Frequently Asked Questions
General
What kinds of topics are appropriate for an Introductory Seminar?
Who may propose a Sophomore Seminar or Dialogue?
What is the difference between a Freshman Seminar and a Sophomore Seminar/Dialogue?
What kind of meeting schedule is appropriate for a seminar?
What are the best quarters and times to offer a seminar?
How do I indicate the number of units for a seminar? What are minimum and maximum units?
Can a seminar have a prerequisite?
For Faculty
Instructions for using the course website .
How do I submit a proposal for an Introductory Seminar?
Where do i find instructions for viewing and selecting student applications?
What financial resources are available in support of enhancing the Seminars for students?
Can Introductory Seminars be designated to satisfy a General Education Requirement (GER)?
How do I go about having a course certified as fulfilling a GER?
On what basis are proposals for Sophomore Seminars and Dialogues evaluated?
Special Seminar Types
What is a WRITE-2 certified seminar?
What is a community-based learning (CBL) seminar?
What is a Residential Seminar?
General
What kinds of topics are appropriate for an Introductory Seminar?
Introductory Seminars are aimed at students with little or no background in a subject. They are intended to introduce these students to substantial topics and current questions in a particular field. Rather than being a survey or foundational course for a discipline, an Introductory Seminar should be designed to allow students to see how a scholar or practitioner asks questions and pursues answers about a specific topic. Faculty are encouraged to design a seminar related to their current research interests, and to draw students into an active engagement with that material.
Who may propose a Sophomore Seminar or Dialogue?
All Stanford faculty are eligible to propose a course, with preference given to members of the Academic Council. Individuals proposing courses must have a Stanford appointment independent of the Introductory Seminars program.
What is the difference between a Freshman Seminar and a Sophomore Seminar/Dialogue?
Freshman Seminars are aimed at an audience of first-year students and rarely have prerequisites. They meet at least twice per week, for minimum of three contact hours per week; give 3-4 units of credit; and have an enrollment maximum of 16 students. Sophomore Seminars and Dialogues are somewhat more flexible in format. Faculty approach these courses from a variety of perspectives that appeal to second-year students interested in their field. A course may stand alone, be structured as a focused follow-up to an introductory lecture course or as a companion to a larger course offered concurrently. They may have minimal prerequisites, though they are still targeted at an audience of non-specialists. Sophomore Seminars are offered for 3-4 units of credit and have an enrollment maximum of 14 students. Sophomore Dialogues are 1-2 units of credit with an enrollment cap of 5, and function like a group directed reading.
IIn addition to different student target audiences for the two kinds of seminars, there are also differences in the funding. Freshman Seminars typically count as part of the normal teaching load for all participating faculty and departments receive funding in exchange for these courses. Faculty typically teach Sophomore Seminars and Dialogues as overload courses, in addition to their regular course load, and receive one-time payments added to their regular salaries.
What kind of meeting schedule is appropriate for a seminar?
The Registrar’s guidelines call for one hour in class and two hours of out-of-class work for each unit of credit. We recommend that instructors guide their schedule according to this and to their department’s norms for seminars. First-year students benefit from engaging with the instructor and course materials more than one time each week. Therefore, with a few exceptions, Freshman Seminars are expected to meet at least twice per week for a minimum of three contact hours per week. Sophomore Seminars may meet once or more per week.
What are the best quarters and times to offer a seminar?
Consider offering courses in the autumn, when student interest and applications are at their highest. However, regardless of the quarter you select, we may request that you change quarters in order to balance the curriculum because enrollments tend to suffer when too many courses on similar topics compete for students in the same quarter. Please avoid scheduling seminars that conflict with multiple large introductory lecture courses. For example, Sophomore Seminars in the natural sciences that are targeted to Biology or Human Biology majors should not be offered at the same time as the Biology or Human Biology core lectures. Check Explore Courses for this information. The most under-utilized, and therefore attractive, times tend to be evenings or earlier morning times. Seminars offered in these slots will be particularly accessible to student athletes whose practice and competition schedule exclude them from afternoon classes between 2 and 5 pm.
