Discover Chicago
Proposal Form
Sample Proposal
Student Page

Explore Chicago
Proposal Form
Sample Proposal
Student Page

Common Hour
Learning Goals

Focal Point Seminars
Proposal Form
Sample Proposal
Sample Syllabus
Student Page

Best Practices
CQ Learning Outcomes

Faculty Resources

Quantitative Reasoning
Student Page

Writing Program

The First-Year Program

Liberal Arts & Sciences

FAQ

Focal Point Seminars are offered during the Winter and Spring Quarters. They focus on a person, place, event, or text. The course is taught with a multi-perspectival approach on the assumption that understanding is deepened when the perspectives of various disciplines are brought to bear upon the same issue. In this way, the central topic is "problematized" for the student.

Focal Point courses are taught in a seminar format and are designed to introduce students to the seminar approach to learning. They are expected to use readings from original as well as secondary works, and to thoroughly incorporate writing. These courses are designed for the program and are not to be introductions to disciplines or areas of study.

Focal Point courses may be taught by faculty from any discipline. The enrollment target will not exceed 20 students.

Unlike the Autumn Quarter Discover Chicago and Explore Chicago courses, these courses will not be taught by a team of a faculty member and staff member and will not have a Common Hour or other advising responsibilities.

These are the five goals of the Focal Point Seminar program:

1. Expose students to a variety of original works and teach them the difference between primary and secondary sources (e.g., textbooks).
   
2. Improve students’ writing skills through ongoing assignments (in class and outside of class) which demonstrate synthesis of material, with opportunity for feedback and revision.
   
3. Acquaint students with how to approach a single topic, with a central focus, through a multidisciplinary perspective (as opposed to introductory discipline type courses that skim the surface of many topics).
   
4. Engage students intellectually in a seminar setting that includes active participation and discussion of assigned readings (with the long term goal of intellectually socializing them into university life).
   
5. Develop students’ critical thinking skills through assignments and discussion questions that challenge them to analyze the logic of readings and presentations.
   

To propose a new Focal Point course, please fill out the Proposal Form and send it electronically to Doug Long in the First-Year Program Office.  

First-Year Program • DePaul University • Munroe Hall • Community Education Center • 2312 N Clifton Avenue • Chicago IL 60614
PHONE (773) 325-7573 • TOLL FREE (866) EnterDP •  FAX (773) 325.7449