Transition Phase
In addition to the information below, there are some specific documents about LEEP™ for Clark Faculty. These may be found here. These documents include an explanation of an FYI, information about the transition phase to college, and reflections on lessons learned about FYIs and pre-major advising. There is also information pertaining to financial support and assistance with transportation for field trips. [this site is password-protected; you will need to use your regular Clark username and password to log in]
First-Year Intensive (FYI) courses are designed to guide students in their transition to college by:
- Having a small number of students in the class (ideally 16-20)
- Having a rich intellectual content
- Providing students with frequent feedback on their work
- Providing students with the opportunity for collaborative learning/research, OR
- Incorporating community-based learning or field experiences, OR
- Featuring pedagogies of dialogue
- Developing students' foundational skills, including:
- Inquiry and analysis
- Generation and evaluation of evidence and argument
- Critical and creative thinking
- Written and oral communication
- Quantitative literacy
- Information literacy
- Teamwork and problem-solving
For a complete list of all FYI courses offered on campus, see here.
Useful (mostly external) Resources for the Goals of an FYI
Understanding the Transition to College
Understanding and Easing the Transition to College (Georgetown University)
Promising Practices to help students transition to college (National College Transition Network)
Helping parents understand the college transition (Harvard University)
A Longer road to Adulthood: a talk by Clark's Professor Jeffrey Arnett.
The video of the talk is available.
Click here to watch. (Requires Windows Media Player.)
Giving Students Written Feedback on Their Work
High Fidelity Feedback Moves Learning Forward (University of Minnesota)
Good Job! The Importance of Writing More Meaningful Comments on Student Papers (Faculty Focus)
Helping Students Develop Their Critical Thinking Skills
Critical Thinking by Design [PDF] (Joanne Gainen Kurfiss)
Teaching for Critical Thinking [PDF] (Diane Halpern)