Students should know about your educational and professional background.

Group discussions are not always conducive.

Besides assessing your own teaching style , f2f time with said student is effective.

I think teachers should be flexible when necessary. Students will have some flexibility in the real world too.

I wanted to stress the importance of real time learning. Students need to know that there is a real instructor on the other end. If we only had one synchronous meeting per course it might help with retention.