How Should the First Sessions of an Undergrad. Course Be?

There isn't a single answer to your question, but here are some guidelines for the first class.

Put yourself in the students' shoes: what do they want to know? In no particular order, we might have

• Who are you and how can I get in touch with you? If you are using Teaching Assistants, who are they and how can I get in touch with them?
• What are the mechanics of the course? How many homework assignments/exams/other tasks will there be? When will they be due?
• How will my grade be calculated?
• What materials will be used? For instance, is there a text, are there any supplemental readings?
• Briefly, what is the subject matter of the course? What are the topics to be covered and what is the schedule of coverage?

In the first few minutes of the first session, I cover these questions very briefly and refer my students to the syllabus, which I have handed out and which is also available online. I rarely spend more than five minutes on these introductory questions, trusting that my students can read the syllabus (though, frankly, few do, but it at least gives me a chance to answer the questions three weeks later by saying "Check the syllabus; you'll find the date of Exam 1 there.")

This introduction will vary from class to class, depending on the class. I spent a bit more time on the introduction in my introductory class and less time in a class populated by third- and fourth-year majors, all of whom had taken one or more classes from me.

Having done that, I still have most of the session to dive into the material, which I do.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask for expansion.