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Engaging Freshmen Through Advisor Seminars
Author(s) -
Merritt Travis R.,
Murman Earll M.,
Friedman Donna L.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.896
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 2168-9830
pISSN - 1069-4730
DOI - 10.1002/j.2168-9830.1997.tb00261.x
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , academic advising , variety (cybernetics) , class (philosophy) , medical education , psychology , academic year , higher education , mathematics education , pedagogy , sociology , computer science , political science , medicine , artificial intelligence , anthropology , law
A little more than a decade ago, MIT initiated a program of Freshman Advisor Seminars (FAS) in response to the need for improved academic advising and intellectual diversity in the freshman year. FAS build on a “very small group” learning model by bringing eight advisees together with an advisor (normally a faculty member) and an upperclass associate advisor for a weekly, informal seminar on one of a wide variety of leader‐chosen topics. FAS have become the dominant mode of first year advising at MIT, with approximately 90% of the freshman class enrolled in 135 different seminars during the 1996‐97 Academic Year. This paper introduces the MIT FAS program, sets forth its origins and its goals, and presents a case study of its implementation within one MIT academic department. Some lessons learned are extracted from the study.