I finished the 4 week training session! It was intense at times, especially in week 2 when we had to create a whole new curriculum out of air, complete with learning objectives and course outcomes and other things I'd never heard of. I feel as if I know the whole website thoroughly now and can navigate around it easier than I can on this blog site. One of the projects was to get together online with a pre-assigned group and create a PowerPoint show that would showcase the state website that features all the tools we use as instructors. I always feel responsible for the success of things like this so I set about trying to get us all together so we could collaborate and share ideas. It was an exercise in futility. I felt like my grade would suffer unless I personally got the job done. Nothing seemed to work so I created a PPT show on my own with blank slides and e-mailed everybody a suggestion to pick a slide or two and submit their own text. Everybody responded, I plugged in the text and graphics, published it and everybody was thrilled with the group effort…to my great relief.
I was invited by the college that had sponsored me into the course to submit an online Intent To Teach. As a result, I got to see my name on a list of state online college instructors already! That alone is worth all the effort. I told them I'm available for spring quarter so we'll see what happens. I've made some great friends among my classmates and look forward to meeting them as I travel around the state. I'll continue to keep you posted on my progress toward a class of my own.
