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Welcome Letter

It is a best practice to email students in your DE courses a welcome letter prior to the first day of classes. Students new to online learning may need extra help to understand how to get started in your class.

What should my welcome letter include?

Your welcome letter should provide resources that help students successfully begin your course. Since this will be your first contact with students, make sure to write in a friendly, welcoming manner.

For an example, review LPC's Model Welcome Letter. This downloads as a Word Doc, and you are welcome to use it as an optional template.

Just be sure to edit to reflect your contact information and course details. Highlights help indicate where you need to delete or revise information. 

How do I email students before the term begins?

Once the term begins, most instructors use the Canvas Inbox to communicate with students. But before the semester begins, the best way to communicate with students is through email. New students may have never logged into Canvas, and Canvas Inbox communication may be limited before your Canvas shell is published and the term begins. Plus, it's helpful to establish another communication channel with students that can be used during any unexpected Canvas outages.

You can access email addresses for students who are registered or wait-listed for your courses in MyPortal:

  1. Log into MyPortal.
  2. Click the Faculty tab.
  3. Click Open Faculty Dashboard.
  4. Click Detail Schedule.
  5. Select the Term and CRN from the drop-down menus.
  6. Under Roster, click Classlist.
  7. Scroll down to view your Summary Class List.
  8. Select individual students by checking the box next to their names, or the checkbox at the very top to select all.
  9. Click the Email icon (top right). This will open an email with student emails in the BCC area to protect student privacy.  Add your own LPC email in the "To" field to be sent a copy of the email for your records. 
    • Tip: Check to make sure this email populated from your LPC email address. This is automatic when on a college-issued device, but if working on a personal laptop, your email may default to a personal email account. If this happens, you can log into your LPC Outlook account on the web, copy the emails from the BCC area of your personal email, and paste them into the BCC area of a new email created in your LPC Outlook account. 
  10. Add a welcoming email title and then copy and paste your welcome letter to students in the body of the email.
  11. Click Send.
  12. If your class has a wait list, click the Wait List tab on the Class List page in MyPortal and repeat the steps above.
  13. Finally, don't forget to log off of MyPortal, especially if you are on a shared device.

Tip: Consider posting your welcome letter as an announcement in your Canvas shell on the first day of class as a back-up. This can help catch up students who may not have checked their email or who add the class after you send your letter.

Need help?

Student Resources

Faculty Resources