Students’ expectations of instructors in face-to-face and online learning environments at a Chinese university

With the fast development of technology and the prevalent use of high-speed internet across campus, online courses have become a necessary option for course delivery in many universities in China. A sample group of 158 university students participated in this study. We examined differences in their expectations of instructors between face-to-face and online course settings. Results indicated that Chinese students expect their instructors to have some overlap characteristics in both sets, including being knowledgeable about the subject, building class rapport, having realistic expectations of students, and providing fair testing and grading. Specifically, Chinese students expect instructors who teach online courses to be more confident, creative, interesting, and humble. Chinese students also hope online instructors actively motivate class discussion and promote critical thinking, and are intellectually stimulating.