In order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which an instructor could enhance an on-line learning experience, we surveyed 96 students enrolled in on-line Health Promotion and Wellness courses. Almost all respondents felt that sending e-mailed reminders and posting announcements on the course was very important or important for enhancing the on-line learning experience. There was a mixed response in the ratings for how important it was for an on-line instructor to host on-line office hours and the weakest ratings were for rating importance of having asynchronous time with an on-line instructor. Not surprisingly, most students used the library for research purposes less often or as often for their on-line courses than for their face-to-face courses. However, the majority of students used the Internet for resources more often or as often. Interestingly, half of the respondents felt that they interacted more with classmates in their on-line course. The amount of time spent preparing assignments in a face-to-face versus an on-line course was split.

The alliance-outcome relationship is typically interpreted to mean alliance contributes to client outcomes; however, it remains possible that when clients are feeling better, they provide more lenient or positive ratings of the alliance. The aim of this research was to test whether client mood states impact alliance perceptions by experimentally manipulating clients' mood before they rated the alliance. Clients (N = 177) watched a randomized mood induction film clip that was either positive or negative. Then, clients completed the Working Alliance Inventory, the Alliance Negotiation Scale, and questions about alliance ruptures. Preliminary analyses suggested successful random assignment and mood induction. However, there were no statistically significant differences between mood conditions for any of the measures of alliance. Overall, findings did not support the hypothesis that mood influences alliance perceptions, though some potential differences for depressed clients are discussed. Future research might utilize this novel method with different therapeutic and client contexts, such as mood disorders, and might further explore other aspects of outcome that might influence alliance ratings.