The program designers added it to the introductory discussion so that students learn how to say each other's name correctly. There are weekly live sessions and each of the modules is taught by a different instructor. So this also gives instructors the ability to practice how to say names before they meet students.
Instructors Maggie Debelius and Yianna Vovides asked their LDT students to insert a Namedrop recording into their Canvas profiles so they could all be sure to pronounce each other's names correctly.