Author: Maria Widmer. Editor: Molly Harris.
Published on January 8, 2026.
Every year, the University of Wisconsin–Madison welcomes around 8,500 first-year students and 1,200 transfer students to campus. Instructors in the College of Letters & Science teach 80% of first-year students’ credit hours. As a College, we play an outsized role in supporting the academic and social transition for these learners. Their first year with us will shape the rest of their time at UW–Madison.
Whether you are new to teaching first-year students or looking for ideas to better support your students’ academic and social transition to college, read on for evidence-based approaches and examples from L&S classrooms.
What’s Effective?
We know from research literature that utilizing campus resources, learning about how to engage in academics at the college level, and forming connections with instructors can promote both student learning and wellbeing, especially for first-year students. We highlight a few examples of how you might incorporate these experiences into your classroom.
1. Share Campus Resources
Students enter college with limited awareness of the range of the campus resources that are available to support their learning and wellbeing. Raising awareness of university services is one important strategy to support first-year student success (Semper & Blasco, 2018).
L&S Instructor Example: Collaborative Resource-Sharing
Marjorie Rhine, Lecturer, Department of English
Dr. Marjorie Rhine teaches several sections of English 100, Introduction to College Composition. This course is taken primarily by first-year students and transfer students. On the first day of class, she facilitates a discussion with the theme “How to Succeed in College.” Students are asked to brainstorm around the guiding question: “What advice have you heard about how to succeed at college?”
What Do I Do? On the first day of the semester in English 100, students work in groups (formed by counting off) to generate a list of recommendations about how to succeed at college that they have heard from family, friends, SOAR, orientations, residence hall meetings, convocation, or online resources. Each group has a different focus, such as Ways to Study and Manage Time Effectively, Ways to Stay Healthy in Body and Mind, and Ways to Make Friends and Get Connected to Campus. After students complete their list (using a marker and a poster-sized piece of paper taped to the wall) and present their ideas to the class, they pair up by finding a person who was not in their group, with my help if necessary, to discuss which recommendations they most want to take to heart as they start the new semester.
Why Do I Do It? This activity begins to build community and creates a collaborative collection of strategies students can explore to connect to campus and be successful. Hearing peers talk about time management, club connections, or exercise validates these strategies as commitments students should pursue rather than simply suggestions they have heard. Using a big piece of paper means that they stand up and get active, eventually walking around to find a pair partner.
What Impact Does It Have on Students? This activity gets students talking to each other right away. Because of the focus, they all have something to share, which helps them feel more confident about sharing their voice in the classroom. They leave class having had a conversation with several people, so they have started to form relationships. Students also discover new success strategies that their peers are considering, widening their awareness of the array of resources and possibilities on campus.
What Changes Might I Make in the Future? In the future, I might add a short in-class writing component before or after the pair-share, encouraging students to write down a promise that captures their plan for the semester ahead. Returning to these writings as the semester ends could provide students with a valuable self-assessment, guiding decisions as they continue their college career.
Guiding Questions
- How might you introduce and normalize the use of campus services in your own course?
- Are there places, people, or resources within your specific department or discipline (such as an advisor, tutoring center, or database) that could help students in their academic career?
Lyn Macgregor, Academic Advisor & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Sociology3. Encourage Individual Connections
Social-emotional wellbeing is an important predictor of success for first-year students (van der Zanden et al., 2018). Support from faculty and staff, even if infrequent, can have a positive impact on students’ wellbeing (Kitchen et al., 2024; Maymon et al., 2019). For example, briefly chatting with students before class or during group work helps you to establish informal connections with students, even those who do not attend office hours (Carnegie Mellon University, 1997).
The “W-Curve” is a model that describes stages that first-year students pass through when adjusting to college life. Support from instructors can be especially impactful when students feel an initial culture shock or a phase of “mental isolation”—two low points in the transition experience (Zeller & Mosier, 1993). Research suggests that the period immediately following midterm exams is a time when students are particularly receptive to encouragement and guidance (Cameron & Rideout, 2022).
Image source: Center for the First-Year Experience. (2017). Teaching & engaging new students. https://newstudent.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/168/2017/01/Teaching-and-Engaging-New-Students-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf
L&S Instructor Example: Incentivize Office Hours
Melissa Lindsey, Director of Instructional Staff Operations, Department of Mathematics
Dr. Melissa Lindsey teaches INTER-LS 144: Success in Your Math Course. This course is largely taken by first-year students and transfer students. Around 100 students enroll each fall. Dr. Lindsey requires students to have a brief one-on-one “coaching” meeting with her. This assignment, which includes completing pre- and post-meeting surveys, is worth a small percentage of the final grade.
What Do I Do? I have an assignment in InterLS-144 (worth 5% of the student grade) called “Coaching Session with Dr. Lindsey.” Students fill out a pre meeting survey where they tell me what they’d like to get my input, advice, or feedback on and then use a scheduling tool (I like Calendly) to book a 15-minute appointment with me. After the meeting they fill out a post meeting survey reflecting on whatever goal or next step we set during the meeting.
