Week 1: Starting the Semester

A decorative banner that says "Weekly Teaching Tips: Week 1" with a photograph of sneakers walking up steps

Review the pedagogical and technical information below to inform your progress in Week One. Have questions about what you learned here or ideas for future tips? Join Coffee & Answers (open support Zoom sessions with the Academic Technology Team) or email the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Pedagogical

How can you create a sense of belonging on day one?

Belonging impacts students' motivation, engagement, resilience, and overall success. Belonging is the need to develop deep, stable social connections with peers and faculty that foster feelings of acceptance, inclusion, and support. A good first day of class cultivates a sense of belonging through a warm welcome and learning activities that promote meaningful relationships and human formation. 

Questions you may want to consider include: 

  1. How can you create a warm and welcoming environment?

  2. How can you introduce yourself in a way that shows your engagement with your discipline?

  3. How will you communicate with your students? (Canvas email or announcements or some other method?)

  4. What are the most important parts of the syllabus that you want to emphasize?

  5. What is the best way to learn in your class? I.e. mention opportunities for study groups, tutoring, or coming to office hours early in the semester. 

For a comprehensive guide to the first day of class, pedagogical specialist James Lang has written a thorough introduction. 

Memorize your students' names ASAP! Using a student's name can help communicate that they matter and are relevant to the group. This may support attention and connection when used authentically and respectfully. 

Knowing who your students are is often a helpful place to begin. In this short piece from Inside Higher Ed, the author describes how to use a brief survey to get to know students. Google Forms is one way to do this electronically, and giving students class time to complete the form guarantees a response. 

Other ways to create a welcoming classroom community include icebreakers which give students a chance to learn more about each other. In this short article, Marguerite Mayhill describes an opening exercise in an art history class that not only engages students, but also introduces them to the discipline.

 

Technical

What does it mean to "publish" my course?

One of the first things you will do in Canvas at the start of the semester will be to publish your course. A simple click of a button will allow students to see your course and have access to content. 

How do I know exactly what students are seeing in my Canvas course?

A great way to get a feel for how your course will look from a student perspective is to use the Student View feature in Canvas. This view allows you to act as a student  and do things like post and reply to discussions, submit assignments, view grades, view people, view pages, view the syllabus, view quizzes, view the calendar.

Vocabulary

  • Learning Management System (LMS) - a website that allows students and instructors to interact. Instructors can share course content, administer assessments, grade assignments, and more. Students can take exams, submit assignments, complete course readings, and more. 

  • Canvas - the LMS that Saint Joseph’s University uses

  • Canvas Course - a digital space to house content for each section of a course, also referred to as a shell

  • Knowledge Base - SJU’s internal database of articles and service requests

  • The Nest - SJU’s internal website, which houses many helpful links, including a direct link to Canvas

 

Additional Resources

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