Student Welcome
Try this, see if it works for you. Any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated.
Greetings~
Welcome to School X's General Psychology class. As your instructor it is my job and more importantly my personal goal to make sure you have an awesome term!
If this is your first experience with online learning...then WELCOME to the wonderful world of virtual education. This is such an awesome tool for those of us with hectic lives and many demands from home and work.
The most important aspect (in my humble opinion) is COMMUNICATION!!! I encourage each of you to begin an open dialogue with me so that you feel comfortable interacting with me.
In the first week I will be making phone calls just to touch base to assure you are comfortable navigating your way around the classroom. If you want to make sure I can reach you, please forward me a number you prefer to be contacted. Otherwise I will use the numbers you have provided to the school.
I am really excited about this class for many reasons. First, psychology is class that can really make you think about your world and can provide ways to respond to various situations. And secondly, School X is a very prestigious institution with quality programs and classes. This course is most likely a general education requirement for you and as such the focus is on general aspects of life.
The activities are actually "fun" and previous feedback from students has been very positive.
Please respond just to say hi or if you have a question for me and to give me your preferred phone number for contacting you.
Kathryn
This seems very inviting because you speak about the course as well as your personal feelings about the subject.
Marisol Soto
This was a very interesting course on online courses. I find it interesting how the online course tries to compensate for direct person to person interaction that occurs in a traditional classroom and methods suggested in dealing with the different types of behaviors. I was always curious how you would deal with different behaviors in an electronic medium.
Anthony:
I subscribe to the belief that we cannot fully compensate for the dynamics of human interaction in a traditional classroom environment. Immediate feedback, dynamics of human interaction, dialogues, spontaneous discussions, group synergy, are really challenging to replicate in an online environment. We can, nevertheless adopt ptactical strategies to replicate these behaviours within the confines o the online learning environment.
Please specify examples of th "different behaviors" you mentioned in your last sentence so that I can offer answers as to how I will deal with such behaviors.
Satrohan
Satrohan:
I am intrigued by your statement about adopting "practical strategies to replicate these behaviors within the confines of the online learning environment”. As a long time instructor of highly motivated learners in a “real time” class structure, I have readily seen the great learning and the “aha” revelation by a student that was “previously in the dark” occur in the classroom. How does one either perceive that a student can indeed transfer knowledge in an on-line setting or that such an event has occurred?
Herschel:
In a "real-time" class setting, you observe the "aha" revelation through body language. I donot know of a facility that enbales you to make the same observation in an online environment.
"Applied" assessment measures can be used to determine "transfer of knoweldge",.
Satrohan
I've used Live Chat sessions many times in the past and students enjoy having the opportunity to speak to you and share ideas and or ask questions during those sessions. I find them very beneficial for learners and users for course feedback and retention.
That is a great idea Lisa. How do you overcome the challenge of everyone being available at the same time? Or do you have several time options that the class can select from?
One of my challenges teaching online is it takes me more time to get to know the students because I can't put a name with a face. Being able to put a voice with the name would definitely be helpful.
Thanks for sharing Lisa.
This is a great "Welcome" statement. I include a "Welcome" statement with each class I teach to let students know what to expect and to let them get to know my personality a bit. I regularly get positive feedback from my students on these "Welcome" posts.
Mark McMullen
That is terrific Mark. Thanks for sharing.
Your welcome letter definitely makes the students feel good about attending your class. It also appears that you are friendly and reachable, so as a student, I wouldn't hesitate contacting you if I had an issue/question regard the class or an assignment.
