The First Year Seminar: Setting Students Up For Success

This program will describe a First Year Seminar (FYS) course offered by the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus. The First Year Seminar is a semester-long, 1-credit course with a small enrollment that is centered around a specific topic related to the faculty member’s specialization. It is designed to give students the opportunity to interact with top-level faculty and to introduce students to college-level learning and the resources that will help them to succeed in their academic endeavors. While most seminar courses are designed for upper-division students, this seminar allows entering students to become familiar with the tools, technologies, and strategies they would use in future classes. A strong emphasis is placed on the research process, and how to effectively gather, process, and use information, all within the context of the study of a scientific discipline. In this program, we will share our approach for teaching this course, including curriculum design, instructional strategies and the integration of information and technology literacy. We will also discuss the goals and outcomes, as well as the evolution of the course. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.