ameliorated by the fact that the instructor was privy to all of the chat, so while it was challenging to attend to both, the formal and informal learning portions were seamlessly integrated. In a face-to-face situation, this may not have occurred as the instructor would not hear all side conversations. During the course, students became new parents, started new jobs, and shared stories of travel and what presented in their daily lives despite being in locations around the world. We said simultaneously good morning and good night to students in various time zones. And thus, through the use of digital moments, we shared our personal and emotional lives; real relationships developed. Beatty (1995) refers to this as the construction of personal professional practical knowledge. Each week a highlight of the class was having students arrive with enthusiasm to find out which digital moment would be shared by peers. Students new to the online environment were assigned a “buddy” to help them with any specific questions they had. In addition, giving students Adobe “host” responsibilities increased their empowerment and the sense of trust in the group. The inevitable mistakes did occur, with files magically disappearing or reappearing, but over the term the classroom became their own. This sense of ownership over the learning environment was essential to students taking risks in presentations and assignments. Teachers in online environments should not underestimate the importance of investing in community building activities, much as they might do in a face-to face-setting; in the digital setting, this is a virtual, and mostly sedentary learning space, so keeping students in the ‘mental ready position’ is essential to keeping them engaged and on task.