Abstract: In the teacher education department, courses in teacher education have traditionally been face-to-face. Although in the college several graduate programs have been offered as large-scale distance learning courses for six plus years, undergraduate courses have not. This year, several courses in our undergraduate program are now being offered via distance learning. One of the more significant challenges of on-line courses that staff are struggling with is how to stay connected with students in ways that provide the warmth and empathy that is easier to implement in a face-to-face class. Benefits of creating caring communities in face-to-face classrooms have been well established (e.g., Mendes, 2003; Cornelius-White, 2007). This presentation will provide the results of efforts to create warmth and empathy in two new courses on-line, as well as discuss what professors who have been teaching distance learning courses for a few years have found to be effective and not effective.