I took the POT Certification Course for 2013/2014 in order to prepare myself to teach an online course. On average I spent three to five hours each week doing the following:  reading the assigned reading from our textbook, Ko & Rossen, Teaching Online: A Practical Guide; preparing a post on my blog (Rob Bond’s Blog); posting a link to my blog on the POT website; and then commenting on other participant’s posts. I have completed a total of nine posts for a total of 42 hours of work.

The Program for Online Teaching Certification put me in the role of an online student and provided me with an amazing array of resources to help me design and teach an online history course. I learned how to set up an online course, develop tools to deliver content, and develop “best practices” when it comes to pedagogy. This semester we looked at: using tools to create content like audio, video, screencasts, and multimedia presentations; personal learning networks; classroom management techniques; and instructional design. This class has given me the confidence that I can design an effective online world history course. The class also had me reflect on my face-to-face teaching and resulted in my revising course content and delivery for my world history classes.

Another benefit of taking the POT class was that I developed a network of fellow online teachers to share ideas, problems, and solutions with. I really valued the interaction I had with faculty from all over the United States and beyond.

Finally, I set up my own blog for the course and have come to really enjoy blogging. I’ll be using blogs in the future for my personal musings, but also will use blogs in my online teaching.