There is a reason gaming is so popular, so incorperating similar concepts just might have an unexpected positive result

Personalites of both students and facilitator could make or break this method.

Reiterate to students the importance of time management to students and provide them with skills and tools to aid in time management.  Seeing as time management is left up to the studen ts I believe when teaching online, you would be well served to break your assignments up into several small assignments due at different periods throughout the course instead of only a few or even one large assignment.  I believe this will keep those who are prone to procrastination to not find themselves in too deep when the time comes to hand in final assignment as they've been forced… >>>

I believe students should be informally tested on their online skills when it comes to speciific technology needed during course and research skills to determine if additional time and resources should be spent teaching those skills to help students success.

Using technology to create a Community of Practice allows students to collaborate ideas, learn from each other and remain actively involved in the learning process.  It provides all the oppertunity to bring their expertise, understanding and a platform for their voice to be heard along with hearing others and learning from each other.

It's important for students to know oneself in order to realize if they can be successful in an online course.  Also keeping an eye out for students struggling to realize if they may have a disability and discuss strategies with those students to help overcome the disadvantages that disability creates.

Rubrics allow students to know exactly what is expected of them on a project or assignment by letting them know what will be graded and how.  This not only aids the instructor in insuring students are graded fairly and equally, it helps the students stay focused on what ithe instructor is looking for.

I found the importance of essay type questions to gain insight to whether or not a student has a broader understanding beyond the simply memorized information.

In order to maintain a continuous assessment of how students are comprehending the material you must perform summative assessments reguraly.  This will help the instructor realize week areas that need more instruction for understanding in order to insure students are meeting learning objectives set for the lesson.  Providing only summative assessments at lesson conclusion doesn't allow for these milestones.

I learned that not all assessment methods are appropriate to use with all courses and that not all tools within those assessment methods need to be implemented.  The use of appropriate tools should be well thought out and reviewed at course end by students and instructor as to their effectivness.