The learning experience I had from the course, and how it could help shape my future practice is elaborated below. I took the lead in discussions for Topic 1: Digital literacy. I believe it had some impact on the group, and I would like to believe that my initiative, along with my partner in crimeContinue reading “Topic 5 : Lessons Learnt – Future Practice”

Blended learning is a topic being hotly discussed right now, with the Singapore government firmly committed to it. The COVID situation we are in right now has more or less mandated it. Personally, I have done some form of blended learning and use of various IT tools and resources to enable learning outside and beyondContinue reading “Topic 4 : Blended Learning”

Connectivism (Siemens, 2004), and other theories underpin learning in the digital age. It emphasizes that learning occurs through connections between people, and the newer digital technologies have opened up avenues for people to enhance learning. The webinar by Kay Oddone was mainly focused on Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). Perhaps the ONL itself is an exampleContinue reading “Topic 3 : Learning in Communities”

Topic 2 deepened my knowledge and thought process in being ‘open’. The webinar by Maha Bali was very engaging and enriching. Some of the information that she shared, such as those related to social justice, as well as regional variations of open content (such as Wikipedia having different quality and even information in different languagesContinue reading “Topic 2 : Openness”

It was in Topic 1 that I delved deep into the topic of digital literacy. The webinar by David White introduced the concept of digital residents vs visitors, which is a refinement of Prensky’s digital natives vs immigrants paradigm. As someone who likes to believe most things are a shade of gray, I certainly likedContinue reading “Topic 1 : Digital Literacy”

What is blended learning? March 2020 saw the arrival of COVID-19 that affected the entire world at large. During this pandemic learning had to continue and although many of our campuses or educators had never delivered an online lecture before, what had to be done had to be done. Hence we embraced online learning! ItContinue reading “Blended Learning”

The end of ONL211 coincided with Singapore re-entering Phase 2 of pandemic preparedness as the country grappled with community spread and unlinked cases of people infected with Sars CoV2. Suddenly, I had to convert the planned Narrative Medicine workshop on 17 May which kicked off the summer school and the capstone retreat on 31 MayContinue reading “Lessons learnt and Future Practice”

The most important things that I have learnt through my engagement in the ONL course are that digital literacy does not depend on age but on a person’s motivation to engage, that digital tools can enhance teaching and learning significantly, and that one’s personality and culture can have an important impact on collaboration and teamwork.Continue reading “Topic 5: Lesson Learnt”

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, I have been teaching remotely. First, at the University of Regensburg (UR) and after, at the National University of Singapore (NUS). From the very beginning it has been a combination of (virtually) face-to-face classes and online activities. Only the amount of these two methods varied between theContinue reading “Topic 4: Design for Online and Blended Learning”

Open Learning means, to me, having free access to teaching materials and other learning resources. For example, available courses whenever and wherever I am without needing to pay for it. Thanks to the ONL-course, I got to develop an understanding of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and through the platform Class Central, I found anContinue reading “Topic 2: Open Learning – Sharing and Openness”