In the article First Impressions: Activities for the First Day of Class, the author discusses how students are never more attentive than during the first class and how she uses the first class to help them feel less intimidated and to set the tone for participation. Arriving early to take time to greet each student individually, as well as teaching the students a practical skill right awayas an icebreaker, are some of her approaches.

Another approach is to be very explicit and intentional about the learning environment you are hoping to create such as this instructor does when he cites a poem on the first day of class. While his approach may be less conventional, his intention of expressing first what he asks of himself before expressing what he hopes for from his students is a good example of modeling the behavior and the learning environment he’s hoping to foster.

Finally, while things such as policies, assessment and deadlines may not be up for discussion, how the students decide to learn together may vary depending on the group of students. As the instructor, you can be intentional about soliciting input from students on the kind of learning environment they hope to create for example by facilitating a discussion on ground rules, or by asking each student to state their gives (what do they bring to the class that they are willing to share in terms of skills, background, experience) and gets (i.e. what are they hoping to learn/get from the class) when they introduce themselves. Such approaches not only create buy in, but also sets the tone for taking active responsibility for learning.
Here are a few more articles and ideas to consider:

• What to Do on the First Day of Class (Berkeley Center for Teaching & Learning)
• First Day of Class Activities that Create a Climate for Learning (Faculty Focus)
• Off to a Great Start: Stanford Teachers Share Tips for a Successful First Day of Class
• First Day of Class (Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching)

• This Online Lecture Tool Kit is an excellent place to start if you are thinking of creating videos for instructional purposes.
• teachonline.ca is a resource for post-secondary educators in Ontario, but many of the links are equally applicable to online teaching anywhere. You can find information on technologies in online learning, as well as practical tools to help you integrate technology in teaching in a way that improves the learning experience for students.
• Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning  is a free, open, online textbook from Tony Bates including specific guidelines as well as a more theoretical background. To download, click here. Check out Tony’s website too, for more resources.
• The University of Michigan’s Center  for Research on Teaching & Learning has some good overviews of Getting Started, Choosing Your Technology, Flipping the Classroom and Examplesfrom faculty here

• First Day of Class (Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching)

• What are your most useful synchronous online facilitation practices? (Nancy White)
• Live online Co-facilitator or technical support as Producer or stage hand (InSync Training)
• Virtual Activity Selection Grid (Cindy Huggett) (try watching some of the recorded webinars on Cindy’s page too)
• Ideas for Active Online Learning (Faculty Focus)
• Facilitating Live Online Learning (Colin Steed, E-book)

• Five Learning Tech Trends to Watch in Next Five Years  (Karl M. Kapp, instructional technology professor at Bloomsburg University)
• Three Ways to Use Microlearning in Higher Education Classrooms

• Let’s Practice What We Teach: Flipping Faculty Development (Faculty Focus)
• Blended and Flipped: Exploring New Models for Effective Teaching & Learning (Special Report from Faculty Focus)

• Creating a Sense of Presence in the Online Classroom (Faculty Focus)
• Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers
• Moodle Course Design: a high-wire act (slide show)
• Moodle and Pedagogy (how Moodle has the potential to support a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning):
• Gamifying Moodle (YouTube video i.e. on how to add conditional activities with completion tracking)
• Creative Moodle Blog
• Moodle Conditional Activities