OLD GOLD AND BLACK REPORTER
Over 100 freshmen will be taking seminar classes next semester as part of a pilot program, but the planning for the seminars has not gone as smoothly as expected.
Only 17 proposals were received for seminars this semester, and 14 courses were offered to the participants of the pilot program.
The faculty approved the first-year seminar project last spring. At that point, Dean of Freshmen Paul Orser said, the group began to solicit proposals from faculty for courses.
In September, the committee on first-year seminars was created and immediately began to receive and review the proposals submitted by faculty, Orser said.
Since they were creating new courses, the committee cast a wide net to faculty across campus, said Anne Boyle, an associate professor of English and a member of the advisory committee for first-year seminars. The committee asked professors for proposals of courses, but they did not establish any criteria.
"We got far fewer proposals than we had anticipated," Boyle said.
She said though there are many reasons for the low number of proposals, the main factor was that most departments could not participate because they had already planned their academic year.
Boyle said she thinks another reason was that the committee did not formulate criteria.
The committee received 17 proposals and accepted 14 of them. Some of the proposals were in competition with each other, Boyle said. Even though departments sent in more than one proposal, some only had enough faculty for one. According to Boyle, the committee had originally wanted 15 courses to offer next semester.
"I really believe in this," Boyle said. "I think things just get off to a slow start."
When a packet was distributed to the pilot program students Oct. 30 offering the 14 courses, 131 freshmen completed it, rating their top three course choices as well as their last two choices.
As a result of student response from the recent packet, 11 of the original 14 courses are offered next semester.
Since the students have returned the packet with their preferred choices, Orser said he has assigned the students to their top preferences. A vast majority received their first choice, he said.
Some of the courses meet divisional requirements, yet a majority do not. Boyle said she can imagine that this will present some problems.
Students were very interested in the courses that were most likely to receive divisional credit, Orser said. However, the faculty still has to approve whether each course will fulfill a requirement, Orser said.
The maximum amount of students in any of the 11 courses is 16. Orser said the smallest class holds four students.
Another problem with this pilot program is that plans will have to be made for the courses offered next fall without ever seeing the results from this spring, Boyle said.
The faculty committee will closely follow the progress of these courses in the spring, Orser said.
"I think a lot of what we're looking at is the success of the seminar format," Orser said.
Faculty are excited to teach these courses which will account for a high probability of success, Orser said.
"My hope is that these evolve to be really strong and powerful courses," Boyle said. The university will need to establish approximately 60 courses for next fall to accomodate the entire freshman class, she said.
Orser said he thinks that there will be enough proposals and faculty involvement to fill this need. In the future, these courses will hopefully be linked to campus events, Boyle said.
"I think it could be a really good program, but I think we have a lot of work," she said.
"All students at Wake Forest should have a small seminar class and explore an issue closely with the faculty," Boyle said.
The seminar pilot program students are housed in Collins Residence Hall, along with the approximately 100 students who are part of the pilot program for the computer proposal, Orser said.
Over the summer, renovations occurred in Collins. Two new seminar rooms were constructed to contain some of the freshman seminars. One room is a bonafide seminar room, Orser said. It has a TV and VCR on the wall, surround sound, tables, chairs and a sofa.
The second room is set up as a seminar room primarily for computers. There are 28 ports along the walls and 18 at the tables.
Teaching in Collins has been accepted and well received by faculty and students, Orser said.
"I was really thrilled to see the enthusiasm of faculty to teach in Collins Hall," he said.