All students must take a course designated as a First-Year Seminar (FYS) in their first year (30 credit hours) at UCA. (Incoming students with more than 30 hours of credit are not be required to take an FYS.)
The University of Central Arkansas dedicates itself to Academic Vitality, Integrity, and Diversity. The First-Year Seminar Program supports the university’s mission and core values:
Academic Vitality: Academic Vitality fosters the growth mindset and the capacity for lifelong learning. In order to educate students to be active citizens, we seek to create opportunities to foster the cultivation of knowledge that will develop the capacity to solve problems and effectively communicate and interact with others.
Integrity: In order to foster excellence and prepare students with the highest standards of moral and ethical values and principles, we seek to create a culture that is based upon ethical conduct.
Diversity: In order to foster excellence and develop culturally competent leaders, we seek to create an environment of inclusiveness and respect for the similarities and differences in our community.
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.
First-Year Seminar courses are built around a set of core principles that provide structure and consistency, but still allow faculty the freedom to design a creative and innovative academic experience. FYS courses:
● Introduce students to ways of knowing, academic standards, and scholarly debates of an academic field through exploration of a special topic.
● Use assignment structures and pedagogical strategies that help students develop the skills needed to meet the academic expectations of college.
● Guide students in recognizing and using academic success skills such as academic reading, effective studying, and time management.
● Integrate the use of university resources into required assignments and available course materials.
● Create intentional and extended opportunities for peer collaboration and support, such as writing or research groups, team project-based learning, community-based learning, and experiential learning.
● Include intentional, required, and repeated opportunities for faculty-student interaction, such as individual conferences, recursive feedback and revision processes, and scaffolded assignments.