The semester before I participated in ONL202, my university asked all instructors to convert our classes into online teaching during the second half due to the emergency situation of COVID-19. Both instructors and students were not well prepared to cope with the sudden change and our emotional exhaustion and frustration rose significantly from this online […]

Regardless of our teaching delivery mode, I believe that most if not all instructors must have run group assignments in our classes at some point. Most universities where I have taught usually set a policy that allocates up to 30% group assignment. This rule has both positive and negative implications. On the bright side, it […]

Regardless of our teaching delivery mode, I believe that most if not all instructors must have run group assignments in our classes at some point. Most universities where I have taught usually set a policy that allocates up to 30% group assignment. This rule has both positive and negative implications. On the bright side, it […]

The second module of Open Networked Learning focused on the concepts of sharing and openness. With advanced technology, it is very common these days for instructors and students to make use of free open resources for their teaching and learning (Rai, 2020). I myself usually compile free resources available on the internet and provide them […]

The second module of Open Networked Learning focused on the concepts of sharing and openness. With advanced technology, it is very common these days for instructors and students to make use of free open resources for their teaching and learning (Rai, 2020). I myself usually compile free resources available on the internet and provide them […]

Why do all good things come to an end? The most important things that I have learnt through my engagement in the ONL course It was my first-time taking an online course like this one. I did not feel lost in this course. I really enjoyed my experience with learning from my group members, theContinue reading “Topic 5: Lessons learnt – future practice”

At the beginning of ONL202 I was convinced that this journey would be an exciting one. It would become something that I would always remember. Now, after hours and hours of reading, listening, writing, discussing and preparing presentations, I can say that I’ve learnt a lot – all for which I owe special thanks toContinue reading “The end, or a new beginning? – Lessons learnt in ONL202”

What are your thoughts about using technology to enhance learning/teaching in your own context? How will your learning influence your practice? When I first started teaching English language in schools almost 20 years ago, I had already realized that traditional literacies like reading and writing will continue to be crucial skills, but on their ownContinue reading “Lessons learnt – future practice”

The time has now come for a recapitulation of key learnings from the ONL course. In discussing my personal takeaways, I will partially revisit the ‘meta’ mode I started with about what learning blogs might be good for. It now appears to me much more clearly (I was a bit sceptical about learning blogs inContinue reading “Beyond the learning blog: Key personal takeaways from the ONL course”

When I moved all my courses to fully online as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, I quickly found that something which I could not immediately pinpoint was missing. I noticed that the sense of immediate feedback which I usually get in class was not there when teaching online, especially through a suboptