In the latest issue of JOLT (Vol. 6, No. 4, December 2010) the article "The Indicators of Instructor Presence that are Important to Students
in Online Courses" by Sheridan and Kelly notes a study that found online students "While the students generally placed high value on communication and the instructor’s responsiveness, they did not place as much importance on synchronous or face-to-face communication. Participating in synchronous chat sessions had the third lowest rating of importance across all of the rated items, but it also had one of the highest variabilities, suggesting that it was very important to a least a few of the students. Based on a significant negative correlation between the number of online courses taken and the importance of chat sessions, the value that students place on this form of communication may wane as they acquire more online course experience." This finding is significant because some institutions are now requiring online teaching to hold mandatory synchronous sessions.
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no4/sheridan_1210.pdf
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