I was spoiled as a young instructor. I taught a health administration (MSPH) course online to students who had considerable experience in their fields, were often already leaders or tapped to become leaders, and came from an wide range of professional backgrounds (pharmacy, nursing, medicine, business, insurance…). They learned a ton from one another, often spontaneously at first–I did not have to set up the course specifically to encourage interaction, they just did it because of the type of people they were. But it helped cement the notion for me that facilitating peer learning can be one of the most important ways to achieve course goals. (It has the added benefit in a professional program of cementing professional bonds and the culture of the profession.) In that setting, the peer learning arose spontaneously based on shared experiences, and was facilitated by course structure and activities. I am going to use a similar approach in H100, but clearly the ‘shared experiences’ that will promote peer learning among students will be different.
Sometimes when working with ‘students’ who are experienced in their fields, the instructor can find themselves working primarily to focus the often lively and active discussion. (How lucky you were to have this as your first online teaching experience!) In a 100 level course you may find yourself busy modeling what a quality discussion would be with the students. You might consider making special effort to recognize those students who are communicating in the way you hope they all will. This will encourage others to emulate them. Recognition of outstanding discussion contributions can be made in an announcement, in the discussion board, or even in the f2f session.