In order to engage my students, I definitely want to emulate many aspects from this course, including the positive feedback. The positive feedback from my colleagues and the instructor creates a "safe" environment and makes me feel more confident about posting my responses. I also like the way that we are required to respond to our colleagues posts, which ensures that we are reading what others are thinking. This allows us to see other perspectives and hopefully learn from one another. I definitely think the wrapping and weaving of the discussions is important. It allows everyone to touch base again, answer any lingering questions, and make the students think more deeply about the topic (hopefully).
Currently, the most challenging aspect of online/blended teaching for me is the mechanics of it. I know it sounds silly, but prior to this class, I had never edited a Google Doc or created a blog. Everything is new to me. My solution to this is to continue learning to do new things online through courses such as this.
