Syllabus Speed Dating: Tool Kit
Amy Hedrick, Professor of Psychology, Lenoir-Rhyne University
THIS TOOLKIT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO
- Implement a quick classroom activity to foster social engagement/community building and students’ understanding of salient syllabus information.
KEY OBJECTIVES
- Foster social engagement and community building with timed ‘ice breaker’ questions that allow students to greet each other and learn fun information about their peers and instructor.
-
Review key policies/information in the syllabus.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS TOOLKIT
Have students form two face-to-face rows around the classroom. You may need to get creative, but each student should be facing another student. Provide the instructions: each pair will have 60 seconds to respond to
- a syllabus review question and
- an icebreaker question.
After the first set of questions, call time and ask the class for the answer to the policy question. Provide clarification/elaboration, if needed. Then, share your response to the ice breaker question. Have ONE row move to the right – each student should now have a different partner. Repeat with the next set of questions and continue the shifting of a row – this mimics the ‘speed dating’ process. By the end, each student can greet and get to know 8 to 10 peers in 15 minutes or so.
DESCRIPTION
Adapted from Garth Neufeld’s (2019) first day of class icebreaker activity, I’ve modified and included a focus on syllabus review to meet a couple of goals with this single activity. Rooted in the idea that building community should be fun and low-stakes, this activity allows for active engagement with peers and a safe space to ensure key elements of course policies are well understood. In addition, by answering the questions to the ice breakers, instructors can begin to develop rapport and show some of their own personality/teaching identity early on in the semester. I find that beginning the second class session with this 15-20 minute activity can be useful – everyone has had an opportunity for syllabus review following the first day and it gets students moving and talking with those they may not be near in a typical seated class. Choose questions that are interesting and relevant for you; I’ve included some of the ones I use below.
1a. Where can you find me during office hours?
1b. What is your spirit animal and why?
2a. When can you text me? (I offer this in addition to email/office hours, but encourage boundaries and let students know I won’t respond to text outside of ‘business hours’.)
2b. What do you like to do on Saturdays?
3a. Why do we have learning outcomes?
3b. What is the weirdest food you’ve ever eaten?
4a. What is our quiz policy?
4b. If you could live in any sitcom/fictional space, what would it be? (I’ve found some students don’t know what sitcoms are so give freedom here.)
5a. What is our late policy?
5b. What is your ideal career and why?
6a. Where can you find our daily schedule?
6b. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?
7a. Why do we have a DEI statement in our syllabus?
7b. What campus activities are you interested in?
8a. What is the academic integrity policy?
8b. If you own a car and we open your trunk, what will we find? If you don’t have a car, what are some things you always have on your desk?
9a. What should you do if you need to miss class?
9b. What’s your favorite restaurant in town?
10a. How can you determine your class standing using our grade distribution?
10b. What type of pet person are you and why?
REFLECTION
I’ve used this activity for several years across different courses and find that reiterating key class policies on the second day of class is useful. It’s not uncommon for some clarification or elaboration to be needed and this is a great time to get those details identified. In addition, although some students don’t enjoy traditional ice breaker activities, I’ve found this format – where they are in pairs and get to greet new people and not share their responses with the whole class – to be generally well-received. A minute isn’t a long time, but on occasion I will notice a dyad that provides their responses and then just stops and waits for time. This helps me identify students who may need more social support/scaffolding early on in the term. Further, sharing my own responses to the questions helps students get to know me better and hopefully sets the tone for our work together across the rest of the semester. Neufeld has a whole-class wrap up that I don’t traditionally use. However, with post-pandemic learning and student engagement patterns shifting, I may start to include an explicit emphasis on social-communicative skills and why they are important in a culminating discussion.
CONNECTED RESOURCES TO EXPLORE
