I play a role in attrition management.  That means it's important for me to be listening to the feedback of students and be looking for patterns in their work.  That will help make me a more effective instructor.

Synchronous discussions are important but the need to create powerful asynchronous discussions are also very helpful for a student's overall engagement with the course and understanding of the material.

It's necessary to project a sense of authority and credibility to the students.  This will not just come from my speaking to the class but also in how the online learning enviroment is set up.  I need to be aware of the potential pitfalls that poor design, visuals, audio, etc... will be perceived by a classroom.

To minimize the frustrations that students can feel in an online setting, it's important for me as the instructor to be very familiar with the CMS and be able to provide that assistance to the students when needed.