In order to effectively manage my online courses I am employ the following strategies: 1)Check administrative emails and respond. 2)Check student emails and respond. 3)Ensure that all grading has been done. 4)Post all announcements and supplemental grading. Doing all of this daily helps me to stay abreast of my responsibilities.

While I understand the theory behind coordinating synchronous and asynchronous learning environments I must confess I am not completely a fan. As I do not want to place the added stress of participating the synchronous environment on the student when part of the selling point is the independence and flexibility of the learning environment.

It must be noted that while the online environment allows both the student and the instructor flexibility in terms of their respective deliverables; it is of tantamount importance that the instructor is seen as actively engaged, and interested in the course as a whole and in each individual student.

Of all the issues one should consider in any online course is instructor readiness. To this end, an instructor needs to make sure that they are technically proficient, have good management and organizational skills and above all patience and the ability to communicate.