This is the SPOT for certification for online teaching! 

Welcome to the journey...

 

This web site outlines the Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching (SPOT) certification process for Mt. SAC faculty.   In this process, a baseline of skills and pedagogy needed for effective online teaching will be demonstrated by each faculty member through the completion of several tasks in this certification process.

All instructors are required to complete the Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching (SPOT) certification process in order to teach a Distance Learning (online or hybrid) course.  

As I am sure you have heard, the campus will be moving from Blackboard to Moodlerooms. We will continue to have access to Blackboard through June of 2012. The Online Learning Support Center (OLSC) and IT teams are working closely together to ensure that the transition is smooth. 
 
This also means that the SPOT process in Blackboard will be transitioned to Moodlerooms by the beginning of Fall 2012. To ensure that everyone currently in the SPOT process is able to complete their certification, all SPOT Tasks must be completed by April 30, 2012. All materials left in the Blackboard SPOT course or your Blackboard CERT courses will be lost at the end of the Spring term. If you wish to complete the SPOT process that you have started, finish all of your Tasks by April 30, 2012. If you do not complete the SPOT process prior to April 30 you will have to start the process over in Moodlerooms starting Fall 2012. Additionally, faculty who complete the SPOT certification in Blackboard will NOT be required to redo the certification using Moodlerooms.

Prerequisites for SPOT:

• Mt. SAC email account

• completed a Mt SAC LMS training (workshops or online)

How SPOT process works:
After registering for SPOT (both at POD registration and with SPOT facilitators), the following will occur:

• enrolled as a student in the  course "Skills & Pedagogy for Online Teaching (SPOT)"  - where you will read and submit all tasks

• enrolled as an instructor in your own personal  course with "CERT" in title - where you will create tasks and communicate with your SPOT verifier

• a SPOT verifier will be assigned to you for the duration of the SPOT process

• you will independently read and perform many tasks to prepare you for teaching a Distance Learning course

• each task will be verified by your SPOT verifier

• when all tasks have be done, you will receive a SPOT certificate

Register for SPOT:
If you wish to become certified to teach a Distance Learning course, you have come to the right "spot".  To get started with SPOT, do these 2 steps:

1. Register for SPOT on POD offering web page - go to POD calendar to look for 1 SPOT offering. I will usually be on the first or last day of the month.

2. Send an e-mail from your Mt SAC e-mail address to Michael Dowdle: mdowdle@mtsac.edu

   • Include in the message:

     • Your FULL name

     • Your portal username

     • Your department

     • Please put the words "Please register me in SPOT" as the subject of the message

 After a few days you will receive a welcome e-mail message from your SPOT facilitator with instructions on how to get started with the SPOT process.