Toward a Construction of First-Year Experiences at Kitasato University

Results and Issues of the Trial First-Year Seminar

Abstract

  The purpose of this paper is to reflect on our trial First-Year Seminars in 2009 and review the issues of the seminars toward a construction of First-Year Seminars at Kitasato University.
  Four results came out. １）442 students, excluding medical students, took these seminars. They represent 40 % of all first-year students in Kitasato university. ２）85 % of students surveyed continued to attend class and 75 % students got credits. ３）student evaluation scores were high（the average of all items is between 4 and 6 points. The top score is 6.） ４）Students’ satisfaction level of this seminar was very high（97%）.
 However there are still some issues to be discussed. １）uniform classes, ２）contents and implementation framework, ３）lecturers, ４）achievement gap between students, ５）class size, ６）assessment of academic achievement, ７）sequences of classes（First-Year Seminars and another course, or Sophomore classes） 　
 These issues are matched with other universities which are implementing First-Year Seminars. Therefore, this will take time to be solved as well. But clarifying the issues is a big step to the next practices. 　
 From now on, we have to reaffirm the definition of First-Year Experiences and solve those 7 issues for the next implementation.