convey a lot of information very efficiently and in a very friendly manner; approachable; they [are] not rude or condescending; they demonstrate a willingness to help students.

care about your success in the class.

indicate they value you as a student by their presence in the course and the nature of their feedback.

are able to carry on a virtual conversation.

have compassion and can empathize with students. Sometimes technology doesn’t work. People lead busy lives.

realize there are no stupid questions and that smart people ask questions.

respect our preconceptions and beliefs but try to expose us to things we haven’t thought about before.

are flexible, ready to respond to student needs.

understand how to build a sense of community and classroom in the online environment.

notify students when he or she will be out of contact for a designated period.

provide prompt feedback.

promote interaction among students and with the students.

show enthusiasm and have a sense of humor.

are able to envision what students are going to have to go through to learn what the instructor is trying to teach, which means students don’t have to jump through unnecessary hoops.

have good writing skills.

have knowledge of the field and hands-on experience in their field.

should have been an online student at some point.

know how to prompt students with questions in the discussion board to re-engage them and take the discussion to a higher level.

are willing to share their own experiences with online students.

have the ability to share power, awareness that it needs to be done, and an acceptance of the awareness that it needs to be done.

are able to think ahead and be creative in putting together resources.

are willing to share their knowledge through synchronous as well as asynchronous discussions.

must be a good typist, most important in the synchronous activities of an online course.

are highly organized.

know how to use the tools of the software so they can communicate well online.

model a willingness to learn.

are able to keep people on topic.

have the skills to design a course so that it has an element of complexity that makes it challenging, and the student feels he or she has accomplished something by working through the maze of requirements, but not [so] stupidly convoluted that … students become constantly disoriented by the expectations.

create a course that is inviting and conveys passion for the subject.

provide students advance organizers and a sequence of activities for what the student will encounter module by module.

will direct students rather than just measure them according to a rubric.

design the learning to consider different learning styles and are adept at teaching to different learning styles.

require group work for projects and communication that promotes interaction.

know how to chunk material in such a way that it engages people in a meaningful way about a particular objective or concept.

state benchmarks for their response to students.

focus on the human aspect and student learning more than on the technology.

understand how to build a sense of community and classroom in the online environment.