Welcome to the Sustainable Communities Project Course Blog!

As a student enrolled in the Sustainable Communities Project, you will be required to contribute to the course blog each week. Consider the blog as a kind of online journal where you will be sharing your thoughts, images, videos and links to other online content you feel relate to concepts discussed in the course. As an extension of our class community, we encourage you to read and respond to at least three other blog posts each week. Guidelines for each week's blog post are included in each module on the main course website.

As with the discussion forum on the main course website, it is important to consider our course guidelines for interacting online, as well as how you might respond to others' posts in meaningful ways that help to promote discussion. Some approaches to responding to blog posts include:

* Respond to a post that you find particularly interesting. Explain what particular points you found interesting and why.

* Compare similar or dissimilar experiences of your own.

* Pose a question to the person who created the post, or direct it at others in the course. In other words, invite others to join and continue the discussion.

* Be respectful if you disagree with a point that someone has raised. Always provide support to back up your opinions.

* Share links with other online resources that help to make connections between the content of the post and similar (or dissimilar) ideas.

NOTE: Before posting, you will need to create a Google account (if you do not have one already), and email your instructor to gain posting privileges. The blog will remain private, and will only be viewed by those enrolled in the course.

Take some time during the first week to explore the different blog functions available for you to use. If you have never created a blog before, the following video may provide some useful tips on getting started: