Three years ago, UMass Lowell Professor Stuart Freedman had mixed feelings about putting a course online. Today his perspective has changed, and he is a strong advocate for online teaching and learning, if done right. In particular, Freedman stresses the importance of effective communications between faculty and students. "Online teachers have to find a way to simulate the experience of direct face-to-face interaction," he says. "This is influenced by the way an instructor communicates whatever the course content is as compared to the content itself."

For instance, Freedman suggests that online faculty write like they speak. However, don’t mimic spoken English at the expense of violating the basic rules of good writing.

Following are additional examples from Freedman on how to improve online faculty-student communications:

• Use contractions.
• Use spoken expressions at the beginning of a written sentence, such as "Well, what this means to me is. . .
• Speak in the first person and in the active voice.
• Use friendly expressions to break down status barriers.
• Respond to student e-mails as quickly as possible.
• "Pepper" your lectures with examples of how the concepts being discussed can be applied to real life.
• Break up your overall lecture into as many smaller, related pieces as possible.
• Begin each e-mail to a student with "Hi (name)" or "Hello (name)."

Freedman also has a short list of five barriers that can negatively affect student performance and satisfaction in an online course:

1. The barrier of social distance, resulting from overly formalistic instructor communications.
2. The barrier of conceptual confusion, resulting from poorly organized and presented course material.
3. The barrier of fear and mistrust, resulting from instructor communication that is perceived by students as non-supportive.
4. The barrier of isolation and disconnectedness, resulting from insufficient speed and frequency of instructor communication.
5. The barrier of lost efficacy, due to instructor rigidity in applying course rules, procedures and policies.

Reference:
S. Freedman, S. Tello and D. Lewis, "Strategies for Improving Instructor-Student Communication in Online Education." In F. Albalooshi (ed.), Virtual Education: Cases in Learning and Teaching Technologies. Hershey, PA: IRM Press, 2003, pp. 156-168.