COMMON THEMES                         QUALITIES OF A GOOD UWL100 INSTRUCTOR

               SAMPLE SYLLABUS                         ASSESSMENT RESULTS (opens in .pdf)

UWL100 “1st YEAR SEMINAR” OVERVIEW

UWL100 is a 1-credit graded course that is designed to enhance the transition to college for first year students.  The course is optional but highly encouraged and space is limited.  UW-L offers approximately 12 sections of the course each Fall and each section is capped at 25 students.  The course is team taught and we try to match instructors from academic departments with instructors from student affairs.  The course has been taught since 1998.  The course focuses on the question “What does it mean to be an educated person? and introduces students to the resources that UW-L has to offer for classroom and experiential education.  Sharie Brunk (Academic Advising Center) and Betsy Morgan (Psychology) co-coordinate the course.

COMMON THEMES

The instructors of the course have identified eleven common themes for the course – each theme has an associated goal and student learning outcome.

COMMOM THEME

GOAL

GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME  the course begins to approach

 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN EDUCATED PERSON?

 

 

Substantive academic activity regarding education

 

Synthesize information from different disciplines and perspectives to solve problems, gain new experiences, or create new things

LEARNING WHAT A UNIVERSITY HAS TO OFFER

 

Attend one event from the Arts and Lectures series

Identify diverse elements (artistic, scientific, religious, cultural) that can provide meaning for human existence

EXPANDING  AESTHETIC EXPERIENCES

 

Attend an aesthetic experience that expands a student’s world

Evaluate artistic presentations as commentary on society and the human experience

CONNECTING TO EACH OTHER

 

 

Provide opportunities for students to connect with one another and with instructors in formal and informal ways.

Engage effectively in the process of collaborative work and identify factors that facilitate and impede effective communication

CONNECTING TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY

 

 

Provide awareness of ways to connect to university clubs and activities and community-based opportunities

Identify their strategies for involvement, leadership and civic engagement

VALUES AND ETHICS

 

Involve students in activities which help to clarify their values.

Articulate their moral values, the processes they use to make ethical decisions and their perspective on current ethical issues & Practice and uphold standards of academic integrity and intellectual honesty

LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE AND RESPECT DIVERSITY

 

Provide awareness of  cultures within the U.S. and globally as linked to being a citizen

Recognize and respect different ways of thinking and communicating

CAREER DEVELOPMENT 

 

Provide awareness of what UW-L has to offer (majors/services) and how to explore

Use a variety of resources and current technology to locate, retrieve and evaluate relevant sources and information

INFORMATION LITERACY

 

Provide students experience that allow them to know where and how to effectively use information.

Use a variety of resources and current technology to locate, retrieve and evaluate relevant sources and information

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Provide awareness of resources for financial management during and after college

Analyze the impact their decisions and choices have on themselves and others

WELLNESS

Provide students with information and access to resources regarding personal well-being

Explain how knowledge from various disciplines is essential to individual and societal health and well-being

QUALITIES OF A GOOD UWL100 INSTRUCTOR

·         Understands that higher education is an inherently holistic experience.  It is not just about the classroom, but about the total development of the student - career, moral, psychosocial, identity, intellectual.  And the freshman instructor plays a unique and critical role in that development.

·          Appreciates the uniqueness of freshmen - transition issues, developmental needs, motivation, energy, anticipatory socialization - and is genuinely enthusiastic about helping students grow.

·          Is able and willing to communicate with freshmen on a variety of levels - teacher, advisor, mentor, advocate, etc.

·          Has energy and time that being a developmental advisor requires - is not content spending a few minutes with each student talking about class scheduling, but is able to spend time in quality conversation, exploration, discernment, goal setting, and decision-making.

·          Does not assume that he or she already knows everything about freshmen - is willing to test their assumptions about freshman and teaching, is willing to be trained, is willing to try new things, is open to constructive feedback about their advising practices and effectiveness.

·         Appreciates the reciprocal nature of the relationship between academic instruction and student services.

SAMPLE SYLLABUS – Morgan & Knudson Fall 2008 (.pdf file)

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