I'll play devil's advocate
While all good ideas, it seems a bit extreme. By that I mean if all these practices are followed, it consumes the entire class.
I always try to think back to when I was a student of the things my instructs did that I disliked. Those who spent the entire first class (esp those 1:40 minute sessions) doing "intro and overview" were incredibly boring. I wanted to get into some meat and potatoes sooner rather than later.
I try to limit my introductions and overview of the course to the first 30 mins of the first class. Then I'll start digging into the beginning material.
To accommodate that, I send out emails prior to the course with instructions to do a bit of reading prior to the first class. I make it a point not to overwhelm, too.
/disclaimer: I teach in an online environment. We hold two one-hour chats per week.
I'm in the online environment as well and I do the same. I send out a short welcome letter and overview of the course explaining what they will learn in the class and what is expected. Then we have a live chat very early on in the first week to discuss this further.
Online environment is a whole different situation.
I believe that you need to focus on the course objectives and should have already started reading the syllabus before you get to the first class session.
I see your point of view. Maybe I will give this a try. I can see after a full day of classes and reviewing syllabus after syllabus ot can become boring. I'm sure they are ready to dig thier heels in!
Hi Matthew,
You raise a good point about getting a class going. The suggestions contained in the course are intended to be used as you see fit. Some may work for you and others may not. Also, you can distribute these suggestions throughout several sessions of the class. I like to do what you do I get the general introductions done and the go right into an short activity that gives the students some "hands-on" with course content. They really like this and then we swing back to more introductory information. By offering variety they don't get bored, get the information and everyone goes home excited about the next class.
Gary
I tend to agree with this.
In the online environment, I actually schedule a special chat session online as early as I possibly can in order to address the "overview" issue. Then, if time permits, I overview the course content issue as well.
