One of the pertinent issues facing online faculty is to understand what our students; expectations are concerning our roles and responsibilities within the classroom setting. Although many faculty may understand the traditional face-to-face classroom paradigm, given that is what many faculty experienced in their studies, the online environment in many aspects present new challenges and new opportunities. The traditional face-to-face classroom-setting paradigm of teaching typically involves a lecture in which the instructor dominates the communication; this is the expectation of many students, and instructors in general are comfortable with this model. The online environment, however, places new demands on instructors as students' expectations differ.

Craig, Goold, Coldwell, and Mustard (2008) conducted a survey of online students to ascertain their expectations of online instructors' roles and responsibilities. The findings from the study are intriguing: 92 percent indicated that instructors should provide useful feedback; 84 percent indicated instructors should provide guidance in discussion forums; 75 percent wanted instructors to challenge them about issues; 74 percent of student indicated they wanted stimulating experiences; and 73 percent wanted their instructor to provide challenging experiences.

Although some of the results might align with the roles and responsibilities of the instructor in the traditional classroom setting, others did not. For instance, knowing all the answers and conducting research scored 16 and 32 percent respectively. The crucial application from the findings indicated online students have different expectations about the roles and responsibilities of online instructors as compared to ground-based instructors. The paradigm seems to have moved away from an instructor-centric to one that is student-centric. Thus, online instructors may need to alter their teaching and functional modules within the classroom to meet the needs of the online student population. How can we best do this, what are your best practices for meeting the needs and expectations of your students?

Thanks,
Eric