Abstract
The goal of this work was to determine students' beliefs of what activities should be performed during the first class meeting of a course among Portuguese college students. Three hundred and thirty two college students responded to a questionnaire about the activities expected during the first day of class. The data showed that the beliefs about the first day of class activities have an internal structure. Most participants agree with the idea of discussing the general course overview and of punctuality. Most of the participants disagree with the idea that specific information about the teacher and student's peers should be given and that the activities of the first day of class will influence the feelings concerning the teacher and the course. Most Portuguese students' beliefs are consonant with those of American students.
The first class meeting of a course needs to be planned and performed carefully (Duffy & Jones, 1995; McKeachie, 2002). Wilson and Wilson (2007) examined whether the first day of class influences students' motivations. The authors showed that “students with a positive first day reported better attitudes toward the course and the teacher than those who experienced a negative first day” (p. 228). This study also showed that students with a positive first day experience had significantly higher grades by the end of the term than students who experienced a negative first day. This experimental work evidenced that “the first day of class might indeed have some lasting effects” (p. 229). Although the first day of courses is critical, the empirical research about this issue is scarce (Pearlman & McCann, 1999; Henslee, Burgess, & Buskist, 2006; Hermann, Foster, & Hardin, 2010; Wilson & Wilson, 2007).
The first empirical study about students' opinions on the first day of class in psychology courses was conducted by Perlman and McCann (1999). They asked participants, “What are the most useful things a faculty member can do during a first class meeting” and their “pet peeves about what faculty do during a first class meeting” (p. 277). The authors found that most students wanted “a general course overview spelling out requirements and faculty expectations, both verbally and in a detailed syllabus” (p. 277).
Henslee, et al. (2006) extended the knowledge of first day of class activities by examining an enlarged list of student responses, such as “overall ratings of the first day, specific first-day activities, and the importance of the first day of class in setting the tone for the course over the remainder of the academic term” (p. 189). The authors found that students wanted to get information regarding the course rather than obtaining information about the teacher or the student's peers. They also showed that “what happens on the first day does not necessarily set the tone for the rest of the semester” (p. 189). This work pointed out that students were curious about what the class would be like and they valued punctuality from the professor, but they felt neither anxious nor calm about the class and the teacher's expectations. However the internal structure of the scores and gender differences were not examined.
The goal of the current work was to determine students' beliefs of what is important for the first course meeting among Portuguese psychology college students. The current study expands cross-culturally Henslee, et al.'s (2006) work on the first day of class. In addition, the study sought to know if these beliefs about the first day have an internal structure among Portuguese students.
The basic professional degree in Portugal is the 5-year master, which is normally begun upon graduating from the Portuguese equivalent of high school at the age of 18, and is subsequently finished at the age of 23 (Neto, 2000). Only selected students are allowed to enter the psychology curriculum in public universities. Recent statistics show that psychology is one of the most demanding curricula. Psychology courses are predominantly attended by women. For example, in the current year, the Psychology Master's Program is 87% female at the University of Porto. The main requirement for the Ph.D. in psychology requires completing and defending a doctoral dissertation based on original research. The doctorate is not required to practice psychology, but it is obligatory for university teaching appointments.
Method
Participants
Three hundred thirty two undergraduates (280 women, 52 men) in a social psychology course at the University of Porto completed a questionnaire about their preferences for first day of class activities. The participants' age ranged from 18 to 44 years, and the mean age was 21.0 years (SD = 3.9).
Measures
Students completed a questionnaire. They rated 20 items on a 10-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0: Not at all to 10: Very much (Table 1). This set of items measured overall preferences for the first day and the importance of specific first-day activities, adapted from the Henslee, et al.'s 2006 study. Three items from Henslee, et al. (2006) were not used (Items 16, 17, and 21), as they did not seem relevant in this cultural context, and a new item was added, “The student arriving to class on time.”
Results of the factor analysis and means and standard deviations on the whole sample
One Likert-format item also rated how important social psychology is to their lives. Furthermore, participants were asked to answer to two open questions: (1) “What do you think is important to achieve in the first lesson of one discipline of the course of Psychology?” and (2) “Which activities would you like to see implemented during these lessons?” In designing a Portuguese version of the instrument, guidelines proposed in the literature on cross-cultural methodology (Brislin, 2000) were followed as closely as possible (e.g., independent, blind back-translations, educated translation, small-scale pre-tests).
Procedure
The questionnaire was administered to all participants during their first day of the Social Psychology class in the semester. The survey was administered to several Social Psychology classes, each one attended by 50 to 70 students. This course was given in the 3rd year. All participants were Psychology majors. The students were informed that their participation was voluntary and that their responses were confidential and would be solely for research purposes. The participation rate was 100%.
Results
Data from Likert-scale items
The mean ratings of the 20 Likert-scale items are shown in Table 1. Participants gave the highest importance to practical information about the course (Items 4, 5, 6, and 3). Students gave the lowest importance to gleaning personal information about the teacher and student peers (Items 12, 8, and 13). Interestingly, the mean ratings on Item 18 revealed that participants were not extremely anxious concerning the course and the teacher's expectations.
