First-Year Seminars and Experiences

First-Year Seminars and Experiences as a High-Impact Learning Practice (from AAC&U):

"Many schools now build into the curriculum first-year seminars or other programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis. The highest-quality first-year experiences place a strong emphasis on critical inquiry, frequent writing, information literacy, collaborative learning, and other skills that develop students’ intellectual and practical competencies. First-year seminars can also involve students with cutting-edge questions in scholarship and with faculty members’ own research."

First-Year Seminar Resources:

• Hamline University First-Year Seminar Website

• "First-Year Seminars Increase Persistence and Retention: A Summary of the Evidence from How College Affects Students." AAC&U Peer Review, Summer 2006, Vol. 8, No. 3.

• "Recent Findings & New Directions for Research on High-Impact Practices in the First-Year Experience and Student Transitions." Report on the survey findings of the National Resource Center for First-Year Experience & Students in Transition.

Common Read Resources:

• Hamline University Common Read webpage