My ONL journey

Hi world!

In this final blog post I would like to share my thoughts on the ONL journey I have undertaken this semester.

During one of our last meetings in this PBL constellation, we were asked to express what expectations we had before the course started/ at the beginning of it. I personally had none: I had read a bit about the course before I signed up and did not have any expectations regarding it as I like to keep an open mind.

To my surprise, it turned out to be one of the best courses I have taken in the field of pedagogical development, that was both challenging and inspiring at the same time. Firstly, I think that this course provided us with an amazing platform where we could share our thoughts, ideas and concerns freely in a rare and unique environment, where we are all established professionals from different areas, that do not compete with each other. I found it rather refreshing as even though we always had representatives from different disciplines in the courses that I had previously undertaken, we never got to know each other on such a deep level. This was really a perfect example of a safe trust-based environment for collaborative learning, that we had been discussing in Topic 3, and it was amazing for me to see that such a collaboration is not something ephemeral, but it is actually possible to have it IRL! For me, who is usually quite sceptical, it was a real eye opener! Secondly, I have learned a lot both topics and perspectives wise. I felt really inspired throughout the course as the discussions that we had, where different opinions were shared, have broadened my horizons, prompting me to either rethink the approaches, adopted by me before, or to embrace completely new ideas that I have never even pondered about. OE, Creative Commons Licenses, Collaborative Learning, ‘Silent Learners’ are the topics that have caught my attention in particular. Thirdly, the beauty of this course is in its spill-over effects or practical applicability. There are many useful tools and recommendations, that I got to know about during the ONL course, but the most important thing about them is that they can be easily incorporated in one’s teaching and drastically enrich one’s experience both as a teacher and as a learner. I have realised that I can include some suggestions even now and I know that they will definitely enhance the learning process and encourage the students to embark on their learning journey with, hopefully, more enthusiasm and joy.

Thank you for your attention! Looking forward to reading your comments:)