This article describes a studio approach to faculty development in a First-Year Seminar (FYS) program. The studio concept helps structure and theorize faculty development efforts in the program. Meeting for regular in-term reflections on their FYSs, instructors collectively generate responses to teaching challenges specific to the program as well…

In 2012, Randy Bass challenged educators to "disrupt" themselves expanding the notion of teaching to include multiple high-impact practices (HIP). First-year seminars are a HIP that, when done successfully, encourages retention and persistence in students. On our campus they function similarly, but they also create opportunities for…

Effective faculty development programs are essential to improving student success and achieving institutional goals. Yet designing and implementing successful faculty development within FYE programs remain a challenge. We examine these challenges and discuss how a redesigned on-campus faculty development effort, connected to an online course on…

While the scholarship of interdisciplinarity has grown prolifically in the last thirty years, the discourse primarily frames interdisciplinarity as an instrumental research construct. In this article, I will argue that this framework should be expanded to consider how interdisciplinary engagement can support education for democracy. The article…

The profile of students entering higher education is ever-changing, deeming it critical to understand the impact on institutions and teaching methods that foster student learning across perspectives. This article will highlight the need for advancing first-year student curriculum through teaching socially just seminars. Specifically, the article…

The paper presents findings from a study that assessed the impact of a faculty development approach designed to improve technology integration specific to a comprehensive FYE program. Partnering with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and informed by data gathered annually from faculty and student mentors, FYE leaders created a…

The success of the first-year experience (FYE) course hangs on the effectiveness of the individual faculty members who are given the task of educating first-year students in a particularly important developmental period. This article applies a flipped classroom strategy for kickstarting meaningful classroom discussion in Mathematics Education to…

The term "assessment" sends shivers down academic spines. For faculty, it signals marching orders from external parties who may or may not appreciate the subtle and not always quantifiable value of faculty efforts. For administrators, it means the dual challenge of recalibrating internal measures to meet external mandates but also…

Examined the effects on teaching techniques of faculty (n=68) at the University of South Carolina who taught a freshman seminar after completing a training workshop. Many faculty reported that they had transferred the new teaching techniques learned in preparation for the freshman seminar to their discipline-based courses. These included lecturing…

Laney's Success Model for First-Year Students attempts to increase retention by accommodating students and encouraging learning. It requires an institutional commitment for student academic success and tries to dispel the forces of attrition: academic boredom, difficulty adjusting to college life, and academic underpreparedness. The first-year…