The welcome message sets the stage for your course. It should be written in a personal tone that briefly summarizes the overall expectations for the course and provides some preliminary direction. Each LMS has a different home page structure but the welcome message should be situated so that it is the first document students read. A sample welcome letter is provided.
Welcome to ___________
Host College:
Course Number:
My name is ______________ and I will be your course leader this semester. To get started, please tour around the course and familiarize yourself with the structure and the layout of the available materials. When you feel that you have a handle on things, send me a brief e-mail announcing your presence in the course. To do so, please select the "Quick Message" link located in the left-most column on this page, select the "To" button, select my name from the recipient's list, type away, and select the "Send" button when ready.
In this course you will be expected to complete 13 weekly Labs and 3 Unit Tests using an on-line program called MathXL. You will also be expected to write an in-person final exam during the last week of the course. You are required to complete all Labs and assignments by yourself before the posted due dates.
All of the course content is found in the Lessons Tab at the top of the page. When you have a moment, please review the Course Information Sheet because it outlines all the important details of the courses, including our required textbook. It is important to order your textbook immediately so that you get off to a quick start.
Be sure to read the Getting Started document (Lessons Tab) for important information about how to start the course.
You will notice the "Course Roster" list to the left as well. Please feel free to get familiar with your peer's names and contact each other as necessary to get help or give help. Please take a minute to introduce yourself to the class by posting a message in the Discussion folder. We are all in the course together.
Please check the course Announcements every week. I will post course weekly news here.
In some instances a short welcome announcement on the home page may also be necessary. For example, students entering
Blackboard, or Angel, will see the announcement page first, so it is important to build a very brief welcome message as the first message that they read. This does not replace the more detailed Welcome message. First Class, and CE8 have a home page that displays icon links to information sections, and Moodle has a linear content design structure, so a Welcome icon/link is
recommended.
Hello, and welcome to _____________________, course number____________. My name is _______________ and I will be your instructor for this course. To learn more about the course structure and how we will work together for the duration of the semester click on __________.