Faculty Institute – First Year Seminars 2012

April 2-4, April 27, May 4
Pre-workshop Jan 13, March 16
Sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

• Overview
• Participants
• Institute Facilitator
• Institute Curriculum
• Institute Evaluation
• Links

Overview

The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost approved funding for a faculty institute on the design of First Year Seminars as the first phase of implementation for general education revisions approved by the Faculty Senate in November 2011.  The Institute was held April 2-4 with follow-up half-day sessions on April 27 and May 4.  Faculty and course coordinators interested in developing first year seminars were invited to preparatory sessions held on January 13 and March 16 to communicate procedural information about approval and implementation of these new courses. 

The University Libraries partnered with several academic and administrative units to deliver this institute as there is no single entity on campus in a position to provide the needed faculty support and development:

• Academic Assessment
• Academic Success Center
• Advising
• Diversity Initiatives
• General Education, Director
• Information Technology
• Student Affairs, Civic Engagement and Diversity
• Online Education

Twenty-five faculty participants from eight colleges were partnered in teams with nine librarians during the institute to elaborate course syllabi for first year.  The participating colleges were Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Health Sciences, Hotel Administration, Liberal Arts, Urban Affairs, and the Lee School of Business. 

Different models for first year seminars will be implemented by the schools and colleges, e.g.:

• A single large enrollment lecture course with small discussion/quiz sections
• A shared course syllabus offered as multiple small enrollment sections
• A single course, team taught in modules - students meet with different faculty over the semester
• Multiple small enrollment courses, syllabus built around content in the faculty member’s expertise

Enrollments – Fall 2012

Participants

Institute Facilitator

• Steven Hoover, Instruction Designer UNLV Libraries

Institute Curriculum

During the three-day institute faculty worked through a local adaptation of the L. Dee Fink model of Integrated Course Design.

Faculty-Librarian teams developed course syllabi by completing activities organized by the eight steps of the model:

• Step 1.  Identify important situational factors (student / instructor characteristics, learning environment, course requirements, etc.)
• Step 2.  Identify important learning outcomes (using the UULOs)
• Step 3.  Formulate appropriate feedback and assessment procedures (in this model the term assessment is defined as, ‘what will students do to demonstrate the learning outcome.”  The feedback at this phase is primarily developmental.)
• Step 4.  Select effective teaching/learning activities (how will I/we prepare students to do well on the assessment/demonstration of learning outcomes)
• Step 5.  Make sure the primary components are integrated (do the assessment and learning activities address all of the learning outcomes identified for the course?)
• Step 6.  Course Structure (sequence and rough timing for course content and activities)
• Step 7.  Instruction Strategy (is there a progression of activities, feedback, and increasing challenge for the student; planning in- and out-of-class activities)
• Step 8.  Creating the Overall Scheme of Learning Activities (add details to the course sequence sketched earlier with integration of activities, instructional partners, ensure that course activities and opportunities to provide student feedback are balanced across the entire semester, etc.)

On the final day of the Institute, Dan Bubb, Office of Academic Assessment introduced participants to the assessment plan for the FYS program that will enable campus-wide reporting on student attainment of the UULOs.  Faculty participated in an activity to describe levels of student performance on aspects of UULO #2 Inquiry and Critical Thinking as demonstrated in the activities designed for their course syllabi.  The resulting rubric will be used to analyze student work and provide authentic assessment of student learning on the UULOs.

Institute Curriculum – Follow-up Workshops

During the April 27 follow-up workshop Lori Temple and members of the OIT staff presented and demonstrated a variety of classroom technologies to address the faculty’s specific needs and interests. In addition Julie Staggers, Director of Composition sparked a lively discussion of the expectations for student writing in the First Year Seminars across the colleges. Carl Reiber, Director of General Education drafted a statement on writing that was reviewed by faculty at the concluding workshop on May 4. Other activities during the May 4 workshop provided faculty an opportunity to share syllabi developed during the Institute.

Institute Evaluation

The evaluation of the FYS Faculty Institute experience consists of several elements. During the three-day Institute, feedback was gathered each day on participants’ understanding of the material and what concepts were/were not useful or needed further reinforcement. Teaching faculty were asked to complete a survey after the three-day Institute and to complete evaluations for each of the follow up workshop sessions on April 27 and May 4.  Finally, a content analysis of the faculty members’ course syllabi submitted on April 30 will also be undertaken to examine which concepts from the Institute were integrated.

The end of institute survey in April asked faculty to respond to the following questions:

Please let us know how well the Faculty Institute met each of the following objectives.  Indicate the extent to which you agree the Institute has prepared you to (strongly agree = 1; strongly disagree = 4):

Links

• Participant Videos