The First-Year Seminar: A Program Evaluation of Students’ Public-Affairs Awareness

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
First Year ◽  
State University ◽  
First Semester ◽  
The Public ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year Seminar

Similar to the public-welfare aim of many universities, Missouri State University (MSU) was granted a specific statewide public affairs mission in 1995 comprising three pillars: community engagement, cultural competence, and ethical leadership. Since the implementation of this mission, the university has engaged in various efforts to promote and foster public-affairs awareness among students, including through its first-year seminar (FYS). This article details a study conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the FYS in enhancing students’ public-affairs awareness. The researchers solicited input from students in the first and last weeks of their first semester at MSU using the Public Affairs Scale–Short Survey (PAS-SS) as well as other questions. The study sample consisted of 540 students who completed both the pre- and post-surveys. The researchers found that students’ public-affairs awareness in the cultural competence domain increased during the FYS program, but not in community engagement or ethical leadership. Additionally, there were significant differences in public-affairs awareness over time between first-generation students enrolled in specialized sections and those who were not. No significant differences were found in public-affairs awareness between faculty- and staff-taught sections or between sections with a peer leader and those without. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the study findings and a consideration of implications for future practice.

Environmental Studies, University

1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kakela
Keyword(s):  
Public Affairs ◽  
Radio Station ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Hearing ◽  
State University ◽  
The Public ◽  
Beverage Container ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Bottle Bill ◽  
The University

I applied for a job at Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois, because it was founded in 1970 to be “the public affairs university” in the country. There I set up a course in Citizens’ Action in Environmental Affairs because I realized that you can talk forever about respecting the environment but if you don’t get into the political workings of power, your talk will mean nothing. I began the course by showing the students a dozen bills that Illinois legislators were going to consider while our course was in progress. We talked briefly about what directions the legislators might take, and then I asked the students what bills they’d like to work on. I had imagined they would form several groups and work on different projects, but they all wanted to study the Illinois Beverage Container Act, what we called “The Bottle Bill.” One of the fellows was the host for the late show on the university radio station. He wanted to get something about the Bottle Bill on his program immediately, but I slowed him down. I wanted to train these students in thorough investigation. At this time a public hearing in Chicago on the Bottle Bill was announced. That was two hundred miles away. “Can we go?” said several students. “Sure,” I said, and gave a tape recorder to those who were going and a couple of tapes I had bought. They went, and came back from Chicago all excited. In class they played some of the testimony they had heard. “That legislator didn’t even know this—” said one student, mentioning a crucial point. I was determined that right from the start my students would know what they were talking about. They had strong opinions, but in this course they would have to get the data. They had to read journals and study the reason and logic behind all points of view. As a group we worked to get the stuff together to make a Fact Sheet to present to legislators, lobbyists, and anyone else we were going to approach. I knew that otherwise the experts and the legislators would pay no attention to us.

scholarly journals Educação a distância: dificuldades dos alunos do primeiro ano do curso Licenciatura de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Estadual de Maringá / Distance Learning: Difficultiesof First Year Students in the Biological Sciences in the Universidade Estadual de Maringá

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaise Francielle De Sousa Roth ◽  
Dulcinéia Ester Pagani Gianotto
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Biological Science ◽  
First Year ◽  
State University ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
Teacher Students ◽  
On Line ◽  
The University

