First-year classes are tough at any university.
For one, these foundational courses make for some of the most packed classes on campus, with upwards of 300 enrolled students per class in some faculties at UVic. Add to that the reality that most of these students are in transition - from high school learning to university education, from home-cooked food to cafeteria or do-it-yourself meals and from care-free teenage life to maybe, someday soon, adulthood.
Such a unique and huge group of students poses an interesting challenge for professors, and this year UVic's Learning and Teaching Centre established the First-Year Course Instructors' Council (FYCIC) for faculty members to explore teaching options with fellow first-year educators. It is currently chaired by much-decorated and almost-retired professor Ed Ishiguro.
"The most obvious challenge is that first-year classes are composed of students in transition," says Ishiguro. "That is the biggest challenge, to me. And the second challenge is that it's mostly a large-class format, in other words, a format where it is extremely difficult to engage students."
About 35 professors - less than three per cent of UVic's entire faculty - teach over 90 per cent of all first-year classes. This involves an "unreal workload for some of these individuals," says Ishiguro. The overarching goal of the Council is to establish new and creative learning strategies with an eye towards active student participation.
"We have to get them involved somehow," says Ishiguro, "and to me, if we can find a solution to that, it would make such a difference for the experience of both the students and the teachers.
"I suspect that the nature of the student is changing at well," says Ishiguro, citing the learning skills research conducted by Dr. Joe Parsons, manager of UVic's Counselling Services. Ishiguro explained that campus resources for students have grown immensely over the past 20 years, due in part to the changing needs and priorities of students.
"Right now we don't know enough about the demographics of first-year students. We know next to nothing about their personal lives," says Ishiguro. "I am hoping that we can find out through a survey of some sort how the first-year students felt about their experiences."
Apart from understanding student experiences, the FYCIC meets to discuss a range of topics including everything from syllabus construction for first-year students (who have likely never seen such a comprehensive course outline in high school) to lecture style for the first day of class.
"First impressions are important as students are [often] shopping for courses," says Ishiguro. "I think it's really important for the professors to talk a bit about themselves, to have the students introduce themselves to each other and to have a clear-cut understanding of what the learning objectives for the course are.
Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the Fountain, April 2008