Pilot Project for First-Year Experience
The General Education Coordinating Committee (GECC) proposes adding to the general education
curriculum an option entitled “Eagle Scholars,” which has been (under Larry Briggs and Terrie AshbyScott, ITGS 196) and would continue to be the name for Eastern’s version of a First-Year Experience
(FYE) course. This course would be four (4) or five (5) credits, and could be offered by any department or
program wishing to participate in general education as a sound pedagogical strategy as well as a
recruiting tool for their major offerings. Students will normally take this class in their first 45 credits.
FYE courses will:
 Have small class size, 20-25 students
 Be focused on subject of special interest to instructor
 Have students practice skills essential to college success
 Be seminar/discussion-based, rather than lecture
 Establish early, meaningful interactions between students and faculty to increase learning and
retention
Why FYEs
In the 2006 National Survey on First-Year Seminars, 85% (N=821) of the institutions that responded to
the survey said they offer first-year seminars, and of those, 92% (N=742) award academic credit for the
seminars. 50% (N=414) allow the seminar to apply to general education requirements.
Why are so many institutions offering FYEs? Research shows that FYEs increase student retention
(Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Upcraft, Gardner, & Barefoot, 2005). Other studies have concluded that
FYEs help students with more frequent and meaningful interactions with faculty, more active
involvement in extracurricular activities, and greater satisfaction with college (Pascarella & Terenzini,
2005). For a succinct overview of the findings from studies, see Goodman and Pascarella (2006).
Why should Eastern incorporate First-Year Excellence into its general education offerings? At the
request of the UAC, GECC conducted an informal web poll of twenty organizations or programs at
Eastern in Winter quarter 2011. We chose to poll existing sources of academic support, advising, and
other services to students to ask about the nature and extent of their current services and to gauge
attitudes toward offering similar services on a broader basis through FYE courses. Representatives of
twelve such organizations, included the University Honors Program, McNair Scholars, CALE and CSBS/SW
college advising, and Academic Support Services responded to the poll. Two results from the poll caught
our attention:
 In response to the question, “In your opinion, which of the following services could Eastern
students in general most benefit from in a First Year Experience-type course?” the top three
answers were: Peer Advising (55.6%); Tutoring/PLUS Groups (77.8%); “University 101” skills for
navigating campus life (88.9%).
 Respondents were also asked, “If Eastern were to adopt a First Year Experience-type course,
how would this offering likely impact the services your office or organization provides?” Four
choices for how FYEs could negatively impact existing services were given, as well as four
choices for how they could positively impact those services. Here is a brief summary of the
results:
o Negatively impact through redundancy: strongly disagree 33%, strongly agree 11%
o
o
Negatively impact through diversion of funding: strongly disagree 44%, strongly agree 0
Negatively impact through increasing required credits: strongly disagree 30%, strongly
agree 20%
o Negatively impact, not sure how: strongly disagree 50%, strongly agree 0%
o Positively impact through supplementation of skills: strongly disagree 0%, strongly agree
33%
o Positively impact through widening of support services: strongly disagree 0%, strongly
agree 44%
o Positively impact through strengthening campus community: strongly disagree 0%,
strongly agree 67%
FYE classes that teach incoming freshmen how to be successful college students are particularly
important as a service to Eastern’s student base, which is predominantly first-generation and working
class. We also hope that inspired design in these courses will demonstrate to students our finest
instructors’ passion for learning, providing an inspiring entry point into general education as an exciting
opportunity, rather than a routine, mandated course of study. Each course can focus on an area of
special interest for the instructor.
Structure
Rather than adding another category to the existing general education curriculum, we propose that
EWU students may take a four credit FYE class in lieu of a third class in any of the Core Requirements
lists (Humanities & Fine Arts, Social Sciences, or Natural Sciences). Currently, students must take a
minimum of three courses from two of the Core Requirements areas, and two from the remaining area.
In our proposal, the FYE class will count as the third class in any of the Core Requirements areas.
Students may choose to take three courses from one area, two courses from the other two areas, and
one FYE class. Or students may elect to take three courses from two areas, and two from the remaining.
Thus the FYE class is an option for students, rather than a requirement. No Core Requirement area is
shorted, since we already give students the option to take only two classes in one area. Students will
continue to take a minimum of two classes from each liberal arts and sciences area.
Humanities & Fine Arts
One class from List or FYE
Second class from List
Third class or skip (one list only)
Social Sciences
One class from List or FYE
Second class from List
Third class or skip (one list only)
Natural Sciences
One class from List or FYE
Second class from List
Third class or skip (one list only)
Not Mandatory, but Competitive and Focused on Excellence
One vocal respondent to GECC’s informal FYE survey (who refused to identify the program they served)
asked that we “please not serve…up any more mandatory programming for anybody’s own good.” They
also claimed that many of their best students “think our gen ed classes are a joke” and that they
“want[ed] to hear about more rigor and creativity being required of our gen ed instructors and
students.” With this in mind, together with the fact that Eastern already demands more than the
average number of credit hours in its general education, we do not propose that a four credit FYE class
be added to existing requirements, but rather that it be an alternative to one gen ed class for new
students in their first year. We would like to keep class sizes in FYE sections low (20-25 students) and
design FYE goals and objectives in such a way that these courses will attract our finest teachers. It may
be the case that not every program that wants to offer FYE sections will be able to do so because of
larger gen ed needs; it may also be that every student who wants to take a FYE course may not be able
to do so because of limited sections. GECC, through its annual monitoring of how well gen ed courses
meet goals and objectives, will scrupulously monitor the quality of FYE classes and, with UAC’s
assistance, suggest improvements in the further implementation of this most valuable of programs.
Student Learning Outcomes for FYE Class
1. Students will enhance their expressive, creative, and critical thinking skills in written and oral
forms, essential for analyzing and solving problems in academic, professional, and personal life.
Tasks will include those involving information literacy, technological proficiency, and use of
multiple types of reasoning skills.
2. Students will master college-level study skills, such as reading, taking notes, test taking, etc.
Students will also learn the ethics of appropriate collaboration and research, and how faculty
and staff view their own roles at a college.
3. Students will improve their personal self-management, learning and using numerous strategies
for taking control of their time and energy. Students will think and talk about their own
scholarship, learning processes and contributions to the community of inquiry.
4. Students will develop their interdependence, cultivating mutually supportive relationships with
faculty, staff, other students, and community members. Students will participate in activities
that reflect and further the distinctive values of an academic community.
5. Students will learn how to access resources—whether for academic or personal well-being—at
Eastern Washington University and in the surrounding community.
6. Students will demonstrate deep intellectual curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning.
References
Goodman, K., & Pascarella, E. T. (2006). First-year seminars increase persistence and retention: A
summary of the evidence from How College Affects Students. Peer Review, 8(3), 26-28.
Retrieved from http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/index.cfm.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Upcraft, M. L., Gardner, J. N., & Barefoot, B. O. (2005). Challenging and supporting the first-year student:
A handbook for improving the first year of college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Approved by UAC 4/14/11