Why Do I Do It? InterLS-144 is a course designed to help students learn how to succeed in their math course. I have a colleague who often says, “You can lead a student to a good decision, but you can’t make them make it.” However, for better or for worse, students are motivated by points. Therefore, I created two assignments in my course aimed at getting students to make a good decision they might not otherwise make on their own. This assignment is one of them. Initiating a one-on-one conversation with a professor, asking for help, soliciting feedback, and being self-aware enough to know when you need advice are all important skills for students to develop. This assignment is a small step towards helping my students practice those skills in a low-stakes environment, so that it is easier for them to do in another class when the stakes are higher.
What Impact Does It Have on Students? Some students are meeting with me simply to check a box, but most students are leaving feeling more comfortable talking to me and with a clear next step on their path to addressing whatever issue it is they brought to the meeting. For some, it’s having a plan on how to better use the Math Learning Center, for others it’s a plan for how to purposefully engage more during group work in class, and for others it’s a better understanding of what their path through mathematics for their chosen major is.
What Changes Might I Make in the Future? Most students have put these meetings off until the last three weeks of the semester. Now that I know the typical topics that students are asking about I can plan more targeted reminders tied to those topics. For example, after the first exam grades are released, I can remind students that if the exam didn’t go as well as they had hoped, they can set up a meeting with me to discuss how to modify their study habits. Or, after the schedule of courses for the next semester is released, I can remind students that they can set up an appointment to discuss what math course they should take next semester.
Guiding Questions
- How might you incentivize students to connect individually with you or your teaching team?
- How could you use the questions that students bring to office hours to inform your course design?
Campus Resources for Supporting First-Year Students
Engage further in the first-year experience by exploring the following resources. These offices and programs could offer benefits to both you and your students!
This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.
Office of Student Transition and Family Engagement
“The Office of Student Transition and Family Engagement (OSTFE) helps incoming students and their families adjust to life at UW–Madison, while educating faculty and staff on ways to connect with first-year students.”
First-Generation Badgers
“The First-Generation Badgers program enhances coordination and programmatic support among campus offices, offers opportunities for students to connect with one another throughout the academic year, and informs the development of services for current and future first-gen students.”
First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) Program
“FIGs are cohorts of twenty first year UW-Madison students who share a common academic interest and take three fall-semester classes together as a group. Each FIG is anchored by a small enrollment seminar that is only open to the students in the cohort. Each fall, more than 60 different FIGs are offered on a wide range of subjects.”
Connect with Us
Would you like help getting started on making a change to an assignment? Do you want to discuss your ideas? Our team is happy to meet with you, brainstorm solutions that meet your needs, and help implement your ideas. Our work typically starts with one 45-minute virtual meeting. To get started, request a meeting.
Suggest a Topic
We want to hear your ideas for future articles in our Design for Learning Series! We focus on local L&S examples, backed by research, that can help solve common teaching challenges. We gather input from instructors and students, as well as research literature. What teaching topic or trend would you like to know more about?
This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.
References & Further Reading
Birtill, P., Harris, R., & Pownall, M. (2024). Development of the ‘student guide to the hidden curriculum.’ Open Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2), 22–29. https://doi.org/10.56230/osotl.66
Cameron, R. B., & Rideout, C. A. (2022). ‘It’s been a challenge finding new ways to learn’: First-year students’ perceptions of adapting to learning in a university environment. Studies in Higher Education, 47(3), 668–682. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1783525
Carnegie Mellon University. (1997). Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence. Best practices for teaching first-year undergraduates: Strategies from experienced faculty. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/PublicationsArchives/InternalReports/BestPractices-1stYears.pdf
Center for the First-Year Experience. (2017). Teaching & engaging new students. https://newstudent.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/168/2017/01/Teaching-and-Engaging-New-Students-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf
Comeford, L. (2023). Attendance matters! Supporting first year students’ success with a structured attendance policy. Student Success, 14(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.2420
Kitchen, J. A., Todorova, R., Bowman, N. A., Irwin, L. N., & Corwin, Z. B. (2024). Understanding how time use in college shapes at-promise students’ well-being during the first year transition [Brief]. Pullias Center for Higher Education. https://pass.pullias.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/well-being-brief_110725-1.pdf
Laiduc, G., & Covarrubias, R. (2022). Making meaning of the hidden curriculum: Translating wise interventions to usher university change. Translational issues in Psychological Science, 8(2), 221–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000309
Maymon, R., Hall, N. C., Harley, J. M. (2019). Supporting first-year students during the transition to higher education: The importance of quality and source of received support for student well-being. Student Success, 10(3), 64–75. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.v10i3.1407
Semper, J. V. O., & Blasco, M. (2018). Revealing the hidden curriculum in higher education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 37, 481–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-018-9608-5
Upcraft, M. L., Gardner, J. N., & Barefoot, B. O. (Eds.). (2005). Challenging & supporting the first-year student: A handbook for improving the first year of college. Jossey-Bass.
van der Zanden, P. J. A. C., Denessen, E., Cillessen, A. H. N., & Meijer, P. C. (2018). Domains and predictors of first-year student success: A systematic literature review. Educational Research Review, 23, 57-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.01.001
Zeller, W. J., & Mosier, R. (1993). Culture shock and the first-year experience. Journal of College and University Student Housing, 23(2).
How to Cite this Article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means that you are welcome to adopt and adapt content, but we ask that you provide attribution to the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative and do not use the material for commercial purposes.
Example attribution: From Supporting First-Year Students by the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative, licensed under the BY-NC 4.0 license.