Frequent communication is key. If you want your students to stay on track you need to stay in touch.

I think feed back is one of the most important things an instuctor can give a student.  The more personal and often, the better the result will be.

I have found being a on-line student that the instuctors I found to be most helpful put more in their introduction to the class than their resume, they all spoke from experince and found a way to sound human.

Online instruction can be challenging for both the instructor and student.  The student can become confused and fustrated if the content is not well organized and easly found, the instuctor can find learning how to organize the materials can be challenging.