Each online course must be clearly and concisely defined for the students and the instructor. Expectations and accountabilities for both parties must be fully addressed, regardless whether the course will be provided as optional support for a traditional course, or blended, or for full online delivery.
The following samples may help you to create your own texts:
1. Welcome
The Welcome page provides a great opportunity for an Instructor to reach out to his or her students and establish an important "face" with which students can identify. Instructors may also wish to encourage students to visit the Instructors profile page to see personal/professional information about the Instructor, relevant to the course.
Template:
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Welcome
It is my pleasure to welcome you to [course name here]
This course will assist you to build on the knowledge and skills you will acquire in practice as well as challenge you to develop knowledge in new areas. The learning activities and assignments in this course are designed to help you access, develop and attain the skills you will require when you join the workforce. This course is designed to challenging your abilities. You will be asked to:
- think for yourself
- make difficult choices
- work collaboratively with other students
- have your ideas and views challenged by others
You will be asked to do a lot of work on your own. In particular, you will be asked to find out information, to analyze the information, and make decisions based on your analysis.
At the same time, you will have a lot of help available. I will provide you with guidance on where to go for information, how to analyze it, and how to use it. You will have help from fellow students, who will be grappling with the same issues, and who will be asked to share their experiences with you.
I look forward to the opportunity to meet all of you (virtually at least!) and the chance to explore the content of this course with you.
Please know that I am happy to help in anyway, so don’t hesitate to ask for assistance.
In the meantime, may you enjoy this course and I wish you all the very best of success, as you continue down this path of learning.
[Instructor's name here]
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2. Course Syllabus
VCC uses software called CourseLeaf SYL to enable faculty to easily create a syllabus from a template. Follow this link to get detailed instructions on how to use SYL to create your course syllabus and make it available to students: