Characteristics of Successful FSems
Experience over the past twenty years has provided strong evidence that the most successful FSems have the following characteristics:
- they are taught by tenured or tenure track faculty who have a genuine interest in engaging with undergraduate students and who are willing to connect with students on issues not directly related to the course materials;
- they explore subjects that are meaningful and accessible to first-year students;
- they are designed to encourage discussion and writing;
- they take place in an in-person classroom setting;
- and they give students real coaching in developing skills that will help them be successful in college (analysis, research, speaking in class, contacting the professor, using the library, writing). These skills are consciously honed and not just implicit in class assignments.
FSems are not survey courses and should not strive for “coverage.” They should not have a comprehensive final examination. Enrollment limits should be set no higher than 18, and University policies regarding Expected Time per Course Credit must be followed.
Submission Process
First Steps
All FSEMs will be deactivated in Coursedog effective the Summer term following the academic year in order to prevent the course catalog from showing FSems that will not be taught in the subsequent academic year. FSems that will be taught must be reactivated and updated annually between December 1st and May 1st.
New FSems may be submitted using the new course proposal form and may also be submitted between December 1st and May 1st prior to the academic year in which they are taught.
FSem Attribute
All reactivated First Year Seminars (FSems) should have the FSem attribute (added by PeopleSoft). When updating or submitting a new FSem, make sure to answer “yes” to the question “Is this Course a First Year Seminar?” Checking yes will prompt the PeopleSoft team to add the FSEM attribute so that the course is easily identifiable and searchable in the online course catalog.
Prerequisites
FSems must include the enforced prerequisite, “001475 - Freshman and FRFY for First Year Seminar Courses” in the Coursedog proposals. This prerequisite is entered in the Equivalencies tab under “Enforced Prerequisites.”
Using this prerequisite code ensures that FSems remain accessible only to first-year students, while not inadvertently denying access to first-year students who entered the U of M with enough AP/PSEO credits to technically be considered sophomores. It also allows for full-year registration of FSems, meaning that freshmen can sign up in the fall for a spring FSem if they already know they want to take it.
Include Faculty Information
Faculty information is collected from FSem Coursedog submissions in order to create the FSem promotional material that gets distributed to incoming students during Orientation. Please include the following information in the Coursedog: Course Proposal Summary - Ongoing proposal information:
- Semester the course will be offered
- Faculty instructor name
- Home department of the faculty member teaching the seminar
- Three-sentence biography of faculty member teaching the seminar
It is not necessary to label each item, so a typical entry might look like this:
Fall 2026
Sauman Chu
Graphic Design
Sauman (Sue) Chu is a Professor in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. Her scholarship focuses on design research and creative applications of interactive technology, with a particular focus on its usability and experience design for diverse audiences. Chu actively engages students in service-learning activities. She believes that service learning provides opportunity for students to engage in an important contribution to the community and learn about the social and cultural values of diverse communities.
Submission Deadlines
Students primarily search for FSems during orientation for both Fall and Spring semesters. The deadlines below are set to maximize the visibility and enrollment of these courses.
All FSems being proposed for Liberal Education (LE) Theme or Writing Intensive (WI) designation for 2026-27 must be submitted to the Provost level in Coursedog by January 30, 2026.
FSems proposed for LE or WI must meet the criteria and be approved by the Council on Liberal Education (CLE). The LE and WI criteria can be found on the Undergraduate Liberal Education page. The criteria should be clearly integrated throughout the course content as evidenced in the syllabus, and the syllabus should include a statement describing for students how the course meets an LE requirement.
All non LE/WI FSems that will be offered for 2026-27 must be submitted to the Provost level in Coursedog by May 1, 2026. FSems submitted by this time (including those submitted earlier for WI) will be included in the FSem promotional material to be distributed to all first-year students during summer 2026 Orientation. The 2025-26 FSem Brochure is available for your reference on the OTE website.
Frequently Asked Questions
We need to use more course numbers now since each FSem requires its own unique number. How should courses be numbered?
Departments may use any 1xxx course numbers available within their departments. FSems are now identifiable by the FSem attribute in Coursedog, and are not required to include the words “First Year Seminar” in the title.
New regular courses usually require Campus Curriculum Committee (CCC) review. Do brand new FSems have to be reviewed by the CCC?
No. FSems are one of a few types of courses exempt from CCC review.
If a FSem has been previously approved for LE/WI, does it need to be recertified?
No, if an FSem has previously been approved for LE/WI, it does not need to be recertified. Simply include the current syllabus in the Syllabus section. Because FSems are now regular courses, that documentation stays in Coursedog and no longer requires annual approval.
Do I need to submit a course syllabus?
Only if the FSEM is being newly proposed for LE/WI. New LE/WI FSems must submit a syllabus that clearly integrates the LE/WI criteria in the course curriculum and includes a statement for students describing how the course meets an LE/WI requirement.
If the FSems has been taught previously, we recommend including a previous syllabus (if you have one) in Coursedog as a best practice.
New non-LE/WI FSems are encouraged to include reading lists, weekly topics, or other available information if a syllabus has not yet been finalized.
Can graduate or adjunct instructors teach FSems?
FSems are an opportunity for first year students to interact with faculty in a small class setting. FSems should not be taught by graduate or adjunct instructors.
Do all spring FSems still need to be available for full-year registration?
Yes. We advertise to students that they can register for spring FSems when they come to orientation in the summer. When spring FSems are scheduled in PeopleSoft, schedulers must actively add the “available for full-year enrollment” attribute.
Won’t all of these courses clog up the online course catalog and make it confusing to determine which will be available each semester?
OUE will continue to deactivate all FSems after each academic year, so departments don’t need to worry about a course rolling over automatically in the course schedule or showing up erroneously in the online catalog. Departments can easily reactivate FSems as needed for subsequent semesters. If an FSem is canceled, departments should notify OUE by emailing [email protected].
Can FSems be taught with remote or hybrid modalities?
No, FSems should be courses taught in a physical classroom.
Collegiate FSem Obligation
Formal collegiate FSem obligations were established based on allocated faculty positions when the FSem program was founded. Here are the individual collegiate credit obligations:
| College | FS Credit Obligation |
|---|---|
| CBS | 12 |
| CCAPS | 0 |
| CDES | 12 |
| CEHD | 12 |
| CFANS | 12 |
| CLA | 135 |
| CSE | 56 |
| CSOM | 0 |
| Nursing | 0 |
| VET | 0 |
Thank you again for your contributions to the success of our first-year students and for providing them with an exceptional first-year experience in these high-impact FSem courses.