How do I indicate the number of units for a seminar? What are minimum and maximum units?
Unit information must be part of the Registrar’s Axess records for your course and is typically entered by a department administrator; Introductory Seminar staff members do NOT maintain these records for your course. If your course is offered for 3 units, 3 should be entered as both the minimum and maximum offered units. If your class is offered for 3-4 units, please enter 3 in the minimum unit field and 4 in the maximum unit field. Introductory Seminars are typically offered for 3 or 4 units. Dialogues are typically 1 or 2 units. WRITE-2-certified and other GER seminars must be offered for at least 3 units. Please note that students may not enroll in more than 21 units per quarter and often cannot fit a 5-unit course into their program.
Can a seminar have a prerequisite?
Freshman Seminars are intended to be introductory, and as such do not typically have prerequisites. Some faculty do request minimal background knowledge such as high school math or physics or foreign language. A few Sophomore Seminars ask students to have completed a common first-year Stanford course, but this is not typical. Write-2 courses require PWR 1 as a prerequisite.
For Faculty
How do I submit a proposal for an Introductory Seminar? Where do I find instructions for viewing and selecting student applications?
Submit a proposal on the web at http://vcais.stanford.edu. Here are detailed instructions for navigating the website, including reviewing student applications. Please keep your department chair and relevant departmental staff informed about your plans to offer an Introductory Seminar, either as part of your regular teaching load or as an overload.
Where can I find help in designing my seminar so that it will be most effective in reaching freshmen and sophomores?
IIndividual consultations about your seminar plans are welcome at any stage of development. Ellen Woods (woods@stanford.edu) can provide general guidance about setting learning goals and selecting pedagogical strategies appropriate for freshmen or sophomores. Joyce Moser (moser@stanford.edu), a specialist in writing and oral presentation support, can help you devise assignments that help students progressively develop their presentation skills. If you would like to use technology in your teaching, Tiffiany Lieuw (tlieuw@stanford.edu ) is the Academic Technology Associate who provides support for web-pages, interactive on-line discussions, and the use of CourseWork . For advice about innovative uses of in and out of class technology, contact Galen Davis (gdavis@stanford.edu), the Academic Technology Specialist. Finally, remember that the associate directors at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) can assist you with every phase of teaching. You can reach them at http://ctl.stanford.edu/Faculty.
On what basis are proposals for Sophomore Seminars and Dialogues evaluated?
Courses are reviewed on three levels – Advisory Board, Department, and School. First, the proposals are reviewed by the Introductory Seminars Faculty Advisory Board and program staff on the basis of alignment with the goals of the program. Proposals that are approved by the Board are compiled by department and sent to department chairs for review. At the department level, the chair and curriculum committee decide whether the proposed seminars fit into their plans for the following year; they emend the list as needed and send the final approved department seminar list back to the program. Those seminars taught by faculty as overload then require further approval by the School Deans and Faculty Affairs Officers before final confirmation.
What financial resources are available in support of enhancing the Seminars for students?
All faculty may spend $20 per student for a seminar meal – we especially encourage hosting students at your home; we have learned that these informal experiences outside of the classroom are the best ways to build a sense of community among the students and faculty. In addition to this basic allocation, faculty teaching any Introductory Seminar may request financial support for activities outside of class or for special materials needed to conduct classroom instruction. Supplemental funds have been used to pay for guest speakers, field trips, class reunion dinners, teaching equipment, and other creative course enhancements. They can also be used to pay salaries for Curriculum Development Assistance (CDA) grants to hire a student to assist with course preparations such as library research, organizing a film series, or building a course website. Requests for supplemental funds should be addressed to Ellen Woods, woods@stanford.edu.
Can Introductory Seminars be designated to satisfy a General Education Requirement (GER)?
