One of the biggest differences between teaching face to face classes and teaching online is that we are not in the same physical space as the students. Also, students can feel nervous during the first class because they are not familiar with:

1) their new teacher

2) other students in the same class

3) the new technology

These 3 factors can make it hard to establish rapport. The video below explains a 'getting to know you' activity so that everyone in the online class feels comfortable with each other. Once this has been established, the learning environment becomes more comfortable for the students