First-Year Seminar Proposal Submission Process
First-year seminars are expected to be taught by full-time, regular Penn State faculty and, as the name implies, to be conducted in small sections, thus providing opportunities for students to develop relationships with full-time faculty and other students in academic areas of interest to them.
First-year seminars can be either one (1) or three (3) credits. Three-credit first-year seminars must fulfill the requirements of either a social and behavioral science or humanities course.
Active Learning Elements:
As defined by the University Faculty Senate, all General Education courses must include three or more of the five Active Learning Elements. The five (5) elements are:
- Active use of writing, speaking and other forms of self-expression
- Opportunity for information gathering, synthesis and analysis in solving problems (including the use of library, electronic/computer other resources and quantitative reasoning and interpretation, as applicable)
- Engagement in collaborative learning and teamwork
- Application of intercultural and international competence
- Dialogue pertaining to social behavior, community, and scholarly conduct
Please refer the University Faculty Senate Web site http://www.psu.edu/ufs/guide/glossary.html section pertaining to:
General Education Core Competencies, Activities, and Strategies for Enhanced Learning
- Collaborative learning
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Dialog
- Information literacy
- Intercultural competence
- International competence
- Other forms of self-expression
- Social behavioral, community and scholarly conduct
- Speaking
- Teamwork
- Writing