The First Day of Class

The first day of class is crucial both for your students and for you. This guide by educator and author James Lang will help you make opening day as effective as possible.

Derek Bruff

James Lang details four principles for making the most of the first day of class (curiosity, community, learning, and expectations) that tap into both cognitive and affective domains. He also provides example first-day lessons from experienced educators in a variety of fields, including me!

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How to Teach a Good First Day of Class

Chronicle of Higher Education

On that first day, I would argue, your students are forming a lasting impression not just of you as a teacher but of your course, too. Their early, thin-slice judgments are powerful enough to condition their attitudes toward the entire course, the effort they are willing to put into it, and the relationship they will have with you and their peers throughout the semester. So that first class meeting is a big deal. You want to give students a taste of the engaging intellectual journey they will undertake in the coming weeks — and you have great flexibility in how you go about it. Helping you to make that opening session as effective as possible, whatever your discipline, is the goal of this online guide.

www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-teach-a-good-first-day-of-class/

Instructional Practices

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This guide from the DePaul University Teaching Commons outlines strategies for introducing yourself, your students, and your course, as well as options for going over a syllabus and making that first class an active and engaging one.

Derek Bruff

I appreciate the practical and creative strategies in this guide, from the advice on creating a course introduction video to resources for learning student names to syllabus orientation techniques like the syllabus quiz and syllabus speed dating.

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DePaul Teaching Commons

In the first class meeting, or the first days of your online course, engaging our students in central themes of the course sends the message that we are excited and eager to help our students learn in this course and that the time they invest in the class matters. This is also a great time to begin building a productive, supportive, and inclusive learning environment. Below are some strategies for making the most of the first class meeting or the start of your online course.

resources.depaul.edu/teaching-commons/teaching-guides/learning-activities/Pages/the-first-day.aspx

Instructional Practices

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Written for physics instructors, this guide from Stephanie Chasteen is broadly applicable to any course that will feature active learning instruction. The guide provides advice for structuring the first day to orient students to this kind of instruction, which might be new to them.

Derek Bruff

If you're planning a course to feature a lot of active learning during class, it's important to know that your students might have different expectations. This guide provides useful advice for navigating that first day to create shared expectations for the course.

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What are some strategies for the first day of class, to set the stage for student engagement?

PhysPort

The first day is particularly important in any class, but particularly in a class that will be centered on active learning. The first day (or really, the first week) is particularly important for framing the norms, expectations, and rationale for your class approach, tapping into students’ internal motivations and creating a supportive class community. Students may need to be oriented to their role in the classroom, and you can seed productive structures and patterns of interaction. Here are some things students may be wondering as they enter your class.

www.physport.org/recommendations/Entry.cfm

Instructional Practices

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"A Liquid Syllabus is an accessible, public website that incorporates a brief, friendly welcome video and course information written in welcoming, student-centered language." This guide from Michelle Pacansky-Brock walks you through the creation of a liquid syllabus.

Derek Bruff

Asynchronous online courses don't have a "first day" in the traditional sense, but there's still a need to orient and welcome students. Michelle Pacansky-Brock's "liquid syllabus" is a fantastic way to do that, and it can serve similar purposes even in more traditionally taught courses.

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Creating a Liquid Syllabus

California Virtual Campus

The weeks and days leading up to the start of a new term are filled with anxiety and nerves for many students. This term, your students will have even more questions about what to expect and how to get started. An equity-minded strategy to improve these barriers is to transform your syllabus into a Liquid Syllabus! A Liquid Syllabus is a mobile-friendly, public website with a friendly welcome video that is written with welcoming, validating language. While you may create a Liquid Syllabus using any website tool of your choice, this session will prepare you to create your own Liquid Syllabus with Google Sites!

ccconlineed.instructure.com/courses/6771

Course and Assignment Design / Syllabus design

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In this oft-cited 2007 study, two psychology instructors provide students with different first-day experiences, then track the students' ratings of the course and the instructor and their own motivation over time. They find that the first-day experience matters a lot for student motivation.

Derek Bruff

We often say that the first day of a course matters to the student experience in a course, and this is one of the studies that supports that claim.

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The First Day of Class Affects Student Motivation: An Experimental Study

Teaching of Psychology

A consistent difference in motivation points to the potential importance of first impressions. Indeed, Sunnafrank and Ramirez (2004) found that a single brief conversation between student pairs at the beginning of the term influenced their relationships 9 weeks later. In our study, even when the instructor treated students kindly (e.g., smiled, invited participation, and entertained questions) every weekday for more than 5 weeks, some students felt less motivation based on their negative first day. Perhaps internal motivation remained low even though students stopped blaming the teacher after the first day.

doi-org.proxy1.library.virginia.edu/10.1080/00986280701700151

Access Outside of UVA: doi.org/10.1080/00986280701700151

Learners and Learning / Student motivation

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This 2019 study considers a particular strategy for the first day of a psychology class, asking students to generate and discuss questions about the course topic. This strategy led to more favorable impressions of the course that persisted over time.

Derek Bruff

This is a nice bit of scholarship of teaching and learning focused on one particular approach to a first day of class. The approach involves both active learning and helping students connect their interests to course material, and it works!

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Engaging Students on the First Day of Class: Student-Generated Questions Promote Positive Course Expectations

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology

Presented here is a simple activity created for general psychology that provides a brief overview of course content and strives to promote early class interaction. The activity addresses the need for an engaging, content-related activity that avoids a formal lecture but still provides an introductory course overview. The design attempts to increase students’ excitement about psychology and encourage each student to take an active role in identifying and discussing their own psychological questions. Study 1 examines if simply performing the activity affects students’ perceptions for the upcoming course. Study 2 controls for time and content presentation and explores if the positive course perceptions continue to the next class period.

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Access Outside of UVA: psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-16232-001

Learners and Learning / Student engagement pedagogy

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