Communication is important to allow the student to address their issues or concerns.  It also allows for instructors to provide feedback to students with the intention of better improving the students progress in the class. 

Even though courses through online learning platforms use technology to deliver content, it is vital for students to still have human contact with other students and their instructor. 

The quality of education isn't determined through the delivery method but rather what valuable material is provided, how it is provided and what the student has learned by the end of the class.  Differentiation due to high competition is needed to separate one school from another.  

Student retention requires showing instructor support and encouragement to the student.  Retention is improved when the resources of the course is sufficient for students to understand the material and become capable of working on the homeworks and other assignments.  All of these factors will never create an environment of 100% retention because the students' level of effort is needed to make it through the class successfully. 

Metarubrics are rubrics for rubrics.  Students can be involved in creating a rubric for an assignment which is intended to increase motivation and further understanding of how they will be graded.

To be fully understandable to students, rubrics must have a scale as well as descriptors so they have an idea what milestones they need to incorporate into their paper to achieve a particular score. 

I learned that rubrics need careful thought when creating them because if not rubrics will not serve their intended effectiveness.  Having a complicated point system for example may confuse and frustrate the student. 

Rubrics help turn assignments that can be subjective into a more objective grading outcome.  They help students know the expectations of the instructor and provide them the insight as to what to include in their paper in order to achieve their desirable score.  Feedback from rubrics help train the students not to make the same mistake in future assignments.