What is First Year Experience?
First Year Experience (FYE) is based on a set of purposeful learning experiences that have been shown to:
- Deepen student learning and engagement
- Raise levels of performance, retention and success for students
- Invoke intellectually engaging and effective educational practices
FYE courses are 5-credit, theme-based and focus on research, creative work, or service learning through complex projects. A special FYE portion of the EWU Research and Creative Works Symposium will highlight these student and faculty projects.
FYE courses help introduce students to EWU success skills (see below). FYE courses also familiarize students with EWU facilities and focus on integration into the EWU community.
FYE courses can be taught as a single course, or a paired sequence that addresses the course theme from multiple disciplinary perspectives. FYE courses are taught in the Fall, with sequenced courses continuing in Winter. FYE courses are limited to 25 students.
Current FYE Courses & Events
For a complete list of upcoming FYE courses, see FYE Courses 2020-2021
For a broader sense of some of the possibilities of FYE, see also some of our past course listings and events below.
Above: Students in "The World You Inherit" FYE embark on a journey through the geologic time scale where 1 in = 11,000 years!
Pictured Below: FYE students help plant trees to diversify habitat and reduce invasive species at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge in Fall 2019, during the annual ‘Eagle Up’ day for community engagement
