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The Freshmen Interest Groups (Figs) Program Report: Course Offerings In Fall, 2008, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark, Karen Casto, Jospeh E. Trimble

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The First-year Interest Group (FIG) program at Western Washington University has been a curricular option for first-year students since 1999. In the fall, 2008, it entered its tenth iteration. Briefly described, FIG program students register for a cluster of three courses: two general education courses (usually quite large) linked with a two-credit seminar (maximum enrollment 25). The FIG program is modeled on best practices culled from first year experience literature and poses that the learning community environment created by the combination of large lecture courses and a small seminar can help students connect more quickly to university life, as well …

The First-Year Experience (Fye) And Freshmen Interest Group (Fig) Programs Compared: Fall, 2006, Course Offerings, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

1) The FYE seminars are stand-alone seminars, not linked to a GUR course as are the FIGs.

2) While the FIGs are taught by faculty and qualified staff, the FYE seminars are taught only be full-time faculty.

3) FYE seminars are offered in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, whereas the FIGs are available only in the fall of each year.

4) The FYE program does not have a mission statement that brings together a unified purpose for all the FYE seminars. Rather, each seminar is more closely aligned with disciplinary and / or departmental goals.

The First-Year Experience (Fye) Program Report: Course Offerings In Fall, 2006, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

1) The FYE seminars are stand-alone seminars, not linked to a GUR course as are the FIGs.

2) While the FIGs are taught by faculty and qualified staff, the FYE seminars are taught only be full-time faculty.

3) FYE seminars are offered in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, whereas the FIGs are available only in the fall of each year.

4) The FYE program does not have a mission statement that brings together a unified purpose for all the FYE seminars. Rather, each seminar is more closely aligned with disciplinary and / or departmental goals.

The Freshmen Interest Group (Figs) Program Report: Course Offerings In The Fall, 2006, Patricia M. Fabiano, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Chris Stark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

In the fall, 2006, the Freshman Interest Group (FIGs) Program entered its eighth iteration. To use assessment terminology, the program has passed through its beginning and emergent stages and has entered maturity. Its mission has been crafted, student learning outcomes (SLO's) have been identified, and its identity has solidified. Yet while maturity has wrought a degree of self-confidence, it has not brought complacency. The program remains one of the most assessed academic programs on campus. Yearly, FIGs, administrators and instructors pore over results of surveys and quantitative data, searching for ways to improve both the program and its assessment. Findings …

First Year Experience Technical Report, Carl Simpson, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Executive Summary: This report was prepared as background to ongoing discussions concerning the first year experience, in particular the study group by that name headed by Dean Marie Eaton. Data come from surveys of a cohort of new freshmen and new transfers, who entered Western in Fall, 1994. They were surveyed that Fall and in the Spring of that same academic year. Only about one-third of new students, many of whom failed to attend Summer advising sessions, find the transition to Western "very" or "moderately" difficult. The great majority expected Western to be more difficult than their previous schools. Most …