An ongoing project spanning the first nine weeks of class, students will participate in the project “Documenting Freshman Year Experiences” to document their autobiographical experience as a Freshman at the University of Oregon through the creation of weekly blog entries capturing and reflecting upon their experiences and various aspects of student life. This is a chance to express yourself creatively and to record your experiences for posterity, as these will be formally donated to the University Archives at the end of the term during week 10. As such, students are encouraged to create a product which they are proud of and that will exist in perpetuity. Students are encouraged to capture only what they are comfortable sharing with the class, instructors, and eventually, researchers who may have access to these primary sources. [See submissions from previous years here: 2007-2009, 2010, 2011-Present]

Students are required to submit the weekly blog entries through an official individual UO blog (set up the first week of class). Once you’ve established your blog fill out this form to provide your link–if you’re setting yours to private you will need to add our names as readers on the blog so we can see your posts. Each week, a DFYE prompt will be posted to the course blog. Students are then required to respond to the prompts in their formal written blog submissions, but are free to record any meaningful experience from the preceding week as well as additional photos or artwork, we encourage you to be creative. The DFYE project is a chance for students to express not only their thoughts and experiences as a first-year UO student, but also their creativity; as such, submissions to the project can include additional forms of media sources, in addition to the required written blog post, including photos, video, ephemera, and artwork.

Grading: DFYE blog posts are due Fridays at 5:00 PM  and will be graded on completion; however, qualitative feedback will be provided for each post, and unsatisfactory posts may be marked ‘incomplete’ until revised. If you are concerned that your weekly blog post may not be satisfactory, contact the Instructors or Neil before you submit the assignment and he will be happy to provide feedback on how to improve it. (An unsatisfactory post would be one which fails to meet the minimum requirements such as length or word count, or one which provides only a superficial detailing of the first-year experience.)

Below are the weekly minimum requirements for a variety of media options. Please note that these are the minimum requirements and students are encouraged to record as much of their first-year experience as they are comfortable sharing. If you have a DFYE project in mind whose minimum requirements are not listed, contact either Neil or Professors Hatfield or O’Neal and we will discuss requirements for your specific project.

         REQUIRED

  1. Weekly Written blog: Minimum 450 words of prose (about 1.5 pages, but please note that this is a word requirement, not a page requirement). Instructions for creating your own personal individual blog using UO blogs can be found here: https://it.uoregon.edu/blogs/firstblog.

    OPTIONAL

  2.  Audio Podcast: Minimum 4 minutes. A video shot on a webcam with very little need for editing would follow the minimum requirements for an audio podcast. Exceptions to the minimum duration requirement will be granted (on a case-by-case basis) to audio recordings with additional artistic components, such as original songs recorded for the blog, etc.

  3. Edited Video: Minimum 2 minutes. This sort of project could take the form of a montage of the week’s events captured in film, a slideshow of photographs set to music and/or narration, etc. (although it is expected that a picture slideshow be slightly longer than a project utilizing video footage.)

  4. Photo Essay: Minimum 5 photos. A brief paragraph describing the events captured in each photograph should be included as well.

  5. Scrapbook: Minimum 1 page. A satisfactory scrapbook page will include various bits of ephemera (sporting or concert tickets, menus from local restaurants, etc.) in addition to photos and other features.

  6. Art Project: Minimum 1 piece. A brief description of the piece, the methods used to create it, and its significance to your first-year experience should be posted to the course blog as well. If you have an idea for a larger-scale art project which may take more than one week to complete, consult with an instructor.

  7. Other: Talk to either Neil, Professor Hatfield, or Ms. O’Neal.

All submissions must adhere to the formats above and the preferred preservation formats listed on the Library’s website here: http://library.uoregon.edu/datamanagement/fileformats.html.

The following formats are NOT accepted: Tumblr, Instagram, and Flickr.

Formal Special Collections and University Archives Donor Form

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Weekly Blog Prompts

Week 1: How has your first week been? Is college what you expected or different? Do you like where you are living and the classes you are taking? Have you thought about getting involved in something outside of academics? What has been the biggest difference between life at UO versus life back home?

Week 2: Now that you have a week under your belt, how are you balancing the different aspects of life as a college student (sleeping, eating, working, being social, academics etc.)? Did you get a chance to watch the debate last week? If so, what do you think about our current candidates? Do you think that they could have a profound impact on your future? If you didn’t watch the debates, why? As young adults, what is something that you would like to see change (whether it be at this school, in this country, or anything else)?

Week 3:  Thinking back to Lucile, how has your first year experience been similar and different than hers? What has surprised you about college? Even though it is only week 3, is there anything you would redo or go for if you could do it again?

Week 4: Discuss changing traditions in your life. Have any long-standing traditions of your fallen by the wayside during your time at college? Why? If not, how are you maintaining those traditions? Have you established any new traditions during the first half of your first term at UO?

Week 5: Describe the experience of college level assessment. How did you prepare for your tests this week and last (or even for tests next week)? How did you feel going into the test? How did you feel coming out? How about your classes, are you doing as well in them as you’d hoped? Discuss what you like and what you don’t like about various class formats (lecture, discussion, seminar, etc.) and how these preferences will inform future decisions on what classes to take.

Week 6: Compare and contrast Coates’ experience at Howard with your experience at Oregon. What were your reasons for coming to UO, and how do they differ from Coates reason for attending Howard? Was there anything in particular you found interesting about the reading? What are some similarities that you noticed between what you have learned in ES 101 and Coates’ experience in Between the World and Me?

Week 7: Think back on the term. What are some of your best memories so far? What was it that made that moment memorable? Is there anything you wish you could have done differently this term? Now that the elections are here, how are you feeling (physically, mentally, about this country etc.)?

Week 8: Draw on similarities you have found between Hidden History (whether it be Lucile’s diary or in class activities), ethnic studies and history. Does history repeat itself? Has Hidden History helped you connect the two courses together, or made you look at things differently? Have events on campus (blackface, student protests, etc.) or off (election, police brutality) made you reevaluate where we stand (whether that be as a community or country)?

Week 9 (Optional): How has your break been? Did you do anything special? If you traveled, where to? If you stayed in town, what did you do? Were you able to catch up on sleep or school, or did you use the time to see old friends and family? Does it feel good to get some time off and go home, or does it feel strange?

Week 10: Now that we are in dead week, your first term is nearing its end. How are you preparing for your finals? Which classes are you worried about, and which classes do you feel confident in? What is something you would like to improve upon (such as your study habits, time management skills, social skills, sleep etc.) in Winter term? Compare and contrast Eugene, or college, to home. What are some things you like or dislike about college, or Eugene? What are some things that you like or dislike about being home?