About the Author: Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt are the managing partners of Crossroads Consulting Group, working with academic institutions and organizations on the design and development of effective online distance learning programs. Rena and Keith are also program directors and faculty in the Teaching in the Virtual Classroom program at Fielding Graduate University. They are the authors of Assessing the Online Learner, Collaborating Online, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom, The Virtual Student, and Building Online Learning Communities all from Jossey-Bass.