Course Welcome & Introductions

LEARN: What and Why

The first thing your students should see on your course page is something like “Welcome” or “Start Here” or “Introduction.” This section gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself and the course, and to meet your students—and for everyone to begin to get to know each other.

This helps set the ‘tone’ of the course and facilitates trust. It demonstrates that you, the instructor, are present and available to support and facilitate students learning (Chen et al., 2015b; Stylinski, 2020).

ENGAGE: How to do it

A welcome message also helps establish your persona and begin to connect with students, fostering a comfortable class atmosphere; it can even be sent to students prior to the course start.

Students want to know:

What you are like
What happens in this course (routines)
What makes this course great
What are assessments and feedback like
What is expected of them

(Chen et al., 2015b; Stylinski, 2020).

APPLY to your course

Create your Welcome and Introduction

Remember that students will come into your class with varying needs and preferences—so messaging should be equity-focused from the beginning.
Make sure that any media used meets accessibility standards (for example, captions, transcripts, etc.), and that your welcome is inclusive.
You can send it via email/LMS prior to the start of the course
Choose your medium:
- Be sure to write a script (you can use a script template (Ohio State)) and practice reading it before recording
- In addition to/instead of a video, a written letter can work. You can use this example of a welcome letter. Including a photo with the letter is great!
- Host a live or asynchronous ‘meet and greet’ session

Video
Letter
Discussion Forum

View Sample Introductions from Leeward CC

Conduct a Course Orientation

Along with your introduction, taking the time to show students the “lay of the land”—the way the content is organized within the LMS—is really helpful to students. Remember, this could be the first time a student is taking an online course/using the LMS, and every course is different.

Conducting an orientation helps students learn the routine, expectations, and organization of your course. It gives you another opportunity to begin to connect to students—to demonstrate your presence (Garrison et al., 2000) and answer their questions (Chen et al., 2015a; O’Keefe et al., 2020).

Regardless of mode, be sure to cover key aspects of the course/syllabus, where to find them, and how students can get support (technology, (mental) health, academic, etc.).

Possible modes:

Create a video tour of your course
Make a recorded presentation, presenting your course
Hold a ‘live’ tour (which will be recorded for those students that can’t attend)

Do Student Introductions and Icebreakers

In addition to introducing yourself and the course, have students post an introduction, too! Give students flexibility to choose how they want to introduce themselves, but encourage multimedia and creativity (e.g. videos, photos, etc.). Seeing other people’s faces helps create community. Discussion forums/boards and VoiceThread can be great tools for introductions.

Take the time to do ice-breakers! Research shows these activities help students feel connected and engaged, and to start that from the beginning (Chen et al., 2015a; UW Bothell, n.d.).

Here’s a good list of some simple but effective icebreakers for online learning (UW Bothell, n.d.), including activities such as:

Eight nouns - students use eight nouns that best describe themselves.
Five pictures - students create a collage of five pictures that best describe themselves.
Things - students share an image that reflects why they’re taking the course or that represents them.

References & Resources

Chen, B., Thompson, K., Sugar, A., & Vargas, J. (2015a). Implement a course orientation module. In B. Chen & K. Thompson (Eds.), Teaching online pedagogical repository. Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida Center for Distributed Learning.

Chen, B., Raible, J., Bauer, S., & Thompson, K. (2015b). Send a welcome message. In B. Chen & K. Thompson (Eds.), Teaching online pedagogical repository. Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida Center for Distributed Learning.

Cornelius, K. (2020). 4 Easy Ways to Welcome Students to Your Online Course.

Leeward CC Educational Media Center. (n.d.). Self Introduction Videos.

O'Keefe, L., Rafferty, J., Gunder, A., & Vignare, K. (2020). Delivering High-Quality Instruction Online in Response to COVID-19: Faculty Playbook. Online Learning Consortium.

Stylinski, T. (2020). Planning Your Course Trailer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Ohio State University College of Public Health (n.d.). Sample Script for a Welcome Video.

University of Washington Bothell, Information Technologies. (n.d.) Icebreaker ideas for students learning remotely.

University of Wisconsin Madison. (n.d.). Example Welcome Message.

Williams, Laura. 2017, Jan 13. FYE 105 Online Course Overview Orientation. Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

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