Syllabus Speed Dating: Tool Kit
Rashmi Shrestha, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Berea College
THIS TOOLKIT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO
Encourage students to communicate with each other on the first day of class and familiarize them with the syllabus
KEY OBJECTIVES
- Ensuring that students read the syllabus and are familiar with the policies and expectations
- Promoting student interactions and fostering a sense of learning community
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HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS TOOLKIT Step 2: Take the roll call of the students and hand out the syllabus. Step 3: Ask students to get into pairs and have them stand across from one another in two lines. Step 4: Ask the students to introduce themselves with their name, pronouns, their intended major, and years at the college to the student facing them, who will be their partner. Step 5: Inform the student of the page on the syllabus from which you will be asking the questions and read the question loudly. Step 6: Provide 2-3 mins for students to skim through the page on the syllabus and exchange the answers with their partners. Step 7: Ask for a volunteer to answer the questions. This is an opportunity for students to ask a follow-up question. Step 8: Read a personal question loudly and ask students to share the answer with their partner in 30 secs. Step 9: Announce “switch” so that students from one line will move to their next partner and the one at the very end of the line rotates to the beginning. Step 10: Repeat the process until you have asked all the questions or until the class time allows. |
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DESCRIPTION
The first day of class gives faculty the opportunity to provide insights into their teaching strategies that will contribute to the student’s learning process. One way to do so is by creating an elaborative syllabus that allows faculty to communicate their plans regarding the course content, goals, assessments, resources, and expectations for participation and review them. It is, therefore, essential that students are allowed to get to know each other so that a collaborative learning environment can be fostered. (1)
Syllabus speed dating is a quick face-to-face interaction intended to help students familiarize themselves with the syllabus and promote student-student and faculty-student interactions, thereby assisting students to feel comfortable in the classroom. (2, 3) After designing the syllabus, the instructor should list important items that students need to remember, such as their office location, office hour time, assignments’ due dates, exam dates, and policies. The instructor should prepare questions from these items. For each syllabus-related question, there should also be a question on personal inquiries.
During class time, having students in two lines facing each other drives all students to participate and work with their partner. Asking syllabus-related questions and prompting students to share pushes students to read the syllabus and discover what they need to know about the course. This also allows students to raise questions and clarify any misunderstanding of the course expectations and assignments early on. Asking personal questions permits students to connect, thus cultivating a community that supports students’ learning.
This activity has the same weakness as all social activities in that the students that are unable or unwilling to participate may not benefit from it. Therefore, planning an alternate strategy such as syllabus quiz and having students exchange their information through classroom learning management may still achieve the same goals of syllabus familiarity and fostering a learning community. However, syllabus speed dating is relevant to all ACA members as it is a fun and interactive way for students to recognize the key components and important policies and know their classmates on the first day of class.
Some examples of syllabus-related questions:
- Where is my office located and when is my office hours?
- What is a class preparation assignment and when is it due?
- How many exams do we have in total, and do we have makeup exams?
- Some examples of personal inquiries:
- Are you a morning person or a night person?
- What do you enjoy doing during your free time?
- What is your favorite show and why?
REFLECTION
When I went over the syllabus and asked students to read the syllabus on their own time, I constantly had students informing me that they were unaware of the policies and that they did not read the syllabus. However, syllabus speed dating resolved this issue. Additionally, since I do group work a lot during the class, having students talk to each other during the first day of class has helped most of the students feel comfortable choosing their own lab partners and group partners. Students are also not hesitant to work with their group even when I assign them one. This strategy is also proposed to support exam review sessions and used as an alternative to class presentations, which I intend to use for my courses. (2, 3)
RESOURCES
1) Petonito, G. (1991). Fostering Peer Learning in the College Classroom. Teaching Sociology, 19(4), 498-501.
2) Eifler, K. (2009, December 4). Academic ‘Speed Dating’. Building Student Engagement: 15 Strategies for the College Classroom.
3) Muurlink, O. & Matas, C.P. (2011). From romance to rocket science: Speed dating in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(6), 751-764.
4) Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
5) Neufeld, G (2019, 09 September). Speed Dating – A First Day Activity for the classroom. Graduate Student Teaching Association (GSTA) blog. https://teachpsych.org/page-1784686/7872352.
