REVISED PROPOSAL FOR FIRST YEAR SEMINARS
Rationale for FYS
For the last decade UW Superior first piloted, then implemented, and in 2012 moved to
require First Year Seminars for freshmen coming to campus. One impetus for FYS was the
low retention rate of freshmen; it was believed that too often freshmen had trouble with
the transition to college expectations – in the classroom and out; too often they were
lost in General Education classes often dominated by second and third year students;
and too often they were not making good connections that would help them stay and
commit to their college career. FYS was started before the High Impact Practices were
proposed to the campus but definitely benefited and grew by becoming one of the
original 5 HIPs. And, it was successful: students in FYS stayed at a ratio significantly
greater than those who did not between 2008 and 2012. In 2012 when it became
required there was no longer a comparison group and still retention among freshmen to
sophomores rose.
The money from System for the HIPs and specifically for FYS has supported those FYS
Instructors from Departments that did not have the staff to support and instructor on its
own. Other departments found the will and way to develop multiple FYS on load and to
make them a regular part of their General Education offerings. That money has gone.
What remains important and necessary about FYS is its role; FYSs assist students with
making that academic transition to college expectations: learning to take responsibility
for their own learning, learning to collaborate with others on learning and teaching
projects, and questioning their previous assumptions and being open to new
perspectives. These are outcomes have been regularly supported through assessments
of learning and surveys of students. FYS, as with Resident Life and Athletics, is meant to
guide students to be successful members of the campus community. A good FYS
experience can start student engagement with campus activities, community
programs, experiential learning, scholarship, and friendships that will go with them into
their post-graduation activities.
FYS is meant to catch all incoming freshmen so that they are not lost in a sea of
undergraduate courses and students without a safe harbor. As FYS students frequently
state – it was a place where I did not feel intimidated by upper classmen; everyone else
was in the same boat; and the instructor knew my name and wanted me to succeed. This is
why FYS-Instructors gather across the fall and in the workshop in the spring: to reflect on
how to make their instruction more intentional and explicit, to share how best to
engage freshmen who do not yet know what they “don’t know”, and to provide
support to the newer FYS instructors and each other with the special demands of a FYS.
The Superior Plan focuses on integrating HIPs in Majors and Minors but we also need to
catch and engage students early in well designed and student focused First Semester
Seminars/General Educations courses.
Therefore it is propose that for the 2015-2016 Academic Year all FYS will:
 be taught on load by departments
 include a HIP: Academic Service Learning, Global Awareness & Education,
Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and (Scholarly) Creative Activity, and
Writing Across the Curriculum (guided by the standards connected with each)
 fit with the (revised) General Education program and requirements and/or be an
entry course in a Major, Minor, or a program requirement
 allow freshmen to explore a topical area of interest in a seminar (rather than in a
lecture or heavy content load) learning how problems are approached and
tackled within a discipline or across disciplines
 partner with FYE to involve Peer Mentors to assist with the transition and to assist
with campus and community connections
 be no larger than 20 students.
A FYS would retain some original aspects but add several new ones that align with
Vision 2020
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a seminar of just Freshmen that they attend in their first semester on campus.
a requirement for all those entering from high school or with less than 21 credits
earned as a college freshman elsewhere
a course meant to
o support students in making that transition to college life and academics
o engage students in taking responsibility for their college education (gain
self-directedness)
o integrate collaborative activities and projects so that they learn to work
together and across differences
o help freshmen explore new materials (ideas, people, perspectives) and
challenge them to examine ideas from new perspectives
o help them meet the new Integrated Learning Outcomes
o involve students in on-campus and or community activities
involve students with a Peer Mentor who helps them make connections
with the campus and the community in collaboration with the FYS
Instructor
A seminar that draws upon and utilizes Student Centered and Active, Engaging,
and Applied Teaching/Learning techniques
o Requiring that FYS Instructors take part in professional development
 related to the skills needed to include the particular HIP,
 related to working with first year students and Peer Mentors,
 related to integrating experiential learning
o
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Process for selection or review for 2015-16 FYS:
This is an internal decision by each department but consultation with one or more HIP
Coordinator/s in the designing of the FYS would be possible especially once the Best
Practices and Quality Standards would be available. For FYS to be required there would
need to be, at present first year enrollments, 17 to 18 seminars (@ 20 students).
FYS becomes the name for a course taken in the first semester that includes one of the
four other HIPs (AS-L, GA, URSCA, WAC; not the SYE) rather than a separate program;
that is FYS become integrated and is a shell for another HIP which in addition assists with
the transition. A FYS provides more time given over in course to helping freshmen: with
their acclimation; with building connections with services, people, and programs; and
with feeling connected to the campus and local community.
It differs from other General Education courses that integrate HIPs by being only open
to freshmen and including the FYS Best Practices, and having the FYS-Instructors work
together to support the students’ transition to UW Superior.
Selection of a FYS therefore becomes one of review by departments after
1. consultations with the specific HIP or the HIP Coordinator’s group
2. approval by the department
3. review and approval by General Education Committee, if it is for General
Education
4. approval by UAAC if it is a new courses.
Departments investing in a FYS, either for General Education (University Studies) or as a
requirement in their own program area for freshmen would provide the necessary
information to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs who would put together a
handout for freshmen recruitment and for SOAR. The CETL Director would be involved
in any needed professional development.
Proposed Pilot: An exciting Pilot for 2015-16 would combine 3-4 individual FYSs, with a
common read, a common meeting every 2 weeks, and explore and share the
common materials from various perspectives.
Pilot: looking for 3-4 FYS that decide to work together:
 include one text/reading that is a Common Reading across the classes
o the seminar is not limited to one reading
o each FYS would also have other materials not necessarily common
 schedule their FYS for the same time slot (say 10-11:15 T/Th
 meet as a group 5-6 times across the semester to share ideas, activities, learning
 these 3-4 FYS are encouraged to come from different majors/discipline areas
and approach the concepts in the Common Reading from potentially different
perspectives