The 2009 National Survey of First-Year Seminars
First-Year Seminar Leadership InstituteColumbia, SC
April 2012
2009 NATIONAL
SURVEY OF FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS
National Survey of FY Seminars• Overview of survey history• Methodology for 2009 administration
– Administration: Oct. 2009-Jan. 2010– Invitation sent to 3,225 institutions in 3 waves:
• Chief Academic Officer• Chief Executive Officer• Chief Student Affairs Officer
– Incentive program– 1,028 usable responses (32% response rate)– 890 with FYS
Survey Respondents
Institution Type Number %Two-year 293 28.8Four-year 725 71.2Public 528 51.9Private, not-for-profit 422 41.5Private, for-profit 68 6.7
Size of First-Year Class Number %< 500 365 35.9501 – 1,000 238 23.41,001 – 1500 107 10.51,501 – 2,000 87 8.52,001 – 2,500 50 4.92,501 – 3,000 37 3.63,001 – 3,500 36 3.53,500 – 4,000 21 2.14,001 – 5,000 32 3.1> 5,000 45 4.4
Survey Respondents
All Types of FYS Offered
EO A-UC A-VC Pre-Prof BSS Other Hybrid0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
62
26 2314
22
3
22
71
12 71
6 4
1991
2009
Primary Types of FYS Offered
41%EO
16% A-UC
15%A-VC
4%Pre-Prof
5%BSS
15%Hy-brid
4% Other
COURSE ADMINISTRATION
Administrative Home of FYSUnit 2009
Academic affairs 37.0%
Academic department 16.3%
Student affairs 13.9%
First-year program office 11.9%
College or school 7.9%
75.1 % of courses have a seminar director
37.9% of courses directors are full time
Administration of Seminars• Average size of seminar program is
around 30-32 sections• A majority (58.3%)of seminars have
classes enrolling 16 to 25 students• Over one-third (39.6%) of institutions
require all first-year students to take the seminar
Grading and Credit Hours• Most seminars (80.5%) are letter graded• 43.3% of seminars are offered for one credit
hour; 31.9% of seminars are offered for three credit hours
• Seminar credit applies toward graduation in most cases– General education: 53.1%– As an elective: 39.8%– To the major: 9.7%
INSTRUCTION
Advice for freshmen from the people who actually grade their
papers and lead their class discussions.
“Ditch Your Laptop, Dump Your Boyfriend”Op-Ed in the September 25, 2010 edition of the New York Times
Who Teaches the Seminar?Instructor %Tenure-track faculty 61.4FT non-tenure-track faculty 54.4Student affairs professionals 48.2Adjunct faculty 46.0Other campus professionals 29.9Graduate students 5.6Undergraduate students 5.1
• 43.7% of institutions have some team taught sections of the seminar
• 8.6% team teach all sections• 31.2% of institutions have some sections
of the seminar taught by the students’ academic advisors
Who Teaches the Seminar?
How Are Instructors Compensated?
• Most frequent compensation is a stipend• The second most frequent responses
were “None” and “Part of overload”• Other forms of compensation
– Graduate student support– Release time– Unrestricted professional development funds
How Much Are Instructors Compensated?
Mean StipendAdjunct faculty 3.82Other professional 3.41Tenure track faculty 3.40Student affairs professionals 3.06Graduate student 2.70
1: $500 or less 4: $1501-$2000 7: $3001-$3500 10: $4501-$50002: $501-$1000 5: $2001-$2500 8: $3501-$4000 11: >$50003: $1001-$1500 6: $2501-$3000 9: $4001-$4500
CONTENT & PEDAGOGY
FYS
Service Learning
Learning Community
OrientationCommon
Book
Online Learning
Residential Life
Top 5 Seminar GoalsMost Important Course Goals %
Develop academic skills 54.6
Develop a connection w/institution 50.2
Orient to campus resources 47.6
Encouraged self-exploration/personal development
28.5
Create common FY experience 23.3
Top 5 Course Topics
Most Important Course Topics %
Campus resources 42.4
Study skills 39.8
Academic planning/advising 35.7
Critical thinking 34.8
Time management 27.6
Course Practices
Practice %Online component 52.9Service-learning 40.3Learning-community 35.7Common reading component 31.0
Online Components• Nearly half of the open-ended responses mention
the use of a course or learning management system
• Most common online components:– Repository for course documents– Discussion boards– Assignment submission– Introduction to online research/information literacy– Quizzes/tests– Assessments
Service-Learning• Service experience varies widely by section and
is often tied to specific course theme• Service is of short duration, usually less than 10
hours, and is on many campuses a one-shot experience or service plunge
• Hunger/homelessness and at-risk youth most common focal points for service
• Reflection includes written papers, discussions, and presentations
Learning Community Structures• LCs designed to serve a variety of student
populations, but most commonly mentioned as either major-specific interventions or interventions for at-risk students
• Seminars frequently linked to developmental course work in English, reading, and math
• Seminars linked to a variety of gen ed courses, but most commonly linked to first-year composition
Learning Community Structures
• LC structures range from block scheduling with little to no course integration to highly integrated thematic course links
• LCs frequently incorporate a residential component
SEMINAR ASSESSMENTHas your first-year seminar
been formally
assessed or evaluated since Fall
2006?
53%Yes
32%No
9% don’t know
Quantitative Assessment
Assessment %Student course evaluation 94.9Survey instrument 75.3
Locally developed 84.0National survey 52.4
Institutional data 75.3
Qualitative AssessmentAssessment %Focus Groups
Instructors 51.3Students 42.6
InterviewsInstructors 45.6Students 30.2
Outcomes MeasuredOutcome %Persistence to sophomore year 73.7Satisfaction with faculty 70.9Satisfaction with institution 65.3Grade-point average 58.0Use of campus services 51.0Connections with peers 49.3Participation in campus activities 49.0Out-of-class student/faculty interactions 47.1Academic abilities 42.0Persistence to graduation 38.4Other 18.5
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Questions?
References
Padgett, R.D. & Keup, J.R. (2011). 2009 National Survey of First-Year Seminars: Ongoing Efforts to Support Students in Transition. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
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