The notion that student self-efficacy and instructor recognition can positively effect performance has received widespread attention in the literature, covering a range of environments from elementary through adult education settings. Like literature is relatively sparse testing this premise in an online asynchronous environment. Given our growing number of online offerings and a renewed focus on improving student engagement and success, we sought to test the effect of direct instructor recognition in large online asynchronously taught courses in agribusiness, including introductory farm management (n=168) and real estate (n=266) (IRB approval #0004701). Two treatments and a control were employed to test the effect of personalized praise regarding exam and course performance on performance on subsequent exams. Praise was individualized to the student, tailored to meet their performance, and always positive. Treatment 1 received personalized praise only after the first exam. Treatment 2 received positive praise after every exam. The control group received no praise. Self-reported student self-efficacy was collected prior to each exam to serve as a control variable. Repeated measures MANOVA and regression analysis estimates showed a positive relationship between praise and subsequent exam performance for the farm management course, and that praise had less effect for those with higher grade point averages (p<.10). Frequency of praise (treatment) did not have an effect. Interesting is that the effect of praise on performance, while positive, was not statistically significant for the real estate course. That instructor already regularly sent out positive and supportive emails to the class in general. One hypothesis worth testing is that praise may not need to be personalized to be effective in its influence on student performance. As communication tools have evolved to accommodate offering feedback with minimal instructional time commitment, it is recommended that instructors consider doing so as a regular means of engaging students when appropriate.