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“First-Year Programs and Liberal Arts: Best Practices and New Thinking” June 6-8, 2007
St. Lawrence University
Keeping the Fires Burning:Ongoing Innovation in a Nineteen-Year-Old Program
Kathleen SkubikowskiMary Ellen Bertolini
Jessica HolmesPieter Broucke
Middlebury College
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How can an established first-year seminar program
remain innovative?
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First-Year Seminars at Middlebury Original Program Goals
• Introduce First-Year Students to Small Courses
• Require a Second Writing Course• Improve General Education Advising• Encourage First-Year Students to
Make Intellectual Connections within and between Disciplines
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First-Year Seminars at Middlebury Curricular Goals
• Combining the Timeless and the Timely• Emphasizing Critical Skills• Encouraging Creative Lateral Learning• Encouraging Intellectual Curiosity• Building a Sense of Community• Evolving Responsibility
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First-Year Seminars at Middlebury Legislated Features
Seminars are:
• Required in the First Semester • Writing Intensive • Limited to 15 Students• Taught by Regular, Full-time Faculty
Faculty:
• Are Students’ Academic Advisers• Select Individual Seminar Topics • Develop their Students’ Thinking, Writing, and
Speaking Skills
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First-Year Seminars at Middlebury Evolving Features
• Locus for Pedagogical Discussion and Experimentation
• Students Housed in Commons (dorm
clusters) by Seminar
• Seminars Eligible for Resource Team: Peer Writing Tutor, Reference Librarian, Educational Technologist, and Peer Mentor (ACE)
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First-Year Seminar Resource TeamInnovation-- Staff and Peers Attached to Individual FYSE
Reference Librarian--the research contact person for students and faculty
• helps with research, supports research assignments• teaches workshops on research fundamentals
Educational Technologist-- provides, coordinates, facilitates technologies
• provides essential familiarity with the College's servers• supports sophisticated multimedia projects and websites
Peer ACE--Academic Consultant for Excellence
• helps students enhance academic planning skills• works with students on optimum performance, study skills, stress
management.
Peer Writing Tutor--works with students on writing assignments
• facilitates peer critiquing groups either in class or outside• provides oral presentation support
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A Librarian • Consults with Faculty Preparing for Seminars
• Offers Seminar-specific Workshops
• Creates Online or Print Resource Guides
• Holds Follow-up Sessions with Students
• Can Help Design Independent Student Assignments
• Provides Instruction in Copyright Compliance
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• How to use Library formats—collections, ILL, reserves, digital projects
• How to read citations, locate material
• How to recognize scholarly & popular publications— primary & secondary resources
• How to ask good questions
• How to evaluate and synthesize information
• How and why to cite materials
• How to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringements
What Do We Want Students to Know about Research?
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Basic Assignments
Students locate online articles from citations provided by professor.
Students find scholarly articles by searching subject index.
Intermediate Assignments
Students analyze topic by investigating popular & scholarly sources, and write about differences.
Students find reviews of a work, then compare them, or write a response.
• Known Item and New Item• Search Proper Citation• Learn Scope of Library Resources
•Critical Thinking & Analysis •Learning About Audience•Comparison & Response
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Prepare for an InterviewGather and write summary as background for interview
List sources, annotating validity/usefulness and identify missing information
Write Articles for Newspaper or News Magazine
After reading results of a study, find existing news articles about same study
Write comparison, discussing decisions and assumptions of each article
Comprehensive Assignment Ideas: Utilizes Broad Range of Research and Writing Skills
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Range of Tech Possibilities
Absolutely Nothing
Technology Orientation
Course Web Site
Audio Projects
Podcasts
Digital Stories
Video-based
Projects
Games
Remix Videos
Virtual Reality
Class Email
Course Folders
Electronic Discussion
Wikis
Blogs
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Brief Technology Orientation
• Saving Work to Servers• Overview of Technology at Middlebury• Avoiding Lost Work• Preventing Viruses, Spyware• Accessing Segue
• can e-mail class (including self)• can add support team to email list • can attach documents
–syllabus–readings–problem sets–handouts
Available for Every Class
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Custom Course Sites
or sites using Segue--Middlebury’s easy to use, web 2.0 friendly course management tool
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Course Management & Web-based Discussion
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High-end Use of Technology• Wikis--quintessentially Web 2.0 • Digital Media Projects• Video Conferences• Audio & Podcasting
– Web sites for publishing audio– RSS feeds for subscribing to podcasts
CTLR Summer Workshops--Pedagogy & Tools
http://www.middlebury.edu/administration/ctlr
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Student Team Members ACEs & PWTs attached to FYSE
Academic Consultants for Excellence (3.7+ GPA)Peer Writing Tutors (nominated by faculty)
Peer Writing Tutors:
• Work with All Parts of the Writing Process
• Help with In-class Workshops
• Work with Oral Presentation
• Model Research Skills
• Convey Intentionality
ACEs help first-years:
• Improve Performance
• Reduce Stress & Anxiety
• Balance Commitments on Time
• Master Complex Projects
• Enhance Reading
• Maximize Discussions
• Increase Healthy Coping Strategies
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FYSE 1041: Economics of Social Issues
• Goals of the Course– Content– Expose Students to Alternative Viewpoints– Improve Written/Oral Communication
Ability– Enhance Research Skills– Familiarize Students with College
Resources– Civic Engagement/Service Learning
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FYSE 1041: Economics of Social Issues
• Ambitious Goals? Yes!! Need a Resource Team…– ACE (Academic Consultant for Excellence)– Peer Writing Tutor– Technology Consultant– Reference Librarian
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Course Specific Guides
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QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Reflections
• Goals Achieved
• Positive Student Evaluations
• A Few Lessons Learned…
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FYSE 1172: Between the Rivers: Visual Culture of Early
Mesopotamia
• Goals and MethodsProvide the seminar students with the skills I expect students in my other classes to have
• Staying Engaged Two FYSEs every three years, for a total of six
• Content
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A Team Effort
• Institutional Support:- Library Liaison- Technology Liaison- Center for Teaching, Learning, and
Research• Peer Support:
- Writing Tutor- ACE- “Community of Scholars”
• Content Support:- Guest Lecturers
• Social/Intellectual Support:- Commons
• Organizational Support:- Professor as Team Manager
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FYSE 1172: Between the Rivers:Visual Culture of Early Mesopotamia
“Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur” Exhibition at the Middlebury College Museum of Art
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FYSE Student SymposiumWith Formal Presentations Open to the Public
Blake Johnson ‘10: “Revolutions in Pottery: Mesopotamian Clay and Stone Working”
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Not My Field!
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FYSE Fall ‘08: Greece vs. Rome:The 18th-Century Debate Regarding the Sources of Western Civilization
January ‘09: Student-Curated Exhibition at the Middlebury College Museum of Art
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So how does an established first-year seminar program
remain innovative?
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1. Flexibility
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2. Serve Two Constituencies
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Kathleen Skubikowski, Mary Ellen BertoliniJessica Holmes, and Pieter Broucke
Middlebury College
Keeping the Fires Burning
Some materials contributed by Yonna McShane, Sheldon Sax, Jean Simmons.