Title: Course Introduction
Course: Dev_TOPKIT_SAMPLE_COURSE_Bauer_S_67 > Section: Course Syllabus Files

Welcome to <Replace - Course Title>, a faculty development course at <Replace -  Institutional Name> sponsored by <Replace -  Department Name>.

Most faculty see themselves as falling into one of the following categories:

- You are a face-to-face instructor but have used <Replace - Your LMS> in your face-to-face class,
- You’ve completed one of the other faculty development courses offered by<Replace -  Department Name> and now you’re ready for something more,
- Your department is moving courses and programs into the online environment, or
- You’ve taught online courses at other institutions and you think to yourself, “Teaching online? Yeah, I’ve got this!”

Whichever category you fall into, we feel that this course has something to offer you.

In <Replace - Course Title>, you will essentially wear two hats: one of the student and one of the instructor. As a student in <Replace - Course Title>, you will log on to the <Replace - Course Title> course, attend sessions, engage in discussions with peers, and complete assignments related to online teaching and learning such as copyright, accessibility, and technology tools. You will wear your 'instructor hat' when you begin building your own online course, applying the concepts you are learning in <Replace - Course Title> as a student. There are many strategies that we will cover throughout <Replace - Course Title> and at times it can feel a bit overwhelming. Our hope in this class is not only to supply you with a sample of the wealth of information related to online teaching but to consistently model different online teaching strategies and tools so you can decide what works best for your class. We also hope that being back in the student’s seat will give you further insight into the design and class tone you hope to achieve as an instructor.

The <Replace -  Institutional Name> may offer courses in different modalities. This course is taught as a fully online World Wide Web course. The class you will develop in <Replace - Course Title> will be a blended course or a fully online World Wide Web class. No matter which mode you will be using to teach your course, <Replace -  Department Name> and the instructional design team <Replace with your team name> are here to answer your questions, help guide you as you build your course, and will continue to be at your disposal when you “go live.”

This course is being taught using the learning management system called Instructure Canvas, and is organized in modules (units of content and assignments). As your online facilitators, we will help guide you through the course. Please let us know if there is anything that we can do to ensure your success.

Also, we believe that we all learn from each other. We are all a part of <Replace -  Institutional Name>’s online community and are coming to this course with many different skill sets. We strive to create an active, supportive community during <Replace - Course Title> and hope that you will make contacts here that will be with you for years to come.

Now it's time to begin!

Week 0 - Getting Started

Please complete the Week 0 - Getting Started activities. If you get lost, you can always click on Modules and select Week 0 - Getting Started activities, or click on the Weekly Content link on the home page.

TOPKit Sample Course was prepared by the University of Central Florida (UCF). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.