|
|||||
 | |||||
|
Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/1/07 |
|
|
In
the News Archive - Year:
September 21, 2007 UWGB freshman seminars offer smaller class size Courses intended to enhance students' ties to university By Kelly McBride
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay associate professor chides one for forgetting to staple his paper before class begins, then calls on the freshmen individually throughout class discussions.
The teens fire ideas back and forth, digging into issues of perception and why people believe what they do.
It's not the caliber of discussion often seen among freshman-level classes at UWGB, many of which accommodate 90 to 120 students in large lecture halls.
But Gurung and some of his colleagues are hoping to change that. His class of 25 is one of 13 freshman seminar courses being offered this semester at UWGB. By shrinking class sizes and tailoring activities to new students, officials hope to enhance freshmen ties to the university.
"As a university, and given staff issues that we have, it's very hard to have small classes," Gurung said. "More importantly, it's next to impossible to have small classes for freshmen.
"For a first-semester freshman, if all of your classes are large ... how are we going to expect you to be engaged with college? We are making it harder for you to do well."
This is the second year of freshman seminar classes at UWGB, after the school offered six such courses last year.
Liberal arts and sciences dean Scott Furlong, who taught a freshman seminar course last year, hopes to see that continue to grow.
"From a student perspective, there is more work," Furlong said. "It's a much more intense experience, but it's a better experience. ... (it) meets some of the expectations that we want our freshmen to see as they're coming through, starting their college experience."
Freshman seminar instructors aim to address those experiences both through small class sizes and specific activities, including required attendance at a certain number of co-curricular events.
Some of the professors have taken a more in-depth role, meeting the students when they arrive for orientation and seeing them through their first semester course work.
"Dr. Gurung has been very helpful," said Julie Bohn, a 17-year-old freshman from Algoma.
"He said if we have questions about any of our professors, if we have questions about anything, we should contact him.
"He's been like a mentor to our class."
Gurung's "Gods, Ghosts, and Goblins" class is new this year, and was created specifically to be a freshman seminar course.
Last year's seminars all were general education courses, and some instructors found it tough to fit it all in.
"The faculty found all these courses we were teaching — they all have, in a sense, a curriculum established for them," Furlong said. "It was hard to sort of fit in some of the extra activities ... because we were all trying to get our 21 chapters done in 15 weeks and still cover this other stuff."
Some of this year's seminars are general education classes, but many are new courses — such as Gurung's — tailor-made for the smaller freshman groups.
Funding remains an obstacle in continuing to expand the program, but those who have seen its benefits say they hope it can grow.
"The big classes are pretty much just straight lecture — no discussion," Bohn said.
"I prefer the discussion because I think you learn more then. You can ask questions.
"I think it's nice because everyone in the class is a freshman. Everyone's in the same position as you."
| |
