At this point, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much information you'll need to know, curate, and organize in advance. If you, the teacher, are feeling this way, imagine how your students may feel prior to embarking on an online learning adventure, especially if it is their first online course!

Your students will need to know quite a few things before the first day of class:

When does the course start?
How do they log in to the course?
What should they do if they can't log in?
Who is their teacher?
How will students contact you?
What textbook will they need?
What other materials will they need?

For some of these items, learning about resources or policies in the first week of class may be too late--students need to know the answers before the class starts. What if your student has problems logging in to your LMS? What if your student has a question about attendance or your course policies on late work? Where will they turn for answers?

These questions can be easily answered in a Welcome Letter sent to your students a week or so before the start date. You can reassure your future class by letting them know you are also aware of the upcoming start of class, and by giving them the answers to questions they didn't realize they even had! Sending out a Welcome Letter also helps you, the instructor, by placing resources directly into students' hands so they are not each contacting you with the same question!

Most online courses do not offer an on-campus orientation, which means your Welcome Letter, and an initial orientation module in your course, are some of the most helpful ways to give students a solid start, and to ease any anxieties they may have about learning online.

Are you ready to compose your Welcome Letter?