to transition successfully through the first semester of…

Do we really know who our students are as they enter university? This was the question that the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand was grappling with. In response, the Humanities' Teaching and Learning Unit compiled a registration survey for first-year students to complete that gives an overview of who our incoming…

This futuristic research illuminates pressing challenges historically Black college and university (HBCU) faculty encounter in supporting the unique social, cultural, and pedagogical needs of their first-year students. Using a BlackCrit framework, the author examines the ways in which Black students are positioned as a problem and in need of…

The Inventory of New College Student Adjustment (INCA) was developed to assist college student personnel in assessing adjustment difficulties experienced by first-year college students. A sample of 474 first-year college students (282 women, 59%; 192 men, 41%) enrolled in a first-year seminar course at a medium-sized 4-year university in the…

Radical humanities programs in Canada offer non-traditional adult students an entry-level university educational experience. The programs purport to better the lives of the students through university-level education. This report was spurred on by the claim that such programs are emancipatory and offer radical societal change. Working from an…

This research examined the role of a first-year seminar course in promoting international student learning and academic transition. Through interviews with international students representing different countries and majors, the author investigated how the course can best be designed and taught to overcome the common learning barriers encountered…

In response to existing anecdotal evidence on faculty development in first-year experience program, this paper provides both a model and an adaptable heuristic for using assessment data to shape faculty development. The author argues that using a mixed method methods approach to assess FYE students' critical thinking provided unique data on…

Utilizing FYE courses to support retention and college success requires a systematic understanding of, and effective tools to support, historically underserved students. Traditional, short-term faculty development programming is unlikely to support faculty needs when teaching FYE courses, especially for experienced instructors. This article…

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…