First Year Seminar (FYS 100) Faculty Institute – Fall 2020

Fall 2020 Meetings

  • Meeting 1: Friday, xxxx, 2020 – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Virtual (live, remote)
  • Meeting 2: Friday, xxxx, 2020 – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Virtual (live, remote)
  • Meeting 3: Friday, xxxx, 2020 – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Virtual (live, remote)

Do you have a great idea for an interdisciplinary course that invites students to investigate a problem or cluster of problems, like “Social Media,” “Overcoming Obstacles/Breaking the Brick Wall,” “Apocalypse,” or “Garbage”?

Would you like to structure a course around student inquiry, discovery, and design, like “Life as an Experiment?” “Dystopia,” or “Small Towns”?

The Core Curriculum at Marshall University requires that all first year students complete nine hours of emphasis on both critical thinking (Core I) and the MU Degree Profile. At the core of these requirements is FYS 100: First Year Seminar in Critical Thinking. FYS 100 emphasizes inquiry, intercultural thinking, information literacy, life-long learning skills (metacognition) and integrative thinking. FYS courses are active, energetic, and hands-on. They involve debate, asking essential questions, experimentation, writing to learn, the leveraging of failure, and adaptation.

If you find these ideas and this framework compelling, please consider becoming a member of the First Year Seminar (FYS) faculty. The first step is to complete the application form linked below. Once accepted into the next cohort of FYS faculty, you will participate in the First Year Seminar Faculty Institute. This free professional development opportunity guides you in the design of an effective interdisciplinary course and supports you as you teach FYS 100 for the first time. The First Year Seminar Faculty Institute is co-facilitated and co-sponsored by the First Year Seminar Program and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

Because FYS courses are interdisciplinary, full-time faculty members from across the university may apply to teach (with chair and dean approval). A commitment to join the FYS Faculty requires teaching at least four sections within a 3-year time period during fall and spring semesters. The course may be taught in-load or out of load; your chair/dean will assist you in making that decision. A limited number of overloads are approved by Academic Affairs and compensated at a rate of $3500 per section. After you have fulfilled your initial commitment of teaching four sections in a 3-year time period, you may apply to continue teaching and designate the level of commitment you are making (this helps us plan for the future). Again, you will need approval from your dean and chair (and Academic Affairs if you wish to teach the course as an overload).

When should I plan to participate in FYS Institute training?

Faculty should participate in the Institute in the semester immediately prior to teaching the course. There are good reasons for this, in part because this way we avoid a nearly one-year gap between the training and the teaching of the course. So, if you plan to teach the course for the first time in the spring of 2021, you should complete the Institute in fall of 2020. If you plan to teach after the spring of 2021, you should wait and take the Institute at a later time.

The Institute begins with a half-day Friday retreat early in the semester and continues over an eight-week period with online work and two additional meetings (dates and times to be determined based on trainees’ schedules). All meetings are required.

Overall compensation: $2500

The overall compensation for designing a new course is $2500. Upon completion of the Institute and submission of a complete syllabus and course design plan, you will receive an initial stipend of $1250. Once you have taught your four sections, as agreed upon in your Application to Teach form (see below), you will receive an additional $1250, which is the remainder of your course development stipend.

As you complete your application to teach, please keep these things in mind:

  • You will work with your chair to determine if you will teach four sections of FYS in load (as part of your regular teaching load) or as an overload (for which you are paid).
  • You don’t have to stop teaching FYS after you’ve fulfilled your commitment to teach four sections! We have veteran FYS instructors who love teaching the class and continue teaching it. We LOVE them! 🙂

Questions?

Jennifer Sias
sias3@marshall.edu
Coordinator, First Year Seminar Program

or

Karen McComas
mccomas@marshall.edu
Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning

To Register

Please complete the application to teach the First Year Seminar and submit by xxxxx. *Your application to teach FYS and commitment to teach four sections within a three-year time period must have the approval of your chair and dean. Please discuss this commitment with them prior to applying. When we receive your application, we will forward it to your dean and chair for signatures.

Contact

April Fugett, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
fugett5@marshall.edu
109 Old Main
304-696-5268

Jennifer Morgan
Office Administrator
jennifer.morgan@marshall.edu
109 Old Main
304-696-2206