The purpose of an FYS course at UCA is to provide students with an exemplary academic experience as an introduction to collegiate life at UCA.
As an introduction to collegiate life, an FYS experience should connect first-year students to the university, namely, their peers, faculty, colleges, departments, and resources. In addition, as part of an introduction to the university, students shall be provided with resources and guidance with respect to these resources in order to promote their success as college students at UCA.
FYS courses should cover and assess for the following:
- Written discourse, which will be assessed using the writing rubric Communication Rubric B
- Collaboration, which will be assessed using the collaboration rubric Communication Rubric C
- An orientation to the UCA Core mission, purpose, and general learning outcomes, which will be integrated into the course and assessed (The assessment rubric title is FYS Rubric – Knowledge of the Core
- A focus on the basic principles of the discipline, which will allow the course to fulfill one of the lower-division Core requirements other than communications.
Additional considerations for first-year seminars include the following:
- Class size must be small (25 students or fewer);
- Faculty must be selected by the department chair and have demonstrated an aptitude for high impact teaching;
- FYS faculty will agree to participate in more thorough assessment and additional development as it is made available (e.g. in teaching writing skills, developing collaborative assignments, etc.)