WHAT WE KNOW
The number of First Year Seminars (FYSs) that we teach at Wesleyan and the percentage of students taking at least one has risen dramatically since 2013. This is when the university made a more concerted effort to recruit faculty to teaching FYSs and first-year students to take them.
In AY12-13, we offered only 24 FYSs. In AY19-20, we offered 55 seminars.
Not surprisingly, back in 2013, with fewer seminars being offered, it was harder to encourage students to take them or to accommodate students’ desires to do so. But now, with almost double the number of seminars being offered, a much greater percentage of students (82% percent in AY20) can (and do) take them.
WHAT WE CAN ASK
First, what is happening in all of these FYSs? Are there any common experiences among the students who take them? We promise these students that they will write quite a bit in their FYS and experience some sort of drafting process, but should we be promising them more, based on what we know about FYS activities?
Second, who chooses to take an FYS and why? Who doesn’t? How should our advising and pre-registration processes be tailored to encourage more students to take one?
Third, what is the institutional impact of having so many first-year students take an FYS? Are students entering their majors more skilled and more confident in their writing?
