First-Year Experience

ASC also works closely with faculty and other staff at Dickinson State University to present the First Year Experience program.  The first-year experience at Dickinson State University helps students become independent learners able to articulate and successfully pursue their own educational and personal goals.  While not all students’ definition of success is defined by degree attainment, the first-year experience at Dickinson State University seeks to promote retention and persistence for those students who aspire to attain a degree.

The First Year Experience Program at Dickinson State University includes four distinct elements.  They are:

• Student Orientation, Advisement, and Registration (SOAR) – SOAR marks the formal beginning of the first year experience at DSU and is designed to help students make a successful transition to the university by preparing them for the academic and social challenges that all students face.
• Freshmen Seminar – The Freshmen Seminar course is designed to foster students’ intellectual growth through promoting active and critical thinking, effective study and communication skills, and awareness of campus-based tools and resources for scholarly study and success in college.  The course also promotes self-awareness, discussion of the importance of responsibility and self-control, understanding ethical behavior, and appreciation of life in a multicultural and globalized world.
• Learning Communities – Learning Communities provide an opportunity for new students to develop connections with a group of students engaged in similar courses of study, either by major field or thematic areas of interest.  Learning communities typically are structured to include a freshmen seminar, some type of communications course, and a third course in which the field or theme can be further explored.
• Academic Advising – All new students have their freshmen seminar instructor as their academic advisor throughout the first year.  Academic advisors will meet with students on a regular basis to learn more about the student’s interests and aspirations, to provide advice regarding course selection or other academic issues, and to provide support in moving through the transition to college.