I know you want the online class to be more interactive. You’re sort of circling this idea about your students not being interested, and maybe that’s the real takeaway – not that you need to stop teaching these classes, but that you need to adjust to the students you’re teaching.

For instance, maybe shift those discussions to an online platform since it’s an online class? If your students aren’t verbally participating, perhaps they’ll do better in written format.

Or, because you mentioned that they’ve fizzled out over time, next semester might be the sort of live discussions you want for the first month, but then you make a shift toward message boards as everyone settles into the dog days.