Here is a summary of my thoughts for the semester. As with last semester, I was never able to keep up with the class submission deadlines and had trouble getting back to comment on other people’s posts and comments. More on that later. Here are my comments:

• Week 13: A new semester. I started the semester with great enthusiasm to learn more about online teaching and I was not disappointed. I learned about the Hybrid Pedagogy Journal and still like to read the excellent posts found there. Check out the newest one on MOOCs.
• Week 14: This week’s examination of image resources really has helped me with improving my PowerPoints and finding images for specific lessons. Looking back at my notes for this week, I realized something else. I took all of my notes for the class on a yellow pad. Habit. I wish that I had put everything on Evernote or OneNote. I could order my notes, prioritize important information and easily search for information. Big mistake.
• Week 15: This week I learned about using audio and video. I was put into the position of using my iPad to record my observations for the week. I used Fuse by Camtasia. I am going to use it in the future to record quick messages to students. I liked the enthusiasm everyone showed in recording audio or video messages and learned about other useful Web 2.0 tools to use.
• Week 16: I really like Prezi. This program is a fresh and innovative platform for presenting information. I’m going to work with it more and begin to replace some of my PowerPoints with Prezi presentations. I’m also going to develop a class project in which students will have to create their own presentations.
• Week 17: This week got me to focus on our students and how they see online learning, the Internet, and technology. I really like the idea of creating a FAQ for my class site. I already have a very long list of items to put in the FAQ. Joanne Carrubba’s use of Google docs, especially the survey creator will be very helpful. I like the idea of being able to only update one documents that might be linked to many classes.
• Week 18: This week emphasized how important classroom design is in an online environment. Great care needs to be taken when creating the environment that students will be working in. We always need to think about the student’s view.  The classroom needs to be clearly organized and students should have a familiar framework to work in each week. I was all set to use Blackboard, but now I have a choice between Blackboard and Moodle. I guess it will be time to look them both over again and see which one is best for my pedagogical needs.
• Week 19: Ok, well I was really late on this post. This week was a great overview of learning theories. I really enjoyed the video and the excellent articles, especially the one by Larry Sanger. I know that this topic will require much more reading and reflection over time. Many fellow POT participants commented that one does not approach teaching solely from any one teaching methodology, but utilizes a combination of them. Much to think about the relationships between teacher-knowledge-student.
• Week 20: This was one of my favorite weeks; I think because I posted first and generated a great conversation on educational technology and instructional design. This is how I wish that every week had ended up. More later on this in my self-assessment. I loved delving into the history of educational technology. I wonder what will appear after MOOCs?
• Week 21: I really liked this week as well. We delved into the theories behind massive open online courses. I really liked the article by George Siemens. He seems to the be one big MOOC evangelist. His overview of the theory behind MOOCs was really interesting. It was after writing this very long blog post that I decided that I really like blogging. I’m definitely going to start a personal blog in the near future.
• Week 22: I really liked Dean Shareski’s video on sharing and its importance to the future of eduction. I also realized how important it is to develop and utilize one’s own personal learning network. I have a good start with the POT class. I also like the idea of encouraging my students to create personal learning networks. This could work in my class, but could also be used in a much wider way; for example, a student could have a personal learning network that would include his/her teachers, peers, librarians, tutors, counselors, etc.
• Week 23: I posted a presentation on what we can learn from MOOCs that we can utilize in our online classes or even our f2f class. I recorded the presentation using a new product from Adobe called Voice. Check it out here: http://getvoice.adobe.com/

Now for my self-assessment and it is not good. I was constantly behind in my postings and did not do enough commenting on my colleagues posts. These are the same problems that I had in the Fall, so I’m a repeat offender. I told myself that I would not get behind this semester, but I did. I did have an incredible schedule this semester. I ended up accepting nine classes to teach (can’t seem to say “no”), took this and another online class at Mesa College, and prepared for a job interview – which was successful. 🙂

No excuses though. I found that I benefited the most when I posted early and commented on other posts. I could never read everyone’s post, but I tried. Waiting till the end of the day to read posts and comment was another problem. If I were a student in another online course, I’d be working on the class first thing in the morning.

I feel that my posts were lengthy and reflective of the material. I did spend between three and five hours doing the reading and writing each of my posts. I have a whole yellow pad of notes which I’m going to sift back through for the essentials. I also found myself discussing the material from the class with current and former POT participants and many others.

After taking this class, I feel that I’m ready to design and teach an online class and hope that I’ll have an opportunity to do that with my new job in the near future. This class has given me an excellent set of tools to focus on teaching students in an online environment. It has also given me the beginnings of my personal learning network and will keep me asking the important questions.