Junior Seminar Faculty

Differences from Other Upper-Level Seminars

Even though some of you are new to teaching the Junior Seminar, many of you have taught upper-level, seminar-type courses before, in which case the main difference to keep in mind is the diversity of majors of the students in a Junior Seminar versus an upper-level seminar for students in your major.

Crucial Characteristics of Junior Seminars

For those teaching Junior Seminars, the following six main characteristics that are "musts" for a Junior Seminar (not in order or importance- all seem equally important). Beyond these characteristics, you have great flexibility in terms of how you design and teach your course.

  1. Focused on one of the Personal and Social Responsibility designations: Health and Wellness (W), Environmental Responsibility (R), Diversity (D), Social Justice (J) or Ethical and Spiritual Inquiry (E).
  2. Upper-level course in terms of course content, assignments, and expectations
  3. Discussion intensive (plenty of opportunities for speaking and listening, especially in the sense of interactive, seminar-style discussions- presentations are also common)
  4. Writing rich (the Junior Seminar does not have to be a "writing intensive" course in the sense of the official WI designation, though it could have that designation if you pursue it for your course via Megan O'Neill)
  5. Interdisciplinary in orientation as well as accessible and understandable to students of any academic major (not geared solely toward students majoring in the area in which the course is taught)
  6. Incorporates the teaching of integrative learning (see GEAC and AAC & U Integrative Learning rubrics for explanation of what this means). As you design your syllabi, class discussions, activities, and assignments, especially keep in mind those aspects of Integrative Learning that seem most relevant to teach through your course.
  7. An optional but highly recommended seventh characteristic- though this will be more possible and relevant for some courses than others: Inclusion of some sort of field experience, hands-on assignment, and/or community engagement.

Rubrics for Key Learning Outcomes

  1. Stetson's General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC): https://www.stetson.edu/administration/academic-affairs/GEAC.php
  2. American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC & U) rubrics, especially the rubrics for integration of learning, writing, speaking, and various specific areas of personal and social responsibility: http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/index_p.cfm?CFID=36058309&CFTOKEN=61618418

Past Syllabi

Many syllabi from past Junior Seminars are posted on the Junior Seminar blog (e-mail rwatts@stetson.edu for password access)

Glancing through these syllabi, you will get a sense of the variety of ways past Junior Seminar faculty have structured their seminars in terms of types of assignments and participation required, how they weighted these in the course grade, what kinds and amounts of readings have been required, etc. There are many avenues through which one can achieve the crucial characteristics of Junior Seminars.