Investigating a First-Year Seminar as an Anchor Course in Learning Communities

Abstract. First-year seminars have increasingly been used as anchor courses in learning communities. This study investigated the impact participation in Freshman Seminar had on the grade earned in a linked learning community course in fall 2004. Grades in the linked course for 1,294 first-year students who were enrolled in 37 different learning communities where Freshman Seminar served as the anchor course were analyzed. Students enrolled in a linked section of Freshman Seminar earned higher grades in the learning community course than both students enrolled in a non-linked version of Freshman Seminar and students not enrolled in Freshman Seminar. In addi-tion, first-year students enrolled in a Freshman Seminar that was not linked to the learning community class outperformed first-year students who did not enroll in Freshman Seminar. First-year seminars have become ubiquitous on college campuses. Ac-cording to the National Survey of First-Year Seminars (2003), more than 81% of colleges and universities surveyed offered some form of first-year seminar. These courses vary in content and structure from institution to institution, but they are typically designed to promote academic achievement and personal success. While these courses have stood on their own for a great deal of their history, they are increasingly being used and leveraged as anchor courses in learning communities. In 2003, 24.8 % of responding institutions indicated that they link their first-year seminar with another course to create a learning Copyright © 200