In order for students to get the most out of the online discussions, their faculty need to encourage them to be substantive in their posts. Faculty should not be giving full credit for every post a student makes. There should be additional details included that help to further develop the discussions about the topic. Faculty can ask additional questions to get the students thinking more critically.

Faculty need to be constantly learning how to better deliver their course materials. We cannot become complacent with how we do things. We need to move away from our comfort zones and get more in touch with how students learn best and utilize tools that they know to help them learn better.

It is important for students to understand it is vital for them to become good online learners. Part of the responsibility is on them and part of the responsibility is on the faculty. We need to role model the proper way to behave in the online environment through how we communicate in our announcements, our email, our discussions, etc. 

It is crucial to encourage structure, organization along with time management for online learners. Many students like the flexibility of online learning but push off their responsibilities for the course because attendance is not a specific time. However, this leads to disorganization and missing deadlines. Students need to set time each week for them to complete their discussions and assignments. They need to put due dates on a calendar and make sure each week they block time to sit and do their required work.