Even before your course officially starts, get your students engaged by filling out a pre-course questionnaire. It’s easy to create using Microsoft forms or some other platform and then sending out the link to your students the week before classes start. This not only sets the scene for an interactive course but also allows students to convey information on their personal circumstances. Given this, it’s important that the questionnaire is not compulsory (e.g., is not a gateway activity that then opens course resources on your learning platform like Moodle). Nevertheless, in my course, response rates are very high (86-90% of enrolled students). Some of the questions I include are:

- What are you most excited about for this course?

- Is English your first language?

- Do you have carer responsibilities?

- Is there anything about this course that makes you anxious?

- Is there anything that you feel might impact your experience in this course?

I then send each student that completes the questionnaire a personalised follow up email that addresses any issues raised in their responses. 

The function of this questionnaire is two-fold: 1. it emphasizes students matter and are valued as individuals; 2. it provides a means to identify students that might need additional support before any course activities and assessments have been taken. As an example, using this questionnaire, I discovered that over a third of my students were from non-English speaking backgrounds. A large proportion of students also self-identified as struggling with anxiety and poor mental health. This information has helped me adapted the types of resources I have available for students during the course (e.g., see 'TiP: Improve the comprehension of your online content'). 

Here’s a 2 minute TiP video: