Notes on the Introduction

The "Introduction" to a course should be designed to welcome students specifically to that course . It should be brief - like an Abstract for a publication - and it should be directly related to the content that will be covered in the course.

Some introductory messages read more like a welcome to the Program that could be delivered more effectively and perhaps more personally as a welcoming letter (or email) from the Program Director or Program Manager to newly admitted students.

Repeating similar general messages in every course will eventually result in learners beginning to skip over them, even though they may contain new sections that are significant for the learners in that particular course.

To avoid this problem, and ensure that Course Guides are truely course specific, a Program Guide that contains all of the generic information should be developed. The current Program Guide should be provided to each new student at the time of admission. It should then be updated and distributed in print to all students on an annual basis, and it should also be available online.

This approach has the added benefits of reducing both the cost of the paper used and the print production costs incurred by the program.

       RETURN

---

Online Learning Consultants, Ltd. (2009)