|
FOS 101: Freshman Orientation Seminar |
|
|
crn: sec: |
Time: Location: |
Instructor:
Office:
Office
Hours:
Phone:
Email:
Course Description:
The
Freshman Orientation Seminar is designed to increase students’ persistence and
success in college by providing them with the academic, personal, and life
management tools needed to function effectively and complete their course of
study. The seminar will cover topics
that revolve around three major issues:
Navigating the system, academic focus and transition to college.
Course Objectives
Navigating
the system:
· Understanding of college
policies/procedures
· Utilizing the college
catalogue.
· Increasing your
knowledge of campus resources
· Understanding curricular
requirements Articulating the relationship between general education and career
specific courses
Academic
Focus:
· Understanding classroom
expectations
· Identifying strategies
for lecture comprehension and note taking.
· Identifying study sand
test taking strategies
· Identifying
memory/concentration improvement strategies.
· Identifying and adapting
learning styles
Transition to College:
· Establishing realistic
academic expectations.
· Clarifying your
expectations and responsibilities with respect to the college experience.
· Applying strategies for
improving time management and organization
· Identifying sources of
stress and effective coping strategies.
· Examining the
student/teacher relationship
Required
Text:
1. Baldwin, A. (2010). The
Community College Experience PLUS, Pearson Publishing.
2. Learning and Study
Strategies Inventory/LASSI (comes with new book)
3. My Student Success Lab
(comes with new book)
4.
5. College Catalogue
(online)
Accommodations:
It is College policy to provide, on a
flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who
have documented disability conditions (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric,
vision, hearing, or systemic) that may affect their ability to participate in
course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities
are encouraged to contact the Center on Disability for a confidential
discussion of their individual need for academic accommodation. The Center on
Disability is located in M1-22 and their telephone number is 215-751-8049.
Classroom Ground Rules
We promise
to respect your individuality, values and opinions. We expect you to respect
each other and treat us and each other with civility. This does not mean that
we cannot disagree, but we will do so in an appropriate manner. While you are
in class, we expect you to shut off your cell phone, pager,
etc. Do not place these devices on vibrate; shut them off during class, or
leave them at home.
Students
are required to purchase required learning materials. We expect you to come to
class prepared and ready to participate in discussions. That means we do not
expect to see you put your head on the desk to sleep. You will have your
materials ready and come with books, handouts, paper, and writing utensils.
|
Assignments— |
Journal Writing: journal writing is an important part of this
course, as they provide you with the opportunity to think through and analyze
in greater depth issues presented and discussed in class and reading materials
and how the topics of this course affect you personally. Each journal should be
no less than one page long on letter size paper.
Chapter Quiz: Quizzes will be given at the completion
of each chapter.
Writing Assignments:
Exploratory Interview—you
will go beyond the confines of the class sessions to inform your thinking and
learning about certain topics such as time management, the student/teacher
relationship and campus involvement. (Interviewing colleagues, faculty and/or
other appropriate persons about such topics can enrich your thinking and
provide you with opportunities to integrate ideas in response to your own
needs.) Paper should be 300 words.
Expository Writing—you will
be asked to write short expository essays to illustrate a point, an insight, or
a conclusion based on a reading assignment. Paper should be 300 words.
Capstone/Final Project—the
final project is your opportunity to focus on modifying a behavior that has
served as a barrier (or potential barrier) to your success as a student.
Development of the project will require you identify and define a barrier. For
example: maneuvering through the college system, time management,
concentration, memory, relationships, study strategies, etc. You will then need
to utilize aspects of the material covered in this course to devise a method or
plan to address and overcome this barrier. Finally you must describe the
resulting change.
The paper
will consists of four parts: the introduction or explanation of the problem and
the desired behavior; the method or description of how you changed the original
behavior; the results including exactly what happened and any graphs or charts
they choose to use; discussion/conclusion. Papers should be approximately 500
words.
Independent learning assignment: Independent learning
assignments are a part of this course which will help you to gain a broader
view of what can be learned within the college, yet outside of your classes.
You must participate in 3 selected college wide activities to supplement the
themes of the course. You must then write about what you learn. Your paper
should be between 1 to 2 pages in length. Such activities may include but not
limited to the following:
·
Attend
at a learning lab workshop
·
Research
a campus organization of interest
·
Attend
an on-campus guest lecture
·
Attend
a job placement workshop
·
Participate
in a workshop in the use of CHOICES (Career Software)
·
Attend
a program orientation or open house
·
Attend
workshop at the
·
Visit
an open house at a transfer institution.
