Asserts that the use of journals in a service-learning course is a way to motivate first-year students to be more introspective and reflective and to document changes they undergo during their experience. Finds that students will reflect on how service-learning affects their evolving identities and their clarification of career goals. (Contains 14…

English 116: Freshman Seminar is, according to the college catalog, the "gateway course for North Central College's integrative curriculum. [It f]ocuses on writing, reading, and critical thinking related to a specific area of inquiry [and is t]eam-taught by faculty from English and another department. Topics vary, but emphasis is on rhetoric…

A 25-item self-report instrument was constructed to measure intrinsic motivation for academic work in the first-year student population. The instrument was based on a taxonomy of four types of intrinsic motivators: challenge, control, curiosity, and career outlook. The aim of this study was to provide reliability and validity evidence for the…

At the end of the fifth year of a successful, ever expanding freshman seminar program, students in selected sections of the course, who were also enrolled in developmental reading/writing, were asked to evaluate the worthiness of the goals in terms of their own freshman year experience. The fifth year was a new pilot year for the program. Some…

Evaluated outcomes of freshman orientation seminar on orientation to college. Found college freshmen's (n=113) participation was associated with improved academic and social adjustment, in contrast to normal trend of declining adjustment over first semester. Seminar seemed successful at increasing participants' knowledge of university and…

Freshman seminar instructors need training for identifying the frequency, severity, and other aspects of grief emotions in relation to real or perceived loss as expressed by first-semester freshmen. Psychological studies of grief suggest ways instructors can assist students in coping successfully with loss and sadness. (Author/MSE)

Followed the progress of eight cohorts of first-year college students taking an orientation course between 1986 and 1993. Found that, compared to students who did not take the course, they fared significantly better in retention, graduation rate, grade point average, and other satisfaction, participation, and skills measures. (EV)

Academically oriented first-year seminars can be good venues for teaching many of the concepts important to WAC programs, including extended engagement with a research topic and situated writing. A qualitative study of a first-year seminar program at the University of Calgary highlights faculty members' and students' responses.

This volume contains a compilation of 68 abstracts by presenters from various nations at a 5-day conference on the first year college student experience. Among the topics considered were: advising and assessment programs; preparing freshmen for work, family, and private life; integrating reentry women in the college community; evaluating…

To determine the different perspectives of faculty members and peer learning facilitators (students) at Eastern New Mexico University about the development of an improved freshman seminar designed to increase retention, a survey was conducted. The instrument required that participants rate the importance of 52 goals to the desired outcomes…

A trial program to improve the quality of liberal arts education gave freshmen students at Pennsylvania State University an introduction to a particular discipline, improved advising, and a college orientation. Results suggest that the program led to more favorable attitudes but no perceptible differences in performance or retention. (Author/CM)

The development of a new humanities program is described. This includes a freshman seminar as an introduction to humanistic study, the modification of traditional language requirements, and the establishment of a writing and reading lab, an issues and values interdisciplinary seminar, and humanities and intercultural majors. (Author/MLW)

Describes the development and content of a freshman seminar titled "The Psychology of Mushrooms," which teaches psychology as natural history. This approach allowed the course to proceed from concrete experience to general principals of perception, learning, social, and abnormal psychology. (Author/LS)

Task and maintenance roles of group process used in icebreakers prepare students to participate in and learn from group process. Group communication principles applied in the use of icebreakers or group development techniques enhance the instructor's ability to create a learning environment and ensure student participation in a freshman seminar.…

College faculty are placing increasing importance on writing across the curriculum and the use of essay tests. Freshman seminar courses provide an ideal opportunity to teach students to take essay tests successfully. This article describes 10 ways faculty can help students improve their writing skills. (Author/MLW)