Redesigning the First Year General Education Curriculum
The First Year Inquiry Student Success Pilot is an ambitious redesign of Portland State University’s first year general education curriculum. Faculty and peer mentors in our general education program, University Studies, have partnered with the Office of Student Success to create a rigorous academic curriculum which also serves as a place where students learn to become successful university students and connect their education to their values and broader life plans.
What Motivated the Pilot
Portland State University offers many important resources and services for students. Currently, accessing them often depends on student-initiative or on outreach to students in crisis (which is often too late). Many students are unaware of or reluctant to use the services on campus to help them succeed academically, find community, support their mental health and financial wellness, and to align their studies with their longer term career and life goals.
This pilot addresses a key component of PSU’s “Time to Act: Plan for Equity and Racial Justice” by expanding faculty ability to support equitable student success. It also addresses access equity at our University because it integrates curricular content for first year students that are designed to foster belonging and knowledge about campus supports -- resources that students may not access otherwise.
This pilot is built on the philosophy that student success is a collective responsibility and on the conviction that the classroom is the place for students to build relationships. We have investigated what first year students need to learn about campus resources and faculty and peer mentors have built our courses accordingly, co-designing student-success curriculum with colleagues across campus.