This course addresses issues of transition to the university environment. This first-year seminar is offered in a variety of formats, including a freestanding course, an integrative course linked to one or more discipline-based courses to form a learning community, and a hybrid course with both synchronous online and in-person components as well as structured out-of-class activities. First-year seminars are designed to assist entering students as they form connections with the IUPUI community, including other students, faculty, and advisors. Seminars are structured around the fundamental and powerful concepts of belonging, transitioning, and planning that represent the conditions necessary for student success in college and beyond. Different first-year seminars are sponsored by the various academic units.
UCOL-U 110 First-Year Seminar
UCOL-U 112 Critical Inquiry
This course facilitates the acquisition of collegiate academic skills for first-year students by identifying and applying strategies such as critical thinking, independent learning, reading, writing, and information management in relation to a specific academic discipline. Requirements and formats vary according to the introductory discipline course to which it is linked.
Bridge
Bridge is a five-day program that teaches students the ins and outs of being a new IUPUI Jaguar. The program helps students to feel prepared for their first year of college and beyond. During Bridge, students make new friends, learn more about their schools and majors, and start connecting to campus activities and resources.
Learning Communities
A learning community is a first-year seminar linked to one or more general education courses that a cohort of 25 freshmen take together. Students build close friendships with their peers and make connections with their faculty, advisor, and peer mentor. Learning community students explore and apply ideas across courses and through out-of-class activities make connections between classwork and life experiences.