The First-Year Seminar (FYS), GGC 1000, is a 1-credit course that aims to support and increase the academic and personal success of GGC’s first-year students. This class covers subjects such as campus resources, study skills, time management, growth mindset, and major and career exploration. For students with 30 or fewer credits, it counts towards degree requirements and can substitute for one physical education activity course.
The First-Year Seminar, GGC 1000, has been offered in its current form at GGC since 2017. It has been piloted and run successfully, with further developments in design, support, and assessment each year. The main challenge now is scaling the seminar to serve as many eligible first-year students as possible.
Evaluation Plan and measures: Post-course surveys of GGC 1000 students; evaluating student assignment artifacts for learning outcome achievement; examining pass rates and one-year retention rates. All data disaggregated to help us identify and address any equity gaps in GGC 1000 course effectiveness.
Baseline measure: Students who remain actively engaged in their section of the First-Year Seminar, GGC 1000, in Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 had 1-year retention rates of 52.1% and 77%, respectively. ABC% pass rate for FA20 was 69% and FA21 was 74%. Pass rate for FYS sections within learning communities was 80% in FA21. The 2022-2023 data update will be provided as soon as it is finalized.
Goal or targets: Fall 2022 and Fall 2023
target of 65% or better for 1-year retention rate, and ABC% pass rate of 75%.
Time period/duration: The course is one credit hour (one hour per week) and is offered during each Fall and Spring semester.
Fall 2021 an OER (Open Educational Resource) textbook was created, which all sections are now using at scale.
Two committees on campus – particularly the Student Success Committee, which is a new college-wide committee reporting to the Provost, are now examining the idea of a 2-credit seminar proposal. *GGC 1000 is currently 1 cr. hr., though some challenges in the curricular placement of such a revised course.
Goal or targets: Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 targets are 65% or better for 1-year retention rate, and ABC% pass rate of 75%.
For Fall 2022 (latest complete Fall data):
Fall 2022 – Fall 2023 1-year retention rate = 69.9% (just under 70%)*
* Latest update from the GGC Institutional Research office.
ABC pass rate = 75.9% for 239 students in 13 sections in Fall 2022
For Fall 2022, 33.5% of students enrolled in the First Year Seminar (GGC 1000) course completed the Mastering Career Readiness modules provided through Career Services.
Currently (Fall 2023) students in the seminar course are completing the modules as part of a class assignment, so we anticipate robust completion rates and will update that information as it becomes available.
In Fall 2023, the FYS is embedded in 8 of the 21 learning Communities.
The onboarding of a new First and Second Year Experience Director in September 2023 has already made a positive impact on the pace of helpful change for the FYS. The new Director has met with FYS instructors and as an experienced instructor herself, brings a range of strategies we look to implement in Spring and Fall 2024 and beyond, beginning with clearer integration of the FYS with other learning community courses with which the course is often linked.
Scaling the seminar further will require additional monetary resources to hire/compensate a coordinator, as well as provide funding for either teaching overloads or part-time faculty hiring that would cover whatever credits full-time faculty would be using to serve the seminar program. Consideration of where a 2+ credit seminar would sit in general education programs (e.g. Area B) is also recommended towards providing effective degree pathways from year one to graduation. The new Director of the First Year and Second Year Experience is providing needed implementation support and leadership in these efforts.
