August 24, 2006 Source: :
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/060824-2515.asp FLCs offer first-year students sense of community Eases transition for those living off-campus
Aug 24/06
by W.D. Lighthall (about) (email) When is a pumpkin more than a pumpkin? When it’s a tool to bring members of First Year Learning Communities (FLCs) together. "I went out and bought 50 pumpkins and they carved their hearts out. It was a hoot," said Corey Goldman, FLCs (pronounced flicks) program director and a senior lecturer in ecology and evolutionary biology. Launched last September by the Faculty of Arts and Science as a two-year pilot program, FLCs are designed to improve the transitional experience for first-year life science students who do not live on campus and are enrolled in large classes. There were 10 FLCs, totalling about 240 students, in the program’s first year. Each group typically has 24 students who belong to the same college and have at least three courses in common. FLCs meet regularly from September to April, in 90 minute sessions that give students a chance to create friendships, develop academic skills, get familiar with U of T’s resources and have some plain old-fashioned fun. FLCs have an upper-year student who acts as a peer mentor and a faculty or staff member to give advice and guide the group in its activities. "FLCs help with the academic and the social transition," said Goldman. "We have such a large community here at St. George, so this is done to create small communities." Royce Fan, now a second-year life science student, belonged to the Victoria College FLC. One FLC session featured someone from student services talking about time-management skills at university. Other sessions featured faculty members giving academic advice and a tour of the St. George campus. They also carved pumpkins and played dodge ball against a FLC group from St. Michael’s College. "I think the social stuff was just as important as the schoolwork part of FLCs," Fan said. The atmosphere inside the FLC groups was friendly, said Fan. His group swapped e-mail addresses early on and would regularly e-mail each other about academic and other problems. "So it was like a small network of people you get to know well," he said. "They didn’t just make friends; they made best friends. I heard that over and over," Goldman said. Goldman said one challenge FLCs had to overcome in its first year was responding to "critical moments" in the life of first-year students. When test marks were posted, for instance, some FLC members inevitably didn’t do as well as they’d hoped. When program leaders realized that test marks were an issue, they were able to shift gears quickly and create programming that addressed the needs of those students. In the very next FLC session, upper-year students and faculty were brought in to talk about how to improve one’s study habits, how much time one should study, how to take better notes and other techniques to help the students adjust to the tougher academic standards of university. "So it’s on-demand programming created to respond to those critical moments. Students are best able to accept that information, to accept that academic help, when they need it," Goldman said.
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