Building Campus Partnerships in an Academic Seminar
Document Type
Conference Presentation
Department
Philosophy
Conference Title
Annual National Resource Center Conference on the First-Year Experience
Location
Addison, TX
Conference Dates
February 16-20, 2007
Date of Presentation
2-16-2007
Abstract
This fall, Pacific implemented a redesigned first-semester academic seminar that focuses on the question, “What is a Good Society?” Composed of 40 sections of 22 students, “Pacific Seminar I” is a common intellectual experience insofar as there is a common course reader and syllabus. This seminar develops students writing, critical thinking, and discussion skills through important historical and contemporary readings on a good society, exposes them to a variety of disciplinary frameworks, and promotes civic awareness and engagement.
The seminar is now the focal point of several campus partnerships that include Student Life, the Office of Institutional Research, and Pacific alumni. In our presentation, we discuss the role of these partners in the academic seminar, how they strengthen the learning outcomes for students, and how they better integrate for students and faculty the academic and non-academic sectors of the campus.
The partnership with Student Life involves a film series and the collegiate newspaper program. Four films are shown in the residence halls that directly connect to readings in the course, and in the “residential learning communities,” faculty lead discussions of the films. Residence halls also create newspaper boards and have students post newspaper articles that relate to the four themes of the course. Students have incentive to participate in these residential hall activities since they must submit reflective responses on the films and newspaper articles as part of their course journal grade. The partnership with OIR involves using CIRP data from the previous year to educate faculty about the educational goals and skills of our students and to use students’ social and political opinions to guide class discussion on issues of family, social morality, and politics. Finally, alumni help faculty select the common first-year book that connects to the course theme and that is required reading in the course.
Recommended Citation
Matz, L.,
Rosson, P.,
Kirksy, M.,
&
Goettl, H.
(2007).
Building Campus Partnerships in an Academic Seminar.
Paper presented at Annual National Resource Center Conference on the First-Year Experience in Addison, TX.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cop-facpres/988
