Don’t mistake its relative brevity for insignificance. Though many students plan on spending their first class meetings doing little more than reviewing syllabi, University of Alabama faculty say that equal solemnity should be applied to the first three-day week of the spring semester as is shown the following 16.

Aaron Hinkelman, a sophomore majoring in operations management, said most class meetings during the first week of the semester seem to serve more as introductory time for each course.

“Especially because I’m only a sophomore, I’d probably say that all of my classes during my time here have just passed out and gone over the syllabus on the first day of class,” he said. “Usually everybody comes in and gets settled, we spend about 20-30 minutes going over the syllabus, and then you get to head out. Professors usually don’t even take attendance or anything like that.”

According to Director of Media Relations Cathy Andreen, however, rumors that University policy forbids professors from tracking attendance during the first week of class are not true.

“There is no restriction regarding faculty taking attendance during the first half-week of the semester or any other time during the semester. Whether a faculty member takes attendance is left to the discretion of the instructor,” she said in an emailed statement. “The only University expectation is that instructors share their policies with their students at the beginning of the term so there are no surprises.”

The UA Faculty Handbook necessitates attendance policies be defined to students at the semester’s beginning.

Peter Johnson, an assistant professor of accounting, informed his students of class policies before the semester started. Students enrolled in Johnson’s AC 310: Financial Reporting and Analysis for spring 2013 received an email Thursday, Jan. 3, outlining the course’s schedule, mandatory attendance requirement and extra credit reading and homework assignments for Jan. 10’s class meeting.

“This course is designed for students to come prepared to each class so that students may participate in the learning process,” Johnson said in an emailed statement. “Students should read over the syllabus prior to attending class on the first day and be prepared to ask questions and to participate. I approach my course similar to business professionals. Would a new employee expect to show up for the first day of work, receive some instruction about their job expectations and then be sent home earlier? A new employee will be familiar with their duties prior to OVERSET FOLLOWS:the first day of work, show up ready to ask questions and to be trained.”

Hinkelman said he and many other students like to treat the week of first class meetings as a test period to determine which classes to commit to before the University’s Wednesday, Jan. 16, deadline to drop a course without a grade of “W.”

“It’s an opportunity to really experience a class and see what you signed up for, what you should expect, especially if it’s a non-required class,” Hinkelman said. “Why waste time taking a non-required class you don’t enjoy? And in most cases, professors are really good about doing more than just reading the syllabus off to you. They give a lot of insight into what to expect and what you need to do to succeed.”

Johnson said the most effective way for students to develop an accurate impression of the schedule for which they have registered is for the first half-week of classes to faithfully represent the remainder of the semester.

“I use the first day of class as a demonstration in how class time will be used throughout the semester,” he said. “For the first day, we do a mini case assignment based on the assigned reading for that day to demonstrate how students are expected to be prepared for class and how they should work in groups. Students may not understand their own ability to manage several courses at once and so may overload their schedule with several difficult and challenging courses. I believe it is better for the student to know on day one whether they will be able to manage their course load.”