Good Morning:
A couple of your colleagues made the very good suggestion that it might be helpful to reach out to your students electronically via Blackboard to connect with them before instruction, welcome them to your class and to make them feel part of our currently mostly virtual college and simply to let them know how to participate in your class.
Our students, particularly incoming students, have been contacting our advisement offices with questions about beginning the year remotely. They are particularly concerned about how to attend the first day of a class that is not in a classroom. I would like to ask that each of you send a welcome message to your students this week. Blackboard Announcements is one very simple way to do this. You can simply give students instructions about telecommunication codes if relevant or simply welcome them to peruse your Blackboard class site. Some faculty have found it helpful to create a technology needs survey, while others have asked students to create introductory videos. What is imperative is that incoming students know how to access the class and know what will be expected of them.
Thanks for all you are doing for our students!
Michael