ABSTRACTThe system of distance learning has been increasing in Brazil since the lastyears. This type of learning comes up trying to open the doors of the University. The public isthose people who work or give up to their studies, and want to study in alternative time. The students are able to study at home with the help of instruments like Internet and other tools, sharing  knowledge,  changing  significantly  the  interaction  between  teacher-students-knowledge.  The  State  University  of Maringa has started up the Distance learning since 2005, with the course of Pedagogy. Afterwards, the attempt wasto build the Pedagogic Politic Project to implement the distance course in Biological Science, in 2008. The biology students havestarted in 2010, with the challenge to understand the dynamic of work and study online, also the autonomy of their studies.  The  object  of  this  work  is  to  analyze  the  first  year  students’  report  in  Biological  Science  about  the  academic activities. The reports showed some difficulties with the online platform for the students, also organizational problems to the public and itself institution.RESUMOA Educação a Distância no Brasil tem crescido nos últimos anos. Essa modalidade de ensino surge objetivando ampliar o acesso ao ensino superior, atendendo, principalmente, estudantes adultos e trabalhadores que necessitam encontrar espaços de tempo alternativos para os estudos. Trata-se de uma modalidade de ensino que usa as ferramentas da tecnologia de informação e comunicação para compartilhamento de conhecimento, produzindo transformações significativas na interação professor-aluno-conhecimento. A Universidade Estadual de Maringá principiou as suas atividades de ensino a distância a partir de 2005, com os cursos de pedagogia e, em 2008 iniciou a construção do Proje-to Político Pedagógico para a implantação do curso de licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas. No ano de 2010, os alunos encetaram o curso, com o desafio de compreender a dinâmica da plataforma on-line de trabalho e também o desenvol-vimento da autonomia para estudar. Este trabalho consiste em analisar os relatos dos alunos do primeiro ano do curso de licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas, sobre a realização de suas atividades acadêmicas. Foram observadas algumas dificuldades com relação ao uso da plataforma on-line pelos estudantes, além de problemas organizacionais do público acadêmico e da própria instituição para a realização do curso nesta modalidade.

scholarly journals Learning to Leap

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Mixson-Brookshire ◽  
Stephanie M. Foote ◽  
Donald Brookshire
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
State University ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
First Semester ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
First Year Seminar

This article describes the effect of participation in experiential activities in a first-year seminar on students’ perceptions of self-esteem and academic performance in their first semester at Kennesaw State University. Findings suggest that student participants had greater levels of self-esteem and achieved higher grade point averages than their peers who were in first-year seminars that were not experientially oriented. The article concludes with strategies for instructors to use to purposefully incorporate experiential learning into a first-year seminar.

scholarly journals Features of Adaptation of Non-Resident Students to the University Learning Environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
Olga Viktorovna Bodenova ◽  
Lyudmila Pavlovna Vlasova
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
First Year ◽  
Adaptation Period ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
State University ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Resident Students ◽  
New Type ◽  
The University

The article is devoted to the overview of one of the most current problems that arise in the process of supporting the adaptation of students. The paper reveals the content of the adaptation process, its content and procedural characteristics, describes the types and stages, and directions of diagnostics. The aim of the work is to identify the features of adaptation in first-year students, including the description of the specifics of difficulties of non-resident students’ adaption. The study was conducted at the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology “Petrozavodsk State University” with first-year students studying in the fields of education 44.03.02 Psychological and pedagogical education, 44.03.01. Pedagogical education, 44.03.03 Special (defectologic) education. The following methods were used to test the hypothesis: «I am a student» survey, «Scale of subjective well-being» method, analysis of documents (medical records of students), quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results of the study. Analysis of the results of the study showed that non-resident students have both general and specific difficulties of adaptation due to the breakdown of previous family and friendships, lack of emotional support, difficult living conditions, a new neighborhood, a new type of settlement, etc. The obtained results are used for development and implementation of measures to support students during the adaptation period.

scholarly journals Jacobus Capitein: Champion for Slavery and Resisting Mimic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Hendrik L. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
First Year ◽  
Hybrid Identity ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ten Commandments ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The University

Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capitein (1717-1747) was a man of many firsts-the first black student of theology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, the first black minister ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands, the author of the first Fante/Mfantse-Dutch Grammar in Ghana as well as the first translator of the Ten Commandments, Twelve Articles of Faith and parts of the Catechism into Fante/Mfantse. However, he is also remembered as the first African to argue in writing that slavery was compatible with Christianity in the public lecture that he delivered at Leiden in 1742 on the topic, De Servitute Libertati Christianae Non Contraria. The Latin original was soon translated into Dutch and became so popular in the Netherlands that it was reprinted five times in the first year of publication. This contribution will pose the question: Was Capitein a sell-out who soothed the Dutch colonial conscience as he argued with scholarly vigour in his dissertation that the Bible did not prohibit slavery and that it was therefore permissible to continue with the practice in the eighteenth century; or was he resisting the system by means of mimicry due to his hybrid identity - as an African with a European education - who wanted to spread the Christian message and be an educator of his people?

