I would always want a real person to inspire me. Of course, these students might just be a deceiving sample, and since I typed it in I've contaminated their words, but our topic is about students learning, and I also believe that students have different needs and expectations, as we can see in the words above. Some students I've found want immediate feedback, not a lot of elaboration is needed but it should be honest and useful. They want a real person and some depth. The second student above, she was a good example.
Some people often think of learning something as learning a concept or technique.
Some people don't really care about the learning as much as what it will do for them, such as the grade they will get on it a means to something else. These are not mutually exclusive categories or even a complete set, but I believe they are useful consideration. Personally, I am learning how to provide consistent and timely feedback for students. I am finding that students do vary in their online needs which has a definite impact on how to properly respond to their e-mail requests. I enjoy teaching online because it is a demanding educational delivery format that offers numerous opportunities to individualize instruction.