This is a pretty good article on what a student should expect from online courses - delivered from a college student's perspective.
One statement I liked - "In simplest terms, technology should be chosen according to how it will help meet the specific learning objectives of a course." I think sometimes we try too hard to make the medium the focus - for example, it's hot now to deliver training on mobile devices but they may not be the best solution for a particular training course.
Check it out: http://blog.gocollege.com/2009/03/01/the-five-attributes-of-excellent-web-based-courses-%E2%80%93-what-a-student-should-expect/
