Quick Facts About FYO

• Graduation requirement: Passing an FYO seminar is a Graduation Requirement: Every first-year student must take and pass (with a grade of D or better) an FYO Seminar in their first year to graduate from UGA. The requirement applies to all incoming and dual-enrolled students, but not to transfer students.
• Event requirement: FYO students must attend three events as part of their FYO experience. You may specify which events they should attend, ask students for proof of attendance, and/or include attendance at events as part of their grade. The program does not require that you do this; the choice is yours. Whatever you decide, mention it on your syllabus. The course evaluation that the program sends to students after the seminar ends asks them which events they attended and for their input about them. If you're sponsoring an event that may interest other UGA students, staff, and faculty, submit an event here. Do not submit athletic events. If your students ask why attending three events is a requirement for the seminar, you could ask them to watch this short video which features students talking about the benefits of this requirement.
• FYOS Program goals: Although the content of your seminar is unique to you, you should address the three goals of the program.
  1. Goal 1: Introduce first-year students to the importance of learning and academics so that we engage them in the academic culture of the University.
  2. Goal 2: Give first-year students an opportunity for meaningful dialogue with a faculty member to encourage positive, sustained student-faculty interactions.
  3. Goal 3: Introduce first-year students to the instruction, research, public service and international missions of the University and how they relate to teaching and learning in and outside the classroom so that we increase student understanding of and participation in the full mission of the University.

• Writing: Each seminar should Include writing to document the intellectual dialogue and the student's learning within the seminar. For suggestions of writing assignments appropriate for an FYO seminar, go here. For suggestions on designing a rubric, go here.
• Small class size: Class size averages between 15 and 18 students per semester to optimize the opportunities that students will have to engage with you and a small cohort of their peers.
• Credit: Each seminar is a 1-credit class, graded on an A-F scale. As a 1-credit course, you should expect your students to work approximately 2 hours outside class for every hour in class. Please keep this workload in mind as you prepare your syllabus and assign “homework.”
• Assessment: Each semester the FYOS Program sends out an end-of-class survey to all FYO students. The questions ask how well the seminar addressed the three goals of the program, about the events the students attended, and other questions about the seminar. You will get access to their responses once you have submitted your grades. You should also continue to follow your departmental policy on end-of-course evaluations.
• 400+ seminars are taught annually by tenured, tenure-track, clinical, and retired tenured faculty. Each seminar is a chance for you to introduce students to your work and even to “test drive” ideas for new courses.