Community Building in an Online First-Year Seminar Webinar Series
Community building is viewed as one of the most critical aspects of a first-year seminar. Creating a classroom community that promotes a sense of belonging has the power to positively impact student learning, success, and persistence to the second year and beyond.
This FREE, three-part webinar series shares practices to best serve your students in the event that you are teaching all or part of your first-year seminar online.
Community Building should not be an after-thought. It should be integrated intentionally into the course from the first day to the last. This cornerstone of the first-year seminar is just as important, if not more important, when conducting a first-year seminar online. In this webinar, presenters will provide a framework for community building and specific strategies and practices that can be integrated into the online environment to help students get to know each other beyond their avatar.
Group work is a high-impact activity that allows students to build rapport while exchanging ideas and creating quality work. In this webinar, presenters will provide both a framework for maximizing the community building aspects of group work as well as examples of group work and assignments that allow for collaboration and communication among students in an online setting.
Active learning and student engagement enhance the experience of a first-year seminar for both the students and the instructor. Even in an online environment, it is possible and important to incorporate active learning strategies into lesson plans. In this webinar, presenters will provide examples of active learning strategies that all for high engagement in a synchronous online class.
COVID-19 Related Resources
See below links to free resources from National Resource Center related to managing various aspects of higher education student transitions in settings impacted by COVID-19.
Chapter 8 | Engaging Students in Online Learning (free excerpt) from Paths to Learning: Teaching for Engagement in College (full text available)
Conference Archive | Making the Best Better - Let Your Hands-On Activities Shine
Conference Archive | Search & Destroy: Action-Packed Gaming for Self-Directed Research Skills
E-Source Issue 1.3 | Online clearinghouse provides gateway to active learning resources
E-Source Issue 1.6 | E-learning: It's not just for distance education students anymore
E-Source Issue 4.2 | Video helps parents make transition to college
E-Source Issue 5.6 | Teaching the first-year seminar online: Lessons learned
E-Source Issue 7.6 | Using Skype to enhance the educational experiences of faculty and students
E-Source Issue 12.1 | Dynamic Lecturing in First-Year Courses: Continuing a Proven Tradition
E-Source Issue 16.3 | Self-Directed Learning to Support Part-Time FYS Instructors: A Proposed Model
E-Source Issue 18.1 | Supplemental Instruction in a Time of COVID-19: Challenges and Solutions
Webinar | "Moving Online" hosted by The Toolbox editor, Brad Garner
Active Minds | Supporting the Whole Student
E-Source Issue 4.2 | Video helps parents make transition to college
E-Source Issue 16.1 | A Framework for Helping Families Understand the College Transition
Chapter 8 | Engaging First-Year Students in Academic Planning (free excerpt) from Advising and the First College Year (full text available)
Active Minds | Supporting the Whole Student
Conference Archive | Getting Real About Fake News: First-Year Students and Media Evaluation
Conference Archive | Own It! Transforming Academic Integrity in the First-Year Experience
Conference Archive | Redesigning Your Student Success Center: Moving Services Online
E-Source Issue 5.6 | Teaching the first-year seminar online: Lessons learned
E-Source Issue 9.1 | Moving the First-Year Seminar Online
E-Source Issue 10.2 | Finding Balance: Creating Hybrid First-Year Seminars
E-Source Issue 12.1 | Dynamic Lecturing in First-Year Courses: Continuing a Proven Tradition
E-Source Issue 16.2 | Increasing First-Year Seminar Quality Through Greater Curricular Flexibility
E-Source Issue 16.3 | Self-Directed Learning to Support Part-Time FYS Instructors: A Proposed Model
E-Source Issue 18.1 | First-Year Seminar and Faculty Pivot to Remote Teaching
Webinar | "Moving Online" hosted by The Toolbox editor, Brad Garner
Active Minds | Supporting the Whole Student
Conference Archive | Reaching Generation Z Through First-Year Programming
E-Source Issue 7.6 | Using Skype to enhance the educational experiences of faculty and students
E-Source Issue 14.1 | Using Strategic Text Messages to Reduce Summer Melt
E-Source Issue 18.1 | Access and the Online Academic Success Center
E-Source Issue 18.1 | The Setbacks and Successes of Remote Tutoring
E-Source Issue 18.1 | Transitioning to Online Mentoring and Online Mentor Selection
Chapter 8 | Technology in Orientation (free excerpt) from Designing Successful Transitions: A Guide for Orientating Students to College
E-Source Issue 18.1 | Central Michigan Orientation Goes Online