Welcoming Students to Your Asynchronous Online Course
Even though fully online courses have been around for decades, students still struggle to know what to expect in these courses, resulting in frustration not only for them, but also for their instructors. The good news is that you can address these challenges before your course even begins by developing a communication plan that helps students feel welcomed to your course and prepares them for success.
An effective communication plan has two parts: (1) a welcome letter that introduces the course and invites students to share their feedback and concerns, and (2) a response to students’ input. This guide will prepare you to develop your own communication plan by outlining the purpose of these two elements of a good communication plan and providing examples of each element.
Part 1: Crafting a welcome letter
The best way to kick off your communication plan is to email a welcome letter to students before your course begins. An effective welcome letter helps you do three key things.
Welcome students and describe your plan for their learning.
Start your letter by letting students know that you are looking forward to working with them and that you have thoughtfully structured the course with their learning in mind. After that, include a brief description of how the course is structured, what kind of assignments they will complete each week (e.g., readings, watching videos, writing assignments, posting to discussion boards, etc.), and how they might plan that work. You may also want to share information about any special aspects of the course that students tend to find particularly exciting (e.g., an assignment or project that students always enjoy) to help build enthusiasm for the course.
Clarify what an online course requires.
After providing a broad introduction, give students information that will help them understand the fully online asynchronous modality and how their experience in your course will be different from experiences they have had taking in-person courses. For example, explain to students that they should expect to spend the amount of time they would spend in an in-person class + homework and prep time, that they will need to make a plan for managing their own work independently (with your guidance), and that they will need to keep up with the schedule of work in the course by adhering to deadlines rather than completing work at their own pace.
Seek students’ feedback.
After describing your plans for students’ learning and the course modality, the letter should invite them to share their own concerns or questions. Initiating this conversation about students’ learning—and explicitly inviting students into that conversation—makes them feel like they belong before the course begins. Moreover, asking students to share their concerns helps them see that you care about them. Both these feelings are essential to students’ success in your course.
Sample language for a welcome letter
Make sure to adapt this letter to fit your course context and personalize it to match your voice!
Dear students,
I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out to help you plan for the course you will be starting with me in a couple of weeks. I’m writing to check in, tell you a little bit about our course, and gather some information from you that I can use to make sure this semester is successful for you and all students!
First, because this is a fully online asynchronous course, we will not meet in person or online in “real time.” While all our contact will be virtual and asynchronous, I have made plans to ensure that the course will provide you with opportunities to engage with me and with your peers in support of your learning. You will be doing exciting work in small groups, and you will receive regular feedback from me. Each week of the course is structured in a similar way so that you will know what to expect; the schedule published in the course syllabus will provide more detailed information about the work you will be doing regularly.
If you haven’t taken fully online asynchronous courses before (or even if you have!), it’s useful to get a clear sense of what this means for your learning. Below I have articulated some expectations that can help you plan to be successful.
- This course will require you to manage your time carefully. You should plan to spend the amount of time you would normally plan to spend in class meetings plus time for preparation and homework.
- This course will require you to manage your work independently. To be successful, you will need to take greater initiative to manage your own time and regulate your own learning. I will provide some guidance to help you do that by providing a syllabus assignment at the beginning of the course that will help you develop a plan for your success.
- This course will require you to adhere to a schedule. While you don’t have to attend classes and can work when your schedule permits, this is not a self-paced course and there are deadlines for submitting work. I have designed the schedule to ensure that you can work at a reasonable pace and complete assignments over time without getting too overwhelmed.
Now that you know a little bit more about how we’ll be learning together this semester, it’s time for me to ask you some questions so that I have the right information to ensure that our course is successful. Please reply to this email and share your answers to these questions.
- What kind of device will you be using to complete your coursework? Have you had any problems using that device to take classes online or to use Brightspace or to do other required work?
- Are you the only person using this device? If you have to share this device with another person, what concerns do you have?
- Do you have reliable high-speed internet so that you can access course materials in Brightspace? Please describe any concerns you have about your internet access.
- Do you have work, family, or other obligations that could interfere with the time you need to study or prepare for class? Please describe any concerns you have about your schedule and time commitments.
- What other concerns or questions do you have? Please share with me any challenges you may be facing in the coming semester or in this course.
Thank you for taking time to answer my questions. Knowing about your concerns and questions before the semester begins will help me as I finalize my plans for your learning in the course. I’m excited to work with you, and I wish you a restful remainder of your break! Be in touch!
Part 2: Using and responding to the information you gather from students
It’s important to have a plan for how you will learn from what students tell you and respond to any questions or concerns that arise. In some cases, the information students provide may require you to make some small changes in how you approach teaching the course. If students bring up very specific, personal concerns, you may want to address those individually with an email or an invitation to your office hours. If you see similar concerns across several surveys, you may want to respond to the entire class with an email or announcement addressing those concerns. Below you’ll find guidance about some common survey responses and how you can respond to students in helpful ways.
- Some students may not have a reliable device, have limited access to a device, or certain software does not run on their device.
If this is the case, begin by normalizing these challenges to keep students from feeling embarrassed. Then troubleshoot specific needs students have, such as not being able to run required software, by contacting ITS or colleagues to find a workaround. Communicate this plan and the resulting recommendations to students. - Some students may not have access to reliable high-speed internet.
If this is the case, begin by normalizing these challenges to keep students from feeling embarrassed. Reassure students that it is acceptable to turn off their video feed during any Zoom office hours that you hold as that can help with connectivity. You can also let them know that course work will be available for long periods of time, so they will likely be able to access Brightspace at some point in that time period. - Some students may have concerns about other obligations that may interfere with their work in your course.
If this is the case, begin by normalizing these challenges to keep students from feeling embarrassed. Remind students of the ways that you have designed the course to help them manage the workload and prepare for major assessments and assignments. Make sure that the course schedule is clear and show students how they can use that schedule to manage their time and efforts. If a student describes a conflict that seems to make it impossible for them to be successful in your course, you may want to reach out to them and learn more. There may be cases in which you should suggest that they consider taking the course at another time.