1. First-Year Experience
GOAL: To promote for first-year students a positive adjustment and assimilation into the college.
ADVANTAGES:
Retention (persistence)
Academic Performance (achievement)
Extended Freshmen Advising
Joe Cuseo, Exhibit A

2. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
1. To help students learn to balance their freedom with a sense of responsibility as part of the process of enhancing self-knowledge and self-confidence.
2. To help students learn and develop a set of adaptive study, coping, critical thinking, logical problem-solving, and survival skills.
97% of the 40,000 faculty respondents to the survey conducted by the America Council on Education indicated that promoting critical thinking was the most important goal of undergraduate education.
Joe Cuseo, The Conceptual Case for the First-Year Seminar;
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

3. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
3. To help students make friends and develop a support group.
4. To improve student attitudes toward the teaching/learning process and towards faculty who are responsible for providing this process.
5. To help students learn how to understand professors' teaching and presentation styles.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

4. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
6. To improve relations between faculty and students.
7. To involve students in the total life of the college.
8. To help students discover a mentor on campus.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

5. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
9. To teach students about JCC: its history, purposes, organization, rules and regulations, people, services, resources, and opportunities for student development.
10. To have students use such helping resources of the institution as the Library, Career Center, Study Skills Center, Tutoring, Counseling Center, Writing Center, and Mathematics Laboratory.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

6. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
11. To reduce student anxiety about written and oral communication, enhance reading comprehension, and provide supplemental practice in applying the knowledge students gain in other first-year courses.
12. To provide students with information about health and wellness issues.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

7. First-Year Experience
Goals of an Ideal Course
13. To introduce students to American higher education with emphasis on its history and current structure.
14. To help students develop personal goals for careers and academic majors and to master processes/means of achieving these goals.
15. To provide students additional training, practice, experience, and knowledge in the following skill areas: decision making, goal setting, planning, time management, and group/teamwork.
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience

8. First-Year Experience Extended Advising - NACADA
Personal Development I
values clarification b. understanding abilities c. aptitudes d. interests e. limitations
II. Personal Development II
developing decision-making skills b. developing problem-solving skills
III. Educational/ Career Planning
a. life goals b. interests c. skills d. abilities e. values to careers f. world of work

9. First-Year Experience Extended Advising - NACADA
IV. Educational Plan
a. consistent with life goals b. consistent with life objectives c. alternative courses of action d. alternative career consideration e. selection of courses
V. Institution Information
a. policies b. procedures c. resources d. programs
VI. Support Services
a. campus b. community

10. First-Year Experience Extended Advising - NACADA
VII. Evaluation and Re-evaluation of Progress
a. toward established goals b. toward educational plans
VIII. Student Information
a. advisors b. departments

11. First-Year Experience:Success Def.
First-year students succeed when they make progress toward fulfilling the following educational and personal goals:
Developing academic and intellectual competence
Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships
Developing personal identity
Deciding on a career and lifestyle
Maintaining personal health and growth
Developing an integrated philosophy of life
Upcraft, M., & Gardner, J. The Freshmen Year Experience

12. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars – Course Structure
2000 National Survey of First-Year Seminar Programming – 1,103 institutions
Grading:
83.5% of seminars are graded by a letter grade
18.9% of seminars are graded pass/fail, satisfactory/unsatisfactory, or are upgraded
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

13. Current Trend in 1st-Year Seminars – Course Structure
Required/Elective
49.3% seminars are required for all first-year students
29.7% are required for some students (generally high-risk students)
21% are elective courses for all new students
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

14. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars – Course Structure
Academic Credit; Credit Hours
92.1% of seminars carry academic credit toward graduation
46.7% carry 1 semester or equivalent quarter hour(s) of credit
16.6% carry 2 semester or equivalent quarter hours of credit
29.6% carry 3 semester or equivalent quarter hours of credit
10.2 % carry more than 3 semester or equivalent quarter hours
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

15. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars –Current Trends
Application of Credit:
44.5% of first-year seminars carry elective credit
34.1% carry general education credit
20.9% carry credit toward core requirements
5.2% carry credit toward major requirements
5.7% other (i.e. graduation requirement, college requirement, non-degree credit)
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

