Good questions. (I am in Bud’s course right now). One would hope that we would not need the carrot and the stick for a course like this one, Bud, in that folks voluntary signed up. But … human motivational needs are odd things, right?
I don’t know the answers to your questions (the lurking question is a key one for all online spaces, right?), except to say that it is not the design of the course nor is it anything lacking in your facilitation that has led to your wondering about participation. Both points have been excellent and, notwithstanding some personal conflicts around the live sessions on my end, I am learning a lot by diving in with a group of other deep divers into the Common Core.
Thanks for the journey, Professor Bud! (You’ve been waiting for someone to call you that, haven’t you?)
Kevin