Between the responses I received they all overwhelmingly agreed that their favorite

teachers made the class engaging, fun, and active. As MichiganVirtual.org writes in their

Teacher Guide to Online Learning, “creating a human-to-human bond with your online students,

as well as with their parents/guardians and the student’s local online mentor, is critical in

determining student success in your online course” (MichiganVirtual, 2017). One response said

about their favorite teacher “My anatomy teacher because she took the time to make sure

everyone understood before she moved on all while being the funniest person I’ve met.”

Education is so special because of the bonds forged between teachers and students. Online

learning environments must tackle many difficult obstacles such as “online facilitators don’t

have the ability to read body language, see students visibly struggling, or informally build

rapport with a “How’s it going?” check in. (Michigan Virtual, 2017). Online students can feel

very isolated and disconnected from not only their classmates but their teachers in an online

setting. Cailtin Tucker, author of article Successfully Taking Online classes Online suggests, “A

staple of any online course is discussion, and a good online discussion can be a great way to

build community and communication skills” (Tucker, 2020). Above all, the most important step

to creating a successful online course is to prioritize student interaction and sense of community.

Google Form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScESF5vovZpCGEgRTQe5LijWFmAd9vC1lzS2Nt

Z0BvciQ5xdQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Tucker, C. (n.d.). Successfully Taking Offline Classes Online. Retrieved September 18,

2020, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/summer20/vol77/num10/Successfully-Taking-Offline-Classes-Online.aspx

Teacher Guide to Online Learning. (2017). MI: Michigan Virtual Universiy.