What is unique about the teacher and student experience in an online course compared to face-to-face?

As an instructor of both types of classes, what is unique for me is the feeling that we all have a little more insight into each other's personal lives in the online class. For all my classes, whether online or face-to-face, I have students answer several questions so I can know their science background. The difference is that online everyone gets to share in those introductions, whereas face-to-face I'm the only one who reads them. So, surprisingly, there is a sense of community about the online class that's a little different from that found face-to-face.

Regarding interaction with students, I can joke around with my face-to-face students and not worry so much about them taking anything out of context because of voice inflections. When online I've actually had one student tell me my response to her e-mail was "insensitive." Needless to say, I spend a lot of time in e-mails and discussion posts writing and rewriting before clicking that SEND button.

I've also found that some online students really do think that if they don't open an exam until 10 minutes before it is due and then have trouble accessing it, that the instructor should be instantly available so they don't miss their deadline. This and the fact that they also believe an instructor should be available over weekends and holidays has resulted in my making a policy that all instructors will answer all questions within 3 "working" days and put in their syllabus that they reserve the right to not work over weekends and holidays.

One thing that isn't much different between the two scenarios is that I still need to encourage certain students to take responsibility for their grades and do better. I have to say though that I'm noticing online students coming to me earlier in asking how to change their study techniques so they can improve their grade.

The current issue on my plate is trusting that students taking online exams are not practicing an "open-book" policy. I do remember reading somewhere that online students do better, but the skeptic in me is not convinced this is true for reasons the article suggested. This has become such an issue that my dean has directed all online classes have proctored midterms and finals by this upcoming quarter. Since my class is the guinea pig for that this summer, I'll get to see first hand if the grades are as high as usual. In the past I have tried to equalize the situation by giving both classes one minute per question (a 30-question quiz gets 30 minutes). I figured this would eliminate the 5-7 minutes I used to see between questions, which I assumed meant they were looking up the answer. What is funny now is that most face-to-face students complete a 30-question quiz in less than 15 minutes while online students typically take the entire 30 minutes.

This brings to mind a selective enrollment program on campus where pre-requisites include passing advanced English writing and math classes. Yet when the interview involves sitting in a room by oneself and writing why you want to be in the program or answering simple math questions well below the level of the pre-requisite class, students can't do it. So, is the problem the type of instruction taking place in online classes, or is it the lack of safeguards that insure the person taking the exam is the person enrolled in the class?