Starting fall 2025, IU Bloomington will offer a First-Year Seminar (FYS) for all incoming students. These seminars are small class experiences in the first year at IU Bloomington that encourage classroom discussions between students and faculty. Small class sizes and faculty-student interactions are high-impact practices that have been shown to promote student success and persistence (Kuh & O’Donnell, 2013).
FYS promote active and interactive learning, with the goals of helping students:
- Confidently engage in discussion within the college classroom
- Expand on the skills needed to critically construct and assess opinions, ideas and arguments
- Appreciate the relevance of learning through real-world applications
- Recognize the purpose of reflection and critical thinking as life-long learners
- Understand academic expectations in an interactive setting
They also support students in familiarizing themselves with the IU Bloomington campus and adjusting to academic life.
FYS will be offered as one credit hour courses during the first eight weeks of the 2025 fall semester. FYS will take place in 1 hour sessions twice a week or in 2 hour sessions on Fridays.
