The First Day of Class

The first day of class is the best time for faculty to set the classroom tone and convey course expectations. Instructors are expected to engage in specific first-day activities to ensure that students know what will be expected of them and to gather necessary information about the students. In addition, instructors should convey enthusiasm for the subject matter and express the relevance of learning outcomes in the course.

Class Roster

All faculty are to access and review the class roster just before the first class meeting. Students' names appearing on this roster are those registered for the class. The class roster can be found on Resources4me under Self Service>Faculty Information>Class Roster. Note: If a student is not listed on this roster, the student must go to their advisor or Enrollment Services to complete the registration process prior to attending the next class. Students may return to class once they are properly registered.

Note: Instructors do not have to be on campus to access a class roster.

1. Make certain the names of ALL students in class appear on the initial class roster. If a student's name does not appear, then the student should make sure they are registered through Student Planning or other available resources. 

2. Students may register for a class or switch to another section of a class during the add/drop period as long as the class has not yet met.  In addition, the live course schedules on GTC's website display the dates for drop periods and the last date(s) students may withdraw without penalty. For information regarding important dates, refer to your department and/or the academic calendar located on Greenville Tech's website under Calendar.

3. Faculty are responsible for taking and recording class attendance at each class meeting and are expected to enter attendance for all courses electronically. Attendance must be taken and recorded throughout the entire semester. Attendance is recorded in Self-Service>Faculty>choose your course/section, then choose “attendance.”

4. The first class period is a good time to facilitate a "get acquainted" activity. It is a good way for faculty to learn about their students and for students to learn about their classmates. The Center for Professional Excellence has resources for suggested activities available for review.

Safety

Students should be told the fire drill "path-of-exit" plan for their classroom and about fire drill procedures. For fire drills, all persons must vacate the building when the alarm sounds. Personal items, such as backpacks and handbags, should be removed from the room. Instructors should check that all doors are unlocked when leaving their areas. Students should stay in a group at a minimum of 50 yards from the building. Designated building marshals and/or floor captains will inspect each room to see that all persons have left the building and that all procedures have been followed. These instructions should be repeated as a reminder sometime around midterm. (Refer to Fire Safety located in Part 7: Health and Safety.)

Classroom Assignments

Classrooms are preassigned when the course section schedules are entered into Colleague. Some general education sections will be assigned using the 25Live optimization process. Section data is then exported to the 25Live software during the optimization period. This system manages all rooms within the College. If an instructor needs to change the location of a course section, they should reach out to the department’s academic scheduler AND the academic program director/ department head. The change must be reflected in the 25Live software for an accurate representation of classroom utilization. Questions concerning 25Live software should be directed to Christine Garrard or Natasha Spearman.