An exploratory factor analysis was performed for the 20 items. Using the scree test to determine the number of factors arising from this analysis, four interpretable factors emerged. All items had loadings higher than .40 and were considered in the following analyses. The 20 items were retained and subjected to Varimax rotation. This four-factor solution accounted for 59.5% of the variance.
The first factor explained 28.3% of the variance. The factor was composed of 7 items. We called this factor General Course Overview since it loaded positively on items expressing the beliefs of course structure and required coursework. The scale had an internal consistency of .85. The second factor explained 14.5% of the variance. The factor was composed of 7 items. We called this factor Personal Information since it loaded positively on items expressing information about the teacher or their peers. The scale had an internal consistency of .79. The third factor explained 9.0% of the variance. The factor was composed of 3 items. We called it Punctuality since it loaded positively on items expressing the beliefs of arriving at class on time and the professor taking attendance. The scale had an internal consistency of .93. The fourth factor explained 7.6% of the variance. The factor was composed of 3 items. We called it Tone for the Remainder of the Year since it loaded positively on items expressing beliefs that the activities for the first day of class will influence the feelings concerning the teacher and the course. The scale had an internal consistency of .73.
For each of the four factors, a mean score was computed by averaging the corresponding item scores. Most participants agree with the idea of discussing the general course overview and of punctuality. Most of the participants disagree with the idea that specific information about the teacher and the student peers should be given and that the activities of the first day of class will influence the feelings concerning the teacher and the course.
The effect of gender on the dimensions of first day activities was significant on General Course Overview (F1,326 = 16.7, p < .001), Punctuality (F1,329 = 17.4, p < .001), and Tone for the Remainder of the Year (F1,329 = 17.4, p < .001). In each one of these dimensions women revealed significantly higher scores than men.
The study also looked at how important students believed that Social Psychology was in their lives. This question obtained the average of 7.87 (SD = 1.55), indicating, therefore, that globally the students had favourable attitude in relation to the importance of Social Psychology.
Data from open questions
Beyond the Likert-scale items, we included open-ended questions. The goal of the first open question sought to determine what was important to achieve in the first lesson in one discipline of Psychology. A representative sample of comments included, “Introducing students to the syllabus so that they have a general idea of the work to be carried out over the course of the semester, as well as the explanation of the evaluation method to be implemented and the necessary bibliography” (woman, 18 years old). “I think it is important to address the themes that will be referred to throughout the semester. Showing the importance of the classes to our future as psychologists, but also the advantages of the matter to be transposed into the day to day “(woman, 20 years old). “Presenting the plan of teaching in order to develop students' critical thinking substantially, leading them to raise questions and to be enlightened about them, removing all doubts about what the course entails” (man, 18 years old).
The students almost unanimously disclosed that most important was the presentation of the contents of the curricular unit (98%). Most of the students also indicated that it was important to present the methodology of teaching (55%) and the method of evaluation (55%). The presentation of the professor (47%) and the students (18%) was followed in the hierarchy of importance. Other aspects mentioned, but reported by less than 10% of the students were: introduction to the discipline, objectives for a good performance of the student, bibliography, applicability of the discipline in life, relation of the discipline with the course, what the students expect of the discipline and activity that narrows the relation professor-student and student-professor.
Dimensions of the beliefs about the first day of class by gender
The goal of the second open question was to determine the activities students would like performed during the lessons. A representative sample of comments included: “During these lessons I wish there was opportunity for students to intervene and participate in the classes, making them more dynamic. It would be ideal, moments of discussion/debate and reflection. Also the presentation of short films and interpretation of situations and contexts of social life “(woman, 18 years old). “During the classes I think it would be interesting to demonstrate some experiences that are related to the various contents. Well I think it is important the participation of students to discuss certain topics” (woman, 18 years old). “Screening of documentaries or movies make learning more enjoyable and more captivating. Discussions would also be good options to expose the contents” (man, 19 years old).
The activity most often mentioned was related to the discussion and debate of contents (38%), followed by the viewing of films/videos (32%) and the presentation of practical examples (23%). All the remaining activities were mentioned by less than 10% of the students as, for example, to teach the content in a pleasant way, to effect activities in group and experiences in the scope of the discipline, to approach real cases, to display practical examples, to think about the problems of the society and clarification of doubts.
Discussion
The results showed that the beliefs about the first day of class have an internal structure. Most Portuguese students' preferences are consonant with those of American students (Pearlman, & McCann, 1999; Henslee, et al., 2006). According to the student view, a successful first day of class contains a systematized general course overview regarding course requirements, expectations, and content. Most of the students agree also with punctuality, a view contrary to the Mediterranean stereotype of a certain flexibility in time to begin a meeting. Women rather than men expressed agreement with these two views. Conversely, concerning personal information given to the students and, the belief regarding the tone for the rest of the year, the majority of students showed disagreement. These findings are in agreement with those of Henslee, et al. (2006, p. 191): “Teachers need not worry about having a bad first day — students appear cognizant that factors beyond the first day influence their impressions of the teacher and the class as the academic term progresses”.
Previous American studies and the current study have been conducted among Psychology students. Future research should examine if the current findings could be generalized to other academic courses and whether effects are influenced by factors such as professor gender or age.