Paradise Valley Community College will offer two alternative First Year Experience programs (FYE) during the fall semester, 2000 in order to provide students with a "starting point" that will help them make choices leading to academic success by linking them more closely together and connecting them in a more meaningful way with faculty and staff at the college.

The sole requirement for participation in the FYE is that the student must be entering college for the first time. Each student who elects to participate in the FYE program will enroll in four freshman level courses (12 semester hours) during fall, 2000. Students will move from course to course together as a "cohort." The four course instructors will work together to link course content and provide opportunities for study groups, peer tutoring, faculty/student interaction, integration of assignments, and group projects. Although the FYE is a type of learning community, it is differentiated from the existing college learning communities by the addition of a broad set of co-curricular activities that extend outside the classroom. Student gatherings and activities, along with special sessions emphasizing study skills, life skills, and college success skills, will be incorporated into FYE at appropriate times.

Topics for fall, 2000 are: "Exploring Your Options in a Changing World" and Leadership for Change in the 21st Century. The "Exploring Your Options" alternative will include courses in first year composition, introductory sociology, strategies for college success, and mathematics. The "Leadership" FYE will include fundamentals of writing, introduction to psychology, elements of intercultural communication, and the credit version of the emerging leaders program.

The FYE is being implemented and evaluated to assure that the college meets its goal of being a leaner centered institution, emphasizing clear and explicit learning outcomes, making learning opportunities easily accessible to learners, and assuring that college systems and services are designed and implemented with students' learning as the foremost priority.

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