Michelle, Thank you for your organized and well-thought out input in this forum. You are right on target in that content, communication and assessment are essential components to an effective online course. You can use a simple diagnostic assessment at the beginning of your course to determine what the students know or don't know. This helps establish a guideline for content and/or how quickly or slowly you may need to move through the content. As I have said many times in these forums - communciation is KEY! And, feedback and assessment (whether student driven or from others who have taught your course) is also essential. Nice job.