This report describes a three-year project at Hampton University (Virginia) to improve the core freshman year curriculum and, ultimately, to improve student learning outcomes. The project involved the development of annual week-long seminars on the teaching of freshman courses in composition, speech, history, and mathematics. Emphasis was on objective specification, syllabus development, and evaluation; basic teaching methodology, methodologies of particular disciplines, and new classroom technology were among the topics covered. Results of the project include an instructionally oriented course development and assessment model, and common course syllabi in all four subject areas, in addition to several others in the Department of English. Appended are: workshop agendas, a journal article, a sample of the course development assessment worksheet, an AAHE Assessment/Continuous Quality Improvement Conference program, workshop schedules, English Department Assessment Data Analysis and Assessment Workshop materials, and a freshman composition syllabus. (CH)