Freshman Seminars From The Perspective Of Chinese Overseas Students In America

The Freshman Seminar is a course offered by American colleges and universities to help students successfully adapt to the study and life of the universities as well as promote their academic and social development.In recent years,freshman seminars have been introduced to some universities in China,especially in research universities.Its novel teaching methods and unique teaching styles have been well received by teachers and students.Meanwhile it also shows that the higher education of China has gone deep into the substantive reform stage of the curriculum system and teaching methods rather than just interpreting the “quality education”and “innovative education " logo.However,although the freshman seminar in chinese institutions has achieved success,colleges and universities still face many difficulties such as the inability to mobilize students' enthusiasm and the difficulty in evaluating teaching effects.In contrast,American freshman seminar has successfully helped institutions a lot in reducing the dropout rates of freshmen and improving their academic performance,and has been rated as one of the “Top Ten Efficient Teaching Practices".Therefore my question is what do Chinese students studying in the US think of this course? What is the relationship between this course and their successfully adapting to the learning and life of American colleges and universities?In order to explore the relationship between the freshman seminars in American institutions and the adaptability of Chinese students studying in the United States,this paper selected the most representative freshman seminar program-------"University101" project in the University of South Carolina as a case study.Through contacting with the staff of “university 101” program and interviewing some students who have experienced this program,this research obtained some valuable first-hand historical information and students' thoughts.Coupled with the analysis of Chinese and foreign literature and information mining on the official website of University of South Carolina,this article sorts out the development history,curriculum,teaching styles and evaluation of the program.The study found that the American freshman seminar creates a sense of campus belonging and cultural identity for the students with the help of the teachers and peer leaders.In addition,through step-by-step curriculum setting and student-centered activities beyond class,it also improved students' learning ability,cultivated their logical thinking and stimulated their learning motivation,which improved students' learning behavior and self-learning ability,thus laying a good foundation for the students' learning in the near future and adapting to university's study and life.However,such a good result can not be achieved by this program alone and was associated with the academic evaluation methods and academic persuasion system of American universities.Based on the successful experience of the "University 101" project,this paper draws the following suggestions: 1.Strengthen the overall design of the curriculum,enrich the content and form of the freshman seminars;2.Attach much importance to teaching and the professional development of teachers,meanwhile strengthen the teacher-student interaction,establishing a good teacher-student relationship;3 Reform the traditional academic evaluation mechanism based on examinations,and advocate the procedural evaluation method.