16. Current Trends I 1st-Year Seminars – Instructors, Instructor Training, and Academic Advising
Instructors (% in institutions which have seminars):
89.3% of seminars are taught by faculty
53.3% are taught by student affairs professionals
34.5% are taught by campus administrators
23.8% students (10.5% upper-level undergraduate students, 5.1% graduate students, 8.1% others)
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

17. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars - Instructors, Instructor Training, Academic Training
Team Teaching:
31.4% of seminars are co-taught
Training:
80.7% of institutions with first-year seminars offer instructor training for seminar instructors
50.4% of institutions consider training a prerequisite for teaching
Academic Advising:
In 20.5% of institutions, the freshman instructor is the academic instructor for all seminar students.
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

18. Current Trends in 1-Year Seminars
Linkage with Learning Community:
26.3% of responding institutions link the first-year seminar with another course/ other courses to create a “learning community.”
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

19. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars – Evaluation of Course Outcomes
(Percentage represents the number of institutions finding that attribute)
58.5% student satisfaction with the course and instructor
34.7% increased persistence to sophomore year
31.3% student satisfaction with the institution
30.4% increased content knowledge/improved academic abilities
26.6% increased us of campus services
23.1% increased number of friendships among 1st-year classmates.
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

20. Current Trends in 1st-Year Seminars – Evaluation of Course Outcomes
(Percentage represents the number of institutions finding that attribute)
20.1% improved grade point average
19.5% increased level of student participation in campus activities
19.1% increased out-of-class interaction with faculty
16.7% increased level of campus involvement
15.6% increased persistence to graduation
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

21. Other Trends in First-Year Seminars
Types of Seminars:
more academic seminars, fewer extended orientation seminars
Grading:
more seminars are letter graded, fewer seminars are graded on pass-fail basis
Credit:
amount of credit is increasing (more 3-credit classes, fewer 1 credit classes)
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

22. Other Trends in First-Year Seminars
Application of Credit:
increase in general education credit
decrease in elective credit
increase in credit in major
Linkage to Learning Communities:
more linkage to learning communities – almost double the 1997 number
Mary Stuart Hunter, University of South Carolina

23. Student Retention Outcomes
Persistence to Completion of the First-Semester/Quarter of College: 50% higher than non-participants.
Persistence to Completion of the First Year of College: 67% first-year retention rate, compared to a rate of 46% for non-participants.
Persistence to Completion of the Sophomore Year: significantly higher retention rates throughout first four semesters in college.
Joe Cuseo, The Empirical Case for First-year Seminars

24. Student Retention Outcomes
4. Cumulative (Total) Number of College Units/Credits Completed: completed 326% as many units as non-participants.
5. Persistence to Degree/Program Completion: 49% persist to completion of the baccalaureate degree, versus 28% of non-participants.
6. Time Taken to Degree/Program Completion: 29% graduate within four years, versus 16% of non-participants.
Joe Cuseo, The Empirical Case for First-year Seminars

25. Academic-Performance/Achievement Outcomes
Cumulative GPA Attained at the end of the First Term or First Year of College: GPA of 2.87, versus GPA of 2.38.
Cumulative GPA Attained Beyond the First Year of College: achieved significantly higher GPAs.
GPA Attained vs. GPA Predicted: significantly higher.
Total Number of First-Year Students in Good Academic Standing: significantly higher.
Joe Cuseo, The Empirical Case for First-year Seminars

26. Academic-Performance/Achievement Outcomes
5. Total Number of First-Year Courses Passed: completed an average of nine more units by the end of first semester.
6. Total Number of First-Year Courses Completed with a Grade of “c” or Higher: completed four time as many math classes, three times as many writing classes, and twice as many reading classes with a grade of “C” or higher.
7. Percentage of Students Who Qualified for the Dean’s List and Honors Program: significantly higher.
Joe Cuseo, The Empirical Case for First-year Seminars

27. First-Year Experience
GOAL: To promote for first-year students a positive adjustment and assimilation into the college.
ADVANTAGES:
Retention (persistence)
Academic Performance (achievement)
Extended Freshmen Advising
Joe Cuseo, Exhibit A