31 Warm Welcomes

It is considered a best practice for an instructor to create a brief welcome message to build social and teaching presence, ease student anxiety, and answer frequently asked questions. While the content and format of the messages will vary depending on the discipline, student level, and available time and resources, welcome messages should always reflect the personality of the instructor and tone of the course. They often include the following:

• Reasons for taking the course
• Helpful hints related to course content, online learning, texts, study skills, and other strategies for success
• Instructor aspirations for the course and unique, relevant skills or experience
• Encouragement

Videos

Welcome videos are frequently used in online courses. Their advantage is that they automatically kick-start an instructor’s social and teaching presence by giving students an instructor face and a voice to reference as they move through other introductory materials. Typical approaches include the following:

• Opening comments: a simple, straightforward script that is also suitable for text-based messages. These videos can be made with relatively little time and effort. For example:
  • Rappahannock Community College: ITE 119 course introduction
  • University of Central Florida: NSP 4425 Women’s Health Issues
  • University of Washington: Welcome to the course
• Course trailers: Course trailers, like movie trailers, are an engaging way to provide an overview of what students can expect to learn in a class (and for what purpose). They can be as simple or complex as time, resources, and interest allow. For example:
  • Harvard University: Harvard program in general ed / collections
  • Virginia Commonwealth University: Selected course trailers