Writing a course introduction/welcome
Best Practices in Online Learning
The Welcome Message
One of the best practices often recommended for online faculty is to create a “Welcome” message that is the first thing that students see when they enter the online course environment. Consider sending this Welcome message to students via email before your class begins. Much of the information listed below could/should also be included in your course syllabus.
• Introduce yourself! Let students get an idea of who you are/include a picture of yourself or an image/scenery that depicts who you are.
• Give students your contact information including when and how to contact you
• List your office hours. Are you holding virtual office hours as well? Post those here
• A brief overview of the course objectives and student learning outcomes for the course
• Course access! Include information about how to get started, including link and instructions on how to log into Blackboard.
• Do you have a personal website? If you post your course syllabus on this site, include a link to it in your welcome letter. Otherwise, consider attaching a course syllabus to your Welcome Message.
Some additional items to include are:
- In lieu of too many words, create a video Introduction instead. Use your computer camera or screencast-o-matic (free download) or create a podcast using Audacity (free download).
• Tech support. Information on how to get tech help before class begins.
The Service Desk offers 24/7 support to students by phone at (978) 656-3301 or by e-mail at servicedesk@middlesex.mass.edu
• Number of weeks and ending date for the course. Are you teaching a short term class? – This can be a little confusing when students don’t realize that not all classes are the same length.
• Date when the class begins
• Textbook Information. If you would like students to have textbooks on the first day of class, it’s important that you provide them with all of the pertinent information (author, title, edition, ISBN number). You may also opt for an “older” edition if your text is used primarily for reference and its content changes very little.
• Number of required synchronous meetings (if any) including when and how they will take place. If you require students to “attend” a “real-time” web facilitated, virtual meeting, provide them with the necessary information so that they can make arrangements to be “present” or opt to take the course at a future date.
• Number of optional synchronous meetings (if any) including when and how they will take place. For example, you can hold “virtual” office hours so that students can reach you at a particular time. How you hold these office hours is up to you, but some ideas include creating a Blackboard Collaborate link to send to your student, and (for those who are more “old-school”) telephone!
• Homework Information. Consider including general information about the required homework for this course, and how such homework is submitted to you, the instructor. List projected due dates for this homework.
• Exam information. If students are required to take proctored exams, provide information about where, when, and how those will be taken. If your exams are online, consider at least sending a list of projected test due dates.
•Technical Requirements. Explain what types of hardware, software, browser and Internet access students will need to complete the work for your course. Will students need MS Word? Are you using any other type of specialized software?