·
Participate
in workshops sponsored by the counseling
department
·
Attend
the College Fair at CCP
Papers Format: All written assignments (Journal
entries and essays) must be typed, doubled space with a 12 point font and a
1-inch margin. Please place the page number at the bottom, right-hand corner of
each page. In the top right hand corner of your papers put your name, the
course number and section, instructor’s name, the date, and the assignment
name. Use an easy to read font like Times New Roman or Arial.
My Student Success Lab: helps you build
college success and career development skills that students must apply
what they learn. MSSL (www.mystudentsuccesslab.com) offers you a
self-paced, interactive, virtual lab designed to offer application and practice
of your skills. By developing strategies that work best for students,
you will experience greater relevance, and motivation to achieve success.
You will
be required to engage in weekly assignments and/or tests via mssl.
|
Attendance, Class
Participation and Evaluation of Course Work |
Attendance and Class Participation: Students are
encouraged to participate in class discussions and activities. You will find
that if you actively participate in class, you will get much more out of the
course. Not attending class, lateness for class, and not participating in class
will adversely affect your grade for class participation.
College
policy states if a student misses the equivalent of two (2) weeks work in any
class without an acceptable excuse, the teacher may initiate an official
"Drop" form for the student and send it to the Director of Student
Records & Registration who will inform the student and change the permanent
record accordingly.
Student
who are absent when assignments are given are responsible for obtaining a copy
of the assignment. Assignments are due
on the date established by the instructor.
The instructor will deduct two (2) points for each day that an
assignment is turned in late. The
instructor MAY offer additional assignment for extra credit.
Student
who stop coming to class without contacting the instructor will be dropped from
the class. Students who ask the
instructor not to drop them for poor attendance but who continue to be absent
will receive an “F” grade as a final grade for the course.
Evaluation of Course Work:
Grades for
FOS 101 are cumulative and are determined from a combination of elements which
reflect your level of accomplishment in the course. In this course, you will
receive a letter grade (A, B, C, D, and F). All assignments will be graded and
returned to you as promptly as possible. Attendance, successful completion of
all written and oral assignments, and class participation are essential for a
passing grade.
Graded Work:
Assignment Points
Class
participation 30
Journal
entries (12) 120
Chapter
Quiz (10) 100
Writing
assignments (3) 150
Summary
Paper on ILA 25
Capstone/Final
Paper 75___
Total 500
Final Grade
Total
points Grade
448—500 A
398—447 B
348—397 C
298—347 D
0—297 F
|
Semester Schedule |
|
WEEK |
SESSIONS |
ASSIGNMENTS |
|
Week 1 September
7 |
Session
1—Introduction · Orientation to FOS 101 · Review
syllabus—requirements · Warm-up exercises · Register for MSSL—Need a computer classroom |
Read
chapter 1 |
|
Week 2 September
13 |
Chapter 1 College
Culture · Making the transition · College publications:
catalog, student handbook, myccp portal |
Journal
entry 1: |
|
Week 3 September
20 |
LASSI—Need a computer classroom · Assessment · Review and explanation
of results |
Journal
entry 2: Read
Chapter 2 Essay:
Homeless to Harvard due |
|
Week 4 September
27 |
Chapter 2 Understanding yourself/how you
learn |
Journal
3: Read
Chapter 3 |
|
Week 5 October
4 |
Chapter
3 Understanding Others in College and
Diversity |
Journal
4 Read
Chapter 4 |
|
Week 6 October
11 |
Chapter
4: Managing
your time |
Journal
5 Read
Chapter 6 |
|
Week 7 October
18 |
Chapter
6:
Learning, Memory, and Thinking |
Journal
6 Read
Chapter 7 Essay:
on the Educated Person due |
|
Week 8 October
25 |
Chapter
7: |
Journal
7 Read Chapter
8 |
|
Week 9 November
1 |
Chapter
8: Listening
and Taking Notes Effectively |
Journal
8 Reading
Chapter 10 Essay:
Teacher Interview Due |
|
Week 10 November
8 |
Chapter
10: Studying and taking Tests |
Journal
9 |
|
Week 11 November
15 |
Library
Instruction |
Journal 10 Read
Chapter 9 ILA
summary paper due |
|
Week 12 November
22 |
Chapter
9: Writing
and Presenting College Assignments |
Journal
11 Read
Chapter 5 |
|
Week 13 November
29 |
Chapter
5: Handling
Stress and Making Healthy Choices |
Journal
12 Read
Chapter 12 |
|
Week 14 December
6 |
Chapter
12: Preparing for a Career and Life Preparing
Capstone Paper Course
Evaluation |
Journal
13 |
|
Week 15 December
13 |
Capstone
Project Presentation
and Paper due |
|
Four
Essays:
Homeless
to Harvard
The
Educated Person
Interview
a Teacher
Summary—Independent
Learning Assignments