What First-Time Teaching Teaches Professors: Learning from the Student Voice

Creating, maintaining, or updating a course for the first time presents new challenges to the professor. Drawing on both a faculty and student perspective, this article walks readers through the full arc of course development: from initial conceptualization and syllabus design to long-term revision and refinement. In balancing competing academic goals, this article aims to demystify the experience by providing concrete strategies and candid reflections to help professors navigate the opportunities and challenges of teaching a course for the first time with a focus on the student voice. Whether the course is entirely original or inherited and reimagined, the guidance offered here addresses the inevitable: how to course correct before, during, and after a class is taught for the first time.