I am a firm believer that by spending as much time as necessary on the first day of the course and having a "course introduction" with the class is allowing everyone to get off to a great start and be on the same page. It eliminates excuses in the future because we go over the syllabus line by line as well as classroom rules, requirement, attendance policies, etc; We also discuss and answer any questions that are asked so that all students are well aware of what the course expectations are.