Pursuant to the recommendations of the Honors Task Force Report, FYS courses are intended to provide new UMBC students with the opportunity to participate in a small class of twenty students in an active learning environment. A secondary but important purpose of the FYS courses are to provide faculty with an opportunity to expand the range of subject matter and teaching techniques they bring to the classroom, and thereby to facilitate more enjoyable and productive classroom relationships in first-year classes and beyond. While FYS courses are likely to encourage students to explore the methods and materials of a discipline by focusing on a topic of particular interest to the faculty member, the courses are intended to be centered on a topic, issue or question which may extend beyond the vocabulary and methodology of the instructor’s discipline. The small size and collaborative seminar structure make them ideal for encouraging critical thinking, serious intellectual inquiry, and the development of communications skills, both verbal and written.
Seminar topics should grow out of the faculty members’ interests, but should be conceived and defined broadly enough to appeal to the novice student. Courses should be described in sufficient detail so that the first-year student will have enough information on which to base a choice of seminar. Where appropriate, the description of the seminar should make connections with contemporary issues, problems, concerns, and questions. The descriptions should include an account of the materials to be read or otherwise used in the class and a characterization of the teaching/learning formats and techniques likely to be used. Whenever possible, the seminars should engage students through such elements as case-studies, field work, original research, group projects, performances, and simulations. Modest budgets will be made available to support costs associated with special or unconventional course elements, (for example, bus-trips, guest participants, production materials, etc.)
All first-year students (freshmen and transfer students) may enroll in a FYS course in either their first or second semester at UMBC. Seminars will carry three academic credits, will be conventionally graded, and will be scheduled according to instructor preference modified by the needs of the program, available space, and careful consideration of potential conflicts. FYS courses will carry GEP credit upon approval by the FYS Review Committee and the campus General Education Committee (GEC).
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