Yes. Both Introductory Seminars and GER courses are designed for an audience without any special expertise in the subject. GER certification can provide additional motivation for students to apply to a seminar because it allows them to fulfill a requirement while exploring a topic specifically of interest to them. The small class size, flexible scope and subject, and support for teaching innovations can make an Introductory Seminar an ideal place to explore and address the general education course objectives. For more information about GERs, please see the Stanford Bulletin - http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin/4877.htm.
Many seminars will automatically be certified to fulfill the “Disciplinary Breadth” areas (Engineering and Applied Sciences, Humanities, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and the Social Sciences) by virtue of being offered in a particular department. To confirm this and to make sure that the Axess record is accurate, please check with your department administrator at course scheduling time.
To be considered for the “Education for Citizenship” areas (Ethical Reasoning; the Global Community; American Cultures; and Gender Studies) courses must be submitted to the relevant committee in the spring. To apply, send a full course description, reading list, and syllabus, along with a short statement to support the request, to: lindi.press@stanford.edu on behalf of the S-GER Advisory Board. .
Special Seminar Types
What is a WRITE-2 certified seminar?
Introductory Seminars may be certified as fulfilling the second quarter Writing and Rhetoric requirement. WRITE-2 courses aim to develop further students' skills in writing and, increasingly, in oral and multimedia presentation, emphasizing the ongoing development of content, organization, and style. These courses:
- carry at least 3 units of credit
- give writing and oral presentation assignments appropriate to students who have competed the first-level requirement
- emphasize students' development of clear, effective, and appropriate written and oral presentations
- offer students consistent opportunities for practice and revision of written assignments through such means as videotaping and peer review
- give students opportunities to present the results of scholarly inquiry in varying forms, including writing and speaking.
Please be aware that offering a Introductory Seminar as a WRITE-2 course requires an additional approval process. Please contact Joyce Moser (moser@stanford.edu) for more information about the WRITE-2 requirement. Faculty earn a supplemetnal stipend if their courses meet this requirement, whether or not the course is taught as part of the regualr teaching load or as an overload.
What is a community-based learning (CBL) seminar?
Community-Based Learning (CBL) Introductory Seminars combine service and study in ways that enhance undergraduate student learning while illuminating and informing community service experiences. CBL activities may be either the focus of an entire course or one discrete (but significant) part of a course. The service may include traditional hands-on volunteer activity, internships at local organizations, class projects, community-based research, or policy-related work. Regardless of the form of service, structured student reflection on the service experience should be part of the course. Faculty who have taught a CBL Intro Sem report they experience increased student engagement in academic inquiry, invigorated classroom discussions, and deepened student interest in further study and research. The Haas Center for Public Service will provide support for these courses.
Elements of a Community-Based Learning seminar include:
- Engagement
Does the service component meet a public good? How do you know this? Has the community been consulted? How? Have campus-community relationships been negotiated?
- Reflection
Is there a mechanism that encourages students to link their service experience to course content and to reflect upon why the service is important?
- Reciprocity
Is reciprocity evident in the service component? How? Are participants perceived as colleagues, not as servers and clients?
- Public Dissemination
Is service work presented to the public or is there an opportunity for the community to enter into a public dialogue?
Faculty earn a supplemental stipend if their courses meet this requirement, whether or not the course is taught as part of the regular teaching load or as an overload. For more information, contact Ellen Woods, woods@stanford.edu.
What is a Residential Seminar?
We encourage faculty to consider basing their Introductory Seminars in a student residence such as an academic focus house, ethnic theme house, or language and culture theme house. With a shared thematic focus, both seminar and dorm can benefit from joint programming activities. Theme or focus assistants in the dorm may be enlisted to support mutual activities, and house residents provide a ready-made audience for presentations, research, or other programming. Introductory Seminars provides additional funds to support joint house/seminar activities and for meals in the residence for all participating students and the instructor. Students living elsewhere are encouraged to apply and participate, although admission preference will be given to dorm residents for a portion of the available spaces in the class. For more information, contact Ellen Woods, woods@stanford.edu. Instructors interested in working closely with undergraduate researchers in any field should indicate this in the "Course-Related Notes for SIS Staff: comment box found on the first part of the Introductory Seminar course proposal.