Welcome to the first day of the semester! This can be an exciting time for students and faculty. The first class is extremely important to set the tone and tenor for the semester. We have collected a series of resources that may be helping in your planning.
Highlights:
- Introduce yourself and provide insight into how you will teach the class
- Be explicit about how students will contribute to the learning process
- Provide a clear road map or tour of the syllabus
- Allow the Students to introduce themselves
- Introduce how the material will be presented
- Expectations for class time
- Expectations outside of class
- Instructor responsibilities
- Student responsibilities
- Introduction to the assessments with timelines
- Discuss cooperation/communication/ civility (in-person and online)
- Alert students to resources on campus
What does the research say?Â
- Vanderbilt University: First Day of Class - A practical guide to successful planning for your first interactions with students in your course(s).
- York University: Active Learning Strategies - A list of engaging ice breakers and active learning strategies to implement beginning with the very first session of your course.
- Queensland University: Beyond curriculum reform: embedding the transition experience - An overview of transition pedagogy through the lens of one institution’s work to develop systematic support for commencing students.
- Griffith University: Designing an orientation and transition strategy for commencing students - An introduction to the Five Senses Model for supporting persistence, retention, and student success. While the model applies broadly to institutional orientation, it can easily be applied and adapted within a given course. Resource includes a helpful self-evaluation tool.