"Drake University is a community of learners."
Drake 2010: A Strategic Vision
The First Year Seminar should offer a writing-intensive experience for students. Typically, this will involve a series of short writing assignments beginning early in the term and totaling at least 20 pages in length. The instructor should provide substantive feedback and students should be allowed an opportunity for correction and revision on at least some assignments.
The First Year Seminar will focus on the development of student’s critical thinking skills. This is part of the Drake Curriculum’s intentional effort to guide students to acquire the skills for rational analysis and argumentation that is purposeful, rigorous, self-reflective, and based on a careful consideration of evidence. Students will learn to:
Our FYS classes are structured as learning communities, where students enrolled in the class, to the extent possible, live together on a single floor in an on-campus residence hall. These Learning Communities help to connect students both socially and intellectually. One particular FYS adds a second distinctive element. In FYS025 - American Dreams - students are enrolled in a second linked course, a special section of POLS001, that is designed to complement their FYS section.