Designing Your First Year Seminar Course: Common Expectations

Each First Year Seminar course is designed and delivered by the instructor, who proposes the course on the topic of their choice in a way that integrates the First Year Seminar student learning goals and expectations of instructors. As such, Appalachian's First Year Seminar courses are academic seminars based on the unique content of their instructor's scholarly expertise and taught so as to meet the shared goals of the program. To provide a measure of consistency and meet the learning outcomes of First Year Seminar, all instructors, regardless of their scholarly focus, should:

  • Design a course (topics, assignments, activities) that will enable them to meet the First Year Seminar student learning goals and expectations of instructors.
  • Utilize at least two different modes of inquiry.
  • Use engaging pedagogies and involve students in a shared process of inquiry.
  • Provide formative and summative assessment, giving students feedback early and often so they get a good sense of their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Use best practices for syllabus and assignment design so that students get a clear understanding of what is expected of them and what they can expect from the instructor.
  • Involve students in problem-based learning with a research/library component.
  • Help students make connections with faculty, other students, their courses, and the university through an intentional focus on community building and co-curricular involvement (e.g., service learning, cultural events, outdoor programs, etc.).
  • Find ways to incorporate the year's Common Reading book.
  • Not design a course that is narrowly focused or an introduction to a specific discpline.