Many people have posted about how other universities have different FYC programs that focus on a specific topic, and then the student can choose a topic in which they are interested. To be honest, I naively thought that’s how our classes were going to work. I come from a university whose FYC program is freely and loosely defined in its implementation. Instructors can take on whatever role they wish and can use whatever materials they want to use to teach the class. It allows for differing classes, such as “Hollywood of Poetry,” “Film,” and others ranging from medical novels to an entire semester on Pride and Prejudice (nothing against Jane Austen or those who like the book, but that just sounds like torture). Needless to say, my idea of my job before coming here was much more exciting than it is now.
I believe it better to allow instructors to teach what and the way they wish. Then you can have students identify, like in SPOTs, strengths, weaknesses, and teaching styles, along with content, that the instructor adheres to. Then incoming students can choose a class based off topic and teaching style. It allows the student to get the most out of the class.
Trying to work with this model a bit along with the idea that students should lead the classroom and the role of the teacher is the necessary mentor (expressivism), I often ask students how they wish the class would change, and then I do in fact change along those guidelines. However, I believe this only benefits the most outspoken members of the class.