FYS Development Checklist
When outlining your syllabus for FYS please make sure to include the following:
- A brief overview of the FYE program.
Sample paragraph:
First-Year Experience: The Overview
Welcome to The First Year Experience program. This program is designed to guide your transition into Otterbein's classrooms and communities. There are two parts to this program. The first is the curricular piece, which is this course where we will explore the goals of the FYE and also the I.S. program through a particular topic. The topic varies by professor and discipline. But all the courses share the same FYE goals and a subset of I.S. goals. The second piece is the co-curriculum where we will explore the network of resources available to you on the Otterbein campus all designed to help support your Otterbein Journey. Ultimately, the program encourages you to explore your self and world, your beliefs and values, and your educational and professional goals. It also asks you to think about what it means to be responsible to yourself, to Otterbein, and to local and global communities.
- Your individual course description and how it fits into the FYE program.
- Information about the role of the peer mentor within your course.
- Information about the e-portfolio (to begin in FYS).
- Co-curricular activities and linkages to the FYE program.
- Identification of how your course will meet IS and FYE goals that is framed from your course specific perspective.
- Inclusion of, or links to the complete set of IS and FYE goals for student reference.
- Some way of identifying how your assignments are designed to meet the goals/outcomes of the program and how you are assessing them.
- Additional standard syllabi information.
For Example:
a. Grading
b. Schedule
c. Disability statement
d. Plagiarism statement
Reminder: All FYS courses must specifically address at least one Integrative Studies goal and must provide at least an overview of all of the goals. Since outcomes are written to help students understand how they can show that they've met the goal (s), you are encouraged to link your goal to one of the outcomes associated with it.
All FYS courses are expected to include one common assignment which is to be included in the e-portfolio. The specifics of this assignment are still in process. It may involve a common writing prompt about the goals of the I.S. program, or it may be about the common book. Those details will be determined with input from all the FYS instructors during the next academic year to be ready for the launch of the program in Fall 2011.
Presented at the McGregor Course Development Workshops, June 2010