Justine,
It is currently much more difficult to know your students in the online classroom than traditional. Those two communication channels are the main ones available to most current online instructors. As the technology bridges are enhanced between social electronic networking and the online classroom, that too will change. Over the next decade there will be much more audio/visual communication added in the online classroom to alleviate some of the 'distance.'
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
