Looking back on the last twelve weeks of coursework, I realized that this experience has been truly enriching and would have not been as rewarding without the help and guidance from our ONL course organisers, Alastair, Maria, Lars, and Lotta. I also want to acknowledge people from my own institution, NUS, who were also instrumental in my enjoyment of the course. I want to thank Alan, our NUS Campus representative for the ONL course, together with Kiruthika and Hafizah; they were very supportive, encouraging us to continue the program and tirelessly assisting me during my IT-challenged moments. Before the official start of the ONL course, they organised a campus meeting for participants from my university and the briefing we got helped a lot in preparing us for the course. Lastly, I want to thank my group, ONL group 12; namely, David, Lina, Joachim, Cecilia, Marja, Anne, Lisa-Marie and Nomvelase for all the time and effort that they have given. It was a great experience for me.
Struggles were undoubtedly a part of this learning experience. In the beginning, getting used to FISH documents, maneuvering through the ONL homepage, getting reacquainted with blogging, and familiarizing myself with new IT educational platforms were components that made the ONL course seem like a mountain too big to conquer. In the end, I can say that all those challenges made my participation and learning all the more worthwhile. I’ve used Padlet with my own students a couple of weeks after I learned about it from the course, and have found it to be a good tool in fostering collaboration.
Even though the time difference placed me at 7 hours ahead of most of my team members (it was initially 6 hours ahead at the beginning of the course), I managed to participate in the 5 topics that were assigned to us. There were times that I could not participate because of either work or personal issues, but I managed to catch up through Zoom recordings and reviewing the FISH documents. Our ONL group 12 was very understanding and made me feel that I belonged to the group.
In spite of my moments of technical difficulty and the times that I couldn’t actively participate in the sessions, I have learned much from the course overall. I had a lot of fun sharing and hearing from other fellow participants, and feel that everyone was very generous with their involvement in the course. I am truly glad to have had the opportunity to participate in this collaborative journey and look forward to applying all that I’ve learned from the program.