Can an 'off-the-wall' course keep freshmen on track?

It is 8:30 on a Monday morning, and Marcia Gillette, an IUK chemistry instructor, has donned her new hat, that of Freshman Seminar teacher. The chairs in her classroom are arranged in a circle, and 18 or so students are looking expectantly toward one young man who is smiling and shuffling papers.

He has been tapped by Gillette to lead this morning's seminar discussion on gender issues. Within minutes, the conversation ranges from male and female role models to stereotyping of lesbians and gays. Religion, tolerance, discrimination and the roles of parents in two-wage-earner families also get talked about.

Emotions run the gamut, from nervous laughter when cross-dressing is mentioned, to heated exchanges over gay rights. Through it all, Gillette has remained relatively silent, listening intently and occasionally throwing out a question for group consideration when discussion falters.

Toward the end of the class it's announced that another male student will lead the Wednesday morning session on religious views and preferences. He tells his fellow freshmen that he wants them to jot down some of their religious beliefs and bring them in for group consideration.

A female student instantly reacts. "I don't think we ought to have to do that, and I'm not coming to the next class if that's what you're going to require," she declares. It's her contention that religious views are personal and she doesn't feel comfortable sharing them. Other students join in, vigorously expressing their reluctance to participate and saying that if the discussion leader refuses to budge, they'll boycott the next class.

But Gillette lets the assignment stand. On Wednesday morning, she confides to a colleague that she isn't sure how many students will show up for class.

As it turns out, the circle is full.

"We never know where things will go in Freshman Seminar," Gillette says later. "It is a work-in-progress."

Indeed it is, says Susan Sciame-Giesecke, who directs the seminar program (familiarly known as S104). With generous input from faculty and refinements following pilot seminars last spring and summer, the newly required course is intentionally designed to be freewheeling.

Jeff Staker, a student in Ruth Kozienski's seminar, describes his S104 class as "off the wall." "It's a break from the usual academic routine," he adds.

In fulfilling a community service requirement of S104, Staker organized a campuswide drive to collect nonperishable food items, paper products, disposable diapers and cleaning materials for victims of Hurricane Fran.

Sciame-Giesecke says the Freshman Seminar has four points of emphasis‹ improvement of freshman study habits and exam-taking skills, positive support to improve students' self-esteem, encouragement of intellectual discussion among students and the sharing of information that will help strengthen faculty interaction with and support for students.

In the classroom, S104 instructors use course materials that focus on key skills such as note-taking and time management, but also demonstrate for students the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning. Other materials, primarily used to initiate student discussion, center around themes of diversity, tolerance for new viewpoints and ideas, and interpersonal relationships.

"Our mission is to keep students enrolled willingly until their goals have been met, whether that is for two or three courses or for a degree" says Mahmoud Saffari, IUK's assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate education. "We want to discover the concerns, strengths, fears, expectations, needs and challenges of our freshmen so that we can give them personal one-on-one attention and provide the support services they need to be successful in the university."

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