You have those traditional activities you do the first day of class, go over the syllabus, introductions, etc.; however, what do you do in an online course? What are the traditional activities? Why are they there? How do they transfer online? What are online specific needs? How do you introduce the technologies being used?

Mesa Community College Online Office. (n.d.) Distance Learning Course Information Checklist. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/distance/docs/student_checklist.pdf
Most insitutions that offer a significant number of online courses have some "how to get started" page that usually includes a "checklist" for students. This is Mesa CC's checklist. Are you ready to answer these questions? Can your students easily find the answers to these questions. Consider finding a variety of these student checklists as a way to consider what to do during the first week of classes. (Entry by Shelley)
Kay's comment: I was glad to know about this link providing great informtion for online students. I adapted it in the document I shared with all of you detailing my first week prompts.