Keeping all necessary information on student participation and task completion organized in an easily accessible format is essential. 

Knowing the students as well as is possible will facilitate identifying when and how they go off task. Dealing with situations in a sensitive manner might prevent student failure.

Our school system expects us to provide some form of direct instruction in the first half of a scheduled class period, followed by a monitored time period during which students engage the material. ISTM that an asynchronous discussion format is best suited to this framework, as some students might have to participate at a later time. Obviously that's not what I will do every day, but maybe it's a good tool either to introduce the weeks work, or to summarize it.

I found the suggestions for establishing a relationship with students I may not meet in person to be very useful. I copiedf and pasted those suggestions for my own use when starting

Students are frustrated witht he same things that were frustrating to me in my first Remote Instruction experience. Some of these obstacles can be removed by proper preparation at the outset. 

Well defined procedures, definitions of terms used in the course, and schedulkes of topics are essential from the beginning.