Degree Name

Master of Science in Education (MSEd)

Semester of Degree Completion

2000

Thesis Director

Charles G. Eberly

Abstract

This study examined the development of first-year college students at Eastern Illinois University in order to determine if student development was strengthened with the assistance of an eight-week Freshman Seminar course. Additionally, this study evaluated the fall semester, 1999 Freshman Seminar course in order to determine students' perceptions of the course and its content both at the start and completion of the course. The research population consisted of first-year students who were enrolled in Freshman Seminar (N = 303) and first-year students who were enrolled in an Introductory Speech Communications (SPC 1310) course, but not enrolled in Freshman Seminar (N = 215). This study incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The locally-developed, quantitative First-Year Student Development Survey (FYSDS) and qualitative Freshman Seminar Survey (FSS), along with the confirmation of a Freshman Focus Group, supported the following results: 1) Based on scores from the FYSDS, student development took place among first-year students during the first eight weeks of college regardless of their enrollment in Freshman Seminar. 2) There was no significant difference in the initial perceived level of student development between Freshman Seminar students and Non-Freshman Seminar students on the FYSDS. 3) At the end of the first eight weeks of college, there was a higher level of student development reported by first-year students who took Freshman Seminar on the FYSDS than first-year students who did not take Freshman Seminar. 4) Students who took Freshman Seminar reported the course to have positively assisted them in their initial transition to college. 5) First-year students who took Freshman Seminar recommended that other incoming first-year students take the course in subsequent years.

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