Starting Strong: Tips for an Excellent Semester

Reach out to your students before the first day and welcome them to your class! Make an effort to build relationships and create a welcoming learning environment. On the first day, spend time building a community and getting to know your students through ice breakers or other activities.

Using students names is an important way to show them that they are a valued member of the learning community. Check out these tips for learning students’ names from Carnegie Mellon and The Ohio State University.

Oftentimes students aren’t sure why they are taking a specific class. Maybe it was the only Colonnade course that fit in their schedule or maybe it is required, but they have no idea why. Spend time the first day helping to spark interest and showing students why this course is interesting and how it will apply to them in the future. Check out the article from James Lang linked below for some specific ideas and examples.

Rather than talking lecturing for the full first day or week as you are trying to orient your students to the course content, try to involve them in an activity that will help them see what it will be like to be in your class. If you’ll be doing a lot of discussing, have them discuss something. Students quickly establish expectations of what they’ll be doing in your course and if you want them to have an expectation for active engagement, engage from the get-go.

Talking about your syllabus is critical. We have to clearly communicate our expectations with students. That said, this does not have to be the focus of your first day of class. Perhaps you can cover the syllabus at the end of class, after you’ve done some activities or sparked their curiosity, or maybe you assign a syllabus quiz and follow-up on Day 2 with a discussion about what they found in the syllabus. There will be time to revisit the syllabus, but you only have one first day and first impression.

One important piece of advice from Northern Illinois University’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning is to explicitly share with students about how to learn in your class. Visit with them about study skills, test taking strategies, campus resources that can help them succeed, etc.

Regardless of your stance on AI and whether you’ll be using it in your classes, talk with your students about AI. Share your thought process and why you’ve made certain policy choices. This is new for all of us and students look to us to help them understand best practice and acceptable use for AI.

• AI Course Policy Examples – Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Kentucky
• Syllabi Policies for AI Generative Tools – Lance Eaton
• Generative AI Tools in the Classroom – Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning, WKU
• WKU AI Syllabus Statements