FIRE 1000 ("Freshmen Introduction to Reasoning Essentials") is a first-year course that stimulates students' academic self-efficacy, depth of intellectual inquiry, and problem-solving skills. This is done through research and reflection to understand themselves better, their purpose, and the campus community. FIRE 1000 was launched in 2017 and is required at GSC for all new and transfer students under 13 credit hours.
The course underwent a partial redesign in the Fall of 2021. The course was broken into three units: 1. Mindset and student success, 2. Self-knowledge and academic planning, and 3. Critical thinking in a focus area. Over the last year, we have been making observations and gathering data related to the efficacy of the redesign.
- We have integrated NACE soft skills into the course.
- We have integrated Stepping Blocks into the course.
We administer the USG Mindset Survey to all students in
|
Evaluation Plan and measures: FIRE 1000 is evaluated based on the success of students in the course and the skills they gain from it. |
|
KPIs: KPI 1. ABC rates in all GSC FIRE 1000 courses KPI 2. The number of students who complete the USG Mindset Survey |
|
Baseline measure (for each KPI): KPI 1. Percentage KPI 2. Percentage |
|
Current/most recent data (for each KPI): KPI 1. 61% ABC rate for Fall 2023 Update for Fall 2024 – 67% for Spring 2024 KPI 2. No Data Update for Fall 2024 – Waiting on Mindset response data |
|
Goal or targets (for each KPI): KPI 1. 80% ABC rate for Fall 2025 KPI 2. 80% completion |
|
Time period/duration: We will re-evaluate in the Spring of 2026. |
We have used the last six months to study outcomes for our FIRE 1000 students and to discuss next steps. Our conclusion is that we need to use the FIRE 1000 course better to improve success and retention rates for first-year students. How to do that is still an ongoing discussion.
One concrete step we have taken concerns the use of accountability teams in the course. In this initiative, an instructor creates teams of students at the start of the semester. Team members are tasked with encouraging others to attend class and succeed. There is also some group work involved. We are currently reflecting on data from this activity.
As of the Spring of 2024, we have launched an administrative outreach campaign to the FIRE courses. In this campaign, members of the GSC administration, such as President Green, visit FIRE courses to talk to students.
There are three main steps we are taking in the year ahead:
- We are soon adopting a new open-source textbook for the course. The text has been authored by GSC's own Valerie Calhoun and Steve Raynie. It is titled A Reflective Approach to Critical Thinking and Student Success.
- We will soon rename the course from "Freshman Introduction to Reasoning Essentials" to "Personal Develop and Critical Thinking." We hope that this name change impacts student perceptions about the course. Importantly, we want to remove the idea that the course is solely for first-year students. With the name change, we will proceed with a larger effort to rebrand the course so that students perceive it as fundamental to building a foundation for their academic success at GSC.
- Our discussions about switching back to the older course model have evolved. With the older model, FIRE instructors also served as student advisors. However, switching to the old model may not be feasible in our effort to embrace two-year professional advising. Instead of using the old model, we want to use the FIRE course as a bridge to members of each student's success team. For first-year students, this means using the course as an opportunity to promote interaction between students and their professional advisors and faculty mentors. At the center of this will be fostering communication between FIRE instructors, advisors, and mentors. In this effort, we will use Navigate to facilitate this communication between members of each student's success team.
Update for Fall 2024 – Gordon State College was awarded a Title III grant from the Federal Government in October 2024. The grant provides substantial funding with the purpose of enhancing students’ experience in FIRE (and during their first year in general). The grant will pay for 5 peer mentors for FIRE classes in Spring 2025. This will ramp up to 20 peer mentors for FIRE classes in Fall 2025. Peer mentors will be GSC students who have demonstrated academic success and can offer support to first semester students.
In addition to peer mentors, we plan to phase out adjunct faculty for in-person FIRE courses. Depending on funding, we may have an additional lecturer or find another way to phase out adjuncts for FIRE.
We only have one full-time faculty member who teaches the course. Several sections are taught by adjuncts and by faculty from various departments. This is not the best model for making a significant impact in the course, as FIRE instructors need to be masters of the content and master's at engaging first-year students.
Update for Fall 2024 – Funding for a FIRE lecturer is a major challenge.
We could use ideas about making the course more effective. In addition, we could use ideas about how to use the course to increase overall student success. For example, do other institutions use the course to connect students with their broader success team?