INHERITING THE WIND: A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE CURRENT CRISIS IN THEATRE HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin Carlson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Central Position ◽  
State University ◽  
Personal View ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
American Theatre ◽  
Cornell University ◽  
The Public ◽  
The University

It is no secret, unhappily, that the study of theatre in the colleges and universities of this country is a discipline under siege, but the severity of the problems received strong confirmation in New York State this fall when two of the most distinguished and long-established (over a century in both cases) programs in the country were, with little warning, faced with draconian cuts or outright extinction. The fact that one, the state University of Albany, was the flagship school of the public system, and the other, Cornell University, was one of the state's most distinguished private institutions, suggests the scope and impact of these actions. At Albany, four other programs are being terminated along with theatre—Classics, Russian, Spanish, and French—while at Cornell the extent of the severe cuts imposed on the theatre program—almost a quarter of the total budget of the department (which also shelters dance and film)—are being suffered by no other program in the university. The prominence of these two schools in a state that has long claimed a central position in American theatre makes them particularly significant symbolically of a discipline in crisis, and this has impelled me to engage in serious and sometimes painful reflections on that discipline, the basis of the present essay.

Connecting First Year Students to Formal and Informal Learning Experiences

2013 ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa L. Johnson ◽  
Laura Pasquini ◽  
Michelle R. Rodems
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year Seminar

This case study, an honors first year seminar from the University of Florida, USA, demonstrates the benefits and challenges of these developments in education. The case expands the definition of formal, informal, and online learning communities in the context of a first year seminar.

The Use of Applets in an Engineering Chemistry Course

2010 ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
B.M. Trigo ◽  
G.S. Olguin ◽  
P.H.L.S. Matai
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

This chapter deals with the use of Applets, which are examples of software applications, combined with a specific methodology of teaching, based on Paulo Freire’s education concepts. According to his methods, co-creation between its participants is fundamental for the effectiveness of learning process. In that way, to promote a cooperative learning, the Applet should have interactive features. The Chemistry course of Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, in which students take in the first semester of the first year of the engineering course, was the case study. First, a research with the teachers of the Chemical Engineering Department was carried out, to identify the main problems and difficulties teachers and students face. Then, a topic was selected to be explored with the Applet, which was developed and applied to a small group of students. To identify the success of this experiment a questionnaire was created and the results are presented in this chapter. Some conclusions were drawn and the interactive features of the Applet received a positive feedback.

Increasing Voluntary Student-Advisor Contacts

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn A. Schnell
Keyword(s):  
North Dakota ◽  
Academic Advising ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Advisors ◽  
State University ◽  
Student Advisor ◽  
North Dakota State University ◽  
First Year Seminar

This study examines a method for increasing voluntary student participation in the academic advising process. During a first-year seminar required of all students entering North Dakota State University, advisor contacts were measured for students whose course instructors served as their academic advisors and compared them with those of students assigned to other advisors. Results indicated that students whose instructors also served as their academic advisors voluntar­ily attended advising sessions significantly more often than those who were assigned to advisors with whom they were unfamiliar.

scholarly journals Enquiry-Based Learning Online: Course Development and Student Experience of a First-Year Enquiry-Based Learning Seminar

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Murray ◽  
Nathan John Lachowsky ◽  
Natalie Green
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Online Course ◽  
First Year ◽  
Course Development ◽  
Online Distance Education ◽  
Online Course Development ◽  
Online Distance ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year Seminar

Online courses are increasing in popularity while universities are using first-year seminars to address the challenges of large impersonal classes, lack of student engagement, and increased skills development. Could the learning experience and benefits of an in-person first-year seminar be achieved through an online distance education (DE) format? How would students’ experience benefit from an online DE first-year seminar? At the University of Guelph, an online interdisciplinary first-year seminar was developed and offered four times. This essay includes reflections from the faculty instructor and educational developer who co-designed the course, results from pre- and post-course surveys completed by students, and interviews conducted with students.

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