Following a request for recommendations, University 100 staff has received valuable suggestions from faculty and staff about ways to enhance University 100, the mandatory course that introduces students with fewer than 56 transferrable units to the university.
“With the implementation of the 2008 General Education pattern and the anticipated opening of the new Residential Learning College on the site of the former Brooks College in fall 2009, this is an exciting time to explore new possibilities for a first-year experience course,” said Lynn Mahoney, associate vice president for undergraduate studies. “We have received numerous ideas from faculty and staff, which we will use to better meet the learning needs of our first-year students. I want to thank everyone who has submitted suggestions and encourage anyone who would still like to provide feedback to e-mail University 100 by Friday, December 19.”
The request for comments is one of the steps the university has taken recently to strengthen University 100. Provost Karen L. Gould created an ad hoc committee charged with exploring ways that University 100 could better meet the learning needs of contemporary students. Working closely with Professor Joe Cuseo, director of the Freshman Seminar Program at Marymount College and noted expert on first-year seminars and the first-year experience, the committee identified four guiding principles for the course based upon national institutional research into first-year seminar and the first-year experience best practice:
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Engagement: in University 100, students will engage in a sustained manner the intellectual, social/affective, and institutional resources of the university, as well as engage in those academic learning and life skills required to flourish at the university.
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Exploration: in University 100, students will engage in reflective self-exploration (self-awareness and self-integration) that culminates in a sense of purpose and direction, and engage in active exploration of the university—its resources for personal development and its interpersonal networks for promoting social integration and community building.
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Self-efficacy: in University 100, students will learn to take charge of their college education by developing a clear understanding of the academic expectations of college students, as well as a strong sense of personal control over, and responsibility for, their college success.
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Opportunity: in University 100, students will appreciate the unique opportunity that higher education provides them, and use this appreciation as a source of inspiration and motivation for persisting to degree completion.
The ad hoc committee recommended:
Developing coordinated classroom assignments and activities, readings, student course competencies, and course assessments—in short, a thoughtful reworking of the course to realign its content and pedagogy with the intended student-learning outcomes.
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Creating a standard course outline grounded in common assignments designed to meet the student learning outcomes, with opportunities for faculty to add modules and assignments that are specific to their cohort group and tailored to the instructor’s interests.
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Developing, in concert with other campus programs, additional common first-year experiences, including a common reading and a Freshman Welcome.
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Increasing the number of in-semester sections, including sections taught in current residence halls and at the Residential Learning College.
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Enhancing faculty support, including greater use of peer advisors to support faculty instruction.
A larger group of faculty and staff, including the University 100 Faculty Advisory Committee, will soon begin work deciding on specific changes in the course and program.
