Maintain open communication with your students

Sending a "welcome email" to pre-registered students 5–6 days before the course's start date is a great practice when organizing your classes. You could briefly introduce yourself and your teaching or employment situation, explain how the class will operate and how to get started on the first day of class, and include a link to your student survey if you decide to conduct one as described above. You might wish to offer this greeting in the form of a brief, two-minute video, an email, or even both.

Create channels of communication for your course, keep them up to date, and communicate frequently rather than insufficiently. Make sure your students are aware of where to locate critical information on your course website, and arrange for more frequent group check-ins via email, messaging, or other frequently used channels. To let students know what is going on in your class at any given time, use Announcements often. Also, make sure that all information is saved for later use on your course website. In all communications, adopt a warm, sympathetic tone.