Making a First Impression: Exploring What Instructors Do and Say on the First Day of Introductory STEM Courses

Student impressions formed during the first day of class can impact course satisfaction and performance. Despite its potential importance, little is known about how instructors format the first day of class. Here, we report on observations of the first day of class in 23 introductory science, techno...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCBE life sciences education Vol. 20; no. 1; p. ar7
Main Authors Lane, A. Kelly, Meaders, Clara L, Shuman, J. Kenny, Stetzer, MacKenzie R, Vinson, Erin L, Couch, Brian A, Smith, Michelle K, Stains, Marilyne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Society for Cell Biology 01.03.2021
Subjects
Classroom Communication
College Environment
College Students
Course Descriptions
Course Organization
Engineering
General s and
Humans
Introductory Courses
Mathematics
STEM Education
Student Attitudes
Students
Teacher Student Relationship
Technology
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Student impressions formed during the first day of class can impact course satisfaction and performance. Despite its potential importance, little is known about how instructors format the first day of class. Here, we report on observations of the first day of class in 23 introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. We first described how introductory STEM instructors structure their class time by characterizing topics covered on the first day through inductive coding of class videos. We found that all instructors discussed policies and basic information. However, a cluster analysis revealed two groups of instructors who differed primarily in their level of STEM content coverage. We then coded the videos with the noncontent Instructor Talk framework, which organizes the statements instructors make unrelated to disciplinary content into several categories and subcategories. Instructors generally focused on building the instructor--student relationship and establishing classroom culture. Qualitative analysis indicated that instructors varied in the specificity of their noncontent statements and may have sent mixed messages by making negatively phrased statements with seemingly positive intentions. These results uncovered variation in instructor actions on the first day of class and can help instructors more effectively plan this day by providing messages that set students up for success.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Co–first authors: These authors contributed equally to this work.
Co–corresponding authors in alphabetical order: These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:1931-7913
1931-7913
DOI:10.1187/cbe.20-05-0098