Faculty Timeline

• Contact Human Resources to make sure you have completed all necessary paperwork and are set up in Workday and other UARM systems.
• Make sure you have access to Outlook, Blackboard, and the Faculty Portal. If you have any issues with your login information, contact Information Technology.
• Introduce yourself to your department chair. This person will be an important mentor to help guide you through the faculty experience. If you are unsure who your department chair is, contact the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs or browse the college directory.
• Request sample syllabi from your department chair. Reverse-engineer any syllabi you inherited from previous instructors, trying to ensure you understand the course objectives and the internal structure/logic of the course. Also, start crafting your own syllabi as needed.
• Make sure you have a copy of the textbook.
• Set up the online portions of your courses. UARM utilizes the Blackboard Learning Management System. Begin by visiting uarichmountain.blackboard.com. View the Blackboard Instructor Checklist for guidance on how to use Blackboard.
• If you don’t see the courses you expect on Blackboard, contact blackboardhelpUARICHMOUNTAIN.

• Confirm that the books you need are in The Rack Bookstore.
• Obtain your faculty ID and parking pass at the Campus Security Office in Spencer 225.
• Continue to work on your syllabi and Blackboard course shells.
• Download your class roster from Workday.
• Take note of your class meeting location.
• Look up the location of your classroom on the campus map.
• Go visit your classroom(s). How will you use the classroom space? Will you need to bring any equipment that isn’t already in the room? Will you need dry-erase markers? What about evacuation procedures?
• If you have never taught before, ask as many questions and come to your brain. 
• Ensure that you have an academic engagement activity prepared for the first week of class.
• Make sure you have office hours embedded in your syllabi. Faculty should have one hour of office hours for every credit hour of class. If you teach online, those office hours may be through the online platform.
• Ask questions as they arise.

The first day of class might seem to be a daunting prospect the first time you teach, but staying organized and planning the day well can make the experience a pleasant one. Here are some ideas to make the first day go as smoothly as possible:

• If online, be sure to open communication with your students.
• If in class, be early; set up any technology long before class begins so that you have extra time to fix problems that arise.
• A few minutes before the scheduled start, be available for student questions. If no one approaches you, engage students seated nearby in small talk.
• Start on time to set a good precedent for the rest of the semester.
• Consider not starting by distributing the syllabus and discussing the course policies. We recommend you leave the syllabus discussion for the last part of the class period.
• Introduce yourself and mention how you’d like to be called. Some instructors like to establish their credibility by relating personal stories relevant to the discipline being taught.
• Lay out a good atmosphere and climate. The first day sets the tone for the entire semester, so structure the first day with the climate you prefer, be it formal, relaxed, or humorous. Research suggests that the things students most value in a professor are enthusiasm, objectivity, and a sympathetic attitude toward the problems that students face.
• After introductions and icebreakers, consider starting with your course material directly. That sends a signal that your class is rigorous and the schedule is disciplined.
• Discuss the syllabus at the end of the first class period. Some instructors assign the syllabus as reading for a quiz to ensure it gets read, and others ask their students to sign a paper to signal their receipt of the syllabus. The latter action bolsters the view of the syllabus as a contract with students, which may well be how the syllabus will be treated in questions of disagreement that escalate to department chairs. However, be aware that while stressing the contractual side may elevate student responsibility, it may have undesirable rhetorical side-effects. If the syllabus is perceived as just a contract, students may view education as purely transactional in nature.
• Encourage students to visit your office hours.

• TAKE ATTENDANCE. Make sure that students in class match your rosters. Report any discrepancies to the Director of Academic Advising and Retention as soon as you notice students who fail to attend or students who attend but are not on the roster.
• Keep track of your roster as students may add or drop. The representative from the advising center will communicate add/drops with you.
• Start holding office hours as specified on your syllabus. Students tend to worry they are disturbing you, so try to put them at ease when they arrive. To avoid misunderstandings, it is best not to hold office hours in a closed room; at least leave the door partly open.
• Link students to Student Support Services and stress to them the importance of seeking assistance anytime they need it.
• Remember, the 11th class day is the census day. That's the day your rosters become official. This is the number used to calculate overload and adjunct salaries.
• Send a copy of your syllabus to your department chair.

• Communicate important dates, including the deadline to withdraw from classes. You can find important dates on the Academic Calendar.
• It can be good practice to create your own course evaluations and distribute these to students part way through the semester. Though they are often called “mid-semester evaluations,” they are arguably most effective when given three to five weeks into the term, leaving you enough time to implement any worthwhile ideas.
• You should send a quarterly (every 4 weeks) student risk report to the Advising Center Assistant.
• Check your physical mailbox in the Spencer Faculty Lounge.

• Students are given the chance to evaluate the instructor with the institutional course evaluations. Look for an email and evaluations in your school mailbox in the Spencer Faculty Lounge.
• Look up the date and time for the final exam and communicate it to your students.
• Do not give the “final exam” during the last class session (although a chapter test is fine). UARM requires that all classes do meet during final exam week, even if you don’t take a final test during that session.
• Submit your final grades in Workday.
• If you have concurrent students, send their grades with percentage scores to the Director of Admissions.
• Students with an “F” grade receive special scrutiny from the Registrar, so you may be asked to indicate the last date the student attended your class. If you do not know, write your best guess.
• The “I” (incomplete) grade is usually used in the event of a last-second emergency, such as unexpected hospitalization so that a student had to miss the final exam. If no such unexpected event occurs, the “F” grade is more appropriate. Note that “I” grades must be changed later.
• Withdrawals are preprinted as W on the grade sheet and cannot be manually added.
• Keep your grade records a minimum of three years, though it would be wise to keep them in perpetuity.
• Send your Course Outcomes report to your department chair.

1. Learn from our colleagues and adapt their great ideas to your class.
2. Evaluate yourself on the topic of teaching so that you recognize “good” ideas.
3. Attend Teaching and Faculty Support Programs.
4. Never forget why you got into this in the first place.
5. Keep your passion for your discipline fervent, and make it central to your teaching.
6. Bring to the classroom a fine balance of expertise and enthusiasm.
7. Get as much training as possible in teaching techniques as early in your career as possible. Your Vice Chancellor for Academics has books on teaching for you. Just ask for one.
8. Model what you liked in your own teachers; avoid what you disliked in your own teachers; learn from these positive and negative examples to develop your own teaching style.
9. Take a simple approach to teaching:
   1. Define reasonable learning objectives.
   2. Teach to those objectives.
   3. Test fairly to those objectives.
   4. Treat the students with respect – they will do likewise to you.
   5. Always remember that every day in class, you always have a new chance to do something positive and affirmative.
10. Take time to learn the “system” and “culture” you have joined. Build strong collegial relationships to be most effective.
11. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Lighten up and allow your students and yourself to enjoy your classes.
12. Discuss your teaching with your colleagues and always keep an open mind about new ways of doing things.
13. Ask your colleagues to show you their teaching methods and talk about what you do in class with your colleagues.
14. Prepare lessons/lectures to be clear and interesting, and do not take it personally if the students choose not to learn. At some point, motivation is the students’ responsibility.
15. Do not play “hide the ball.” Err on the side of giving your students too much help to prepare for assessment. They don’t know as much as you know.
16. Have fun with teaching and interacting with students.
17. Stay in touch with “pop culture.” Know what your students are hearing and watching. It helps with examples.
18. Remember how you felt as a freshman.
19. Be consistent in your decision making. Students appreciate knowing what the outcomes will be.

*Tips from the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center at the University of Arkansas