The constantly changing nature of online education challenges instructors to overcome such obstacles as students' feelings of isolation, absence of nonverbal cues and lack of immediacy. Even as the synchronous, web-based learning environment becomes more widely used and sophisticated, research in this area lags. In order to ensure that distance education students are given the optimal online environment for learning, an online survey was conducted across more than fifty Library and Information Science students from Mar 4-12, 2010 in order to understand their overall learning experiences in a synchronous environment. The preliminary findings suggest that students are very appreciative of the synchronous component of their hybrid courses. The research findings have implications for instructional strategies in online learning in higher education, in that they seem to point to the positive impact of synchronous dialogue. Instructors can use synchronous technology to create a meaningful learning experience by facilitating discussion and group work, providing feedback, and building a social presence supported by effective technological backup. The findings suggest that the synchronous technology has the potential to compensate for the structural weakness caused by the asynchronicity of traditional online education.