Getting Started with the Course

For a student, the beginning of a new semester can be both exciting to start fresh and frightening to not know what you're getting yourself into. Students who haven't taken an online course before can be overwhelmed going into a course site with no direction or explanation. Even if they have taken an online course before, there is no way of knowing how their previous instructor organized that course and what the student's experience of that course was. Therefore, it's still important to provide sufficient instructions, additional information, and begin to calibrate student expectations of the course by modeling appropriate behavior.

Using the home page

Word Cloud with key terms in teaching online, such as develop, online, teach, design, assess, and technology.

When students log in to your course for the first time they need to see something that orients them to where they are and explicitly communicates what they are to do in a friendly and welcoming manner. Even though you have several options for the course home page, it is always recommended to set your course home page to a page that you have created. Starting new students on a syllabus page or a modules list isn't nearly as welcoming as a page you've created including your contact information, a picture of you, a personal welcome, and instructions on what to do first.

You can also have the most recent Announcements appear on your home page by clicking on Settings in your course left menu, then on More Options (on the Course Details page), and select the box next to have 'recent announcement display on the course home page'. You can then select the number of announcements you want to display.

screen capture displaying where on the More Options section of the Settings page an instructor can set it to show recent announcements on the course home page and select the number of announcements that will be displayed.

Keep in mind that you can (and probably should) change your home page content after the first couple of weeks of the semester. A word cloud made from course keywords is a nice addition to a course home page, visually displaying the course themes. You may also want to have the home page be the place where you put your module recap videos. Here are some homepage examples

Since your students come to your class with a wide variety of previous online learning experiences and expectations, communicating your expectations for your students from the beginning is a good way to set the tone for the course and course communication. Some faculty prefer to write out course expectations and only do a personal introduction video. Other faculty members like to do a brief video providing an overview of the course like the one below and post it on the home page or on a separate "Getting Started with the Course" page. Here are two examples of different points in the production quality and creativity range.

Transcript - Example Course Introduction: Environmental Public Health

Transcript for Zombie Infections Course

Using a "Getting Started with the Course" page

Topics on the longer front-page example above that are not on the shorter example could go on a page in your Welcome Module called something along the lines of "Getting Started with the Course." In addition to those topics, there are a few other examples of items that could go on that page as well. Here are some sections you can take, paste into your course, and customize.

Netiquette:
One thing to always keep in mind when taking an online course is that the others with which you interact throughout the semester - including me, your instructor - are human beings. The first rule of netiquette is to "remember the human" when you are communicating with me or with your peers. The second rule is to "adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life." It's not likely that students would yell at, mock, or belittle another student in a face-to-face class but the feelings of anonymity that some people have when they are online can lead to those sorts of behaviors. Clearly stating that they are not acceptable in an online class may seem unnecessary but stating it upfront and linking it to the Student Code of Conduct can provide a more direct route to correct

Please take a few minutes and review all the Core Rules of Netiquette and make sure you have a profile picture added to Canvas (instructions in the Getting Started with Canvas page) before beginning the class.
Course Structure:
This online course is divided into X Modules as listed in the Modules tool.

Each Module is X weeks long. They normally include:
1. material for you to read, watch, and explore;
2. an activity such as a discussion where you interact with your classmates in a small group, and
3. a graded assignment to allow you to work with the concepts and resources (sometimes individually, sometimes together).
If the modules are not all visible at the beginning of the semester state what the modules are and when new modules will be released (at least two weeks in advance of the module start date).
Feedback Expectations:
I will aim to provide you with feedback on each of the assignments within X days. Make sure to check your instructor's comments when you receive a notification that something has been graded.

If you are using videoconferencing at any point in the class it's a good idea to include asynchronous video orientation in the first two weeks. It gives students a chance to test out their video equipment and gives you an opportunity to address any questions or concerns they might have. If you would rather not have a synchronous orientation, having students post a video introduction of themselves also provides proof of their video conferencing ability.

In addition to the home page and a getting started page, you also communicate your plan and intentions in your syllabus, which we will be thinking about on the next page.