Time went ...fast

The road to an online teacher certification was a long and winding one.  As I look back I am struck by a few things, call them ahah moments..
First thought is that I have only scratched the surface of what is available to share with my students.  My job as an online facilitator is to guide, motivate and inspire my charges to learn.  With everything else pulling on their time I need to put together a program of learning that guides, motivates and inspires.  A gargantuan task at best.  Little by little I can build my online toolbox much like I built my traditional classroom tool chest. I will succeed at times and fail at others.. such is the nature of teaching.
My second thought is that as a life long learner I am in awe at everything I can learn by searching for material for my classes.  How can one not want to learn using the material at hand?  If we tailor a class to specific learning needs and build in different levels so different learners can be success across a broad spectrum we have hit the learning jackpot.  Easier said then done.  I am not naive enough to assume that this is going to be easy.  My hope is that I am given the time and scope to be successful.
I was exposed to so much, now the job of building my online course can begin....

Reinventing the Wheel

This course I am taking has forced me to look at things through a different lense.  As I develop new and innovative class activities I am looking at a vast amount of online material and wondering how do I compete?  I am not a web designer, I have never shot any video, nor am I interested in editing anything for the classroom.  I have never made a podcast.  But have spent countless hours watching other casts and videos.
How do I keep my students interested.  I have a full spectrum of students in my classes.  The material and Power Points I use is AP need to be different then the ones I use in a regular class.  As I update material I try to incorporate as much new material as I can.  Using new video, or existing websites I don't have to start from the ground up.  There are many useful sites to get information from.
As educators we need to teach students how to navigate this  "sea of information".  At times it can be an undaunting task to navigate information and present it in a way that our students can digest.  Now add to this the development of an online class.  From first hand experience I know how many hours are needed to develop and maintain an online class.