The Freshman Seminar at the Community College [microform] : A Tool for Integrating Student, Faculty and Institutional Development / Robert Rice and Kenneth Coll.
While America's two-year colleges are diverse in function, mission, clientele, and organizational structure, they share a common identity in their commitment to a developmental philosophy. A rarely used, but nonetheless tenable and cost-saving path to development involves exploring strategies w...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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1991.
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| Summary: | While America's two-year colleges are diverse in function, mission, clientele, and organizational structure, they share a common identity in their commitment to a developmental philosophy. A rarely used, but nonetheless tenable and cost-saving path to development involves exploring strategies which simultaneously contribute to faculty, student, and institutional growth. An example of such an integrative strategy is the extended orientation or freshman seminar. Such courses tend to bring together a small group of freshmen under the tutelage of a supportive instructor. Research into such courses shows them to be highly productive in enhancing freshman retention and academic performance. While a prime characteristic of freshman seminars is the diversity in their content and organizational structures, one of the most widely recognized configurations calls for thematic content focused on student development accompanied by an extensive and required faculty training component. Providing such training not only helps faculty prepare for the course, but it also can orient new or part-time faculty to campus facilities, services, and personnel. From an organizational standpoint, there is general agreement that a diagnostic dimension is an essential component of any organizational development strategy. Overall, freshman seminar courses are not as extensively utilized at two-year colleges as they are at four-year colleges. A study of freshman seminars indicated that the content and focus of the two-year college freshman seminar differed significantly from similar courses at four-year colleges; specifically, two-year colleges that utilized the courses did more to ameliorate academic deficiencies than to develop the personal/social aspects of students. (JMC) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED341409. |
| Physical Description: | 17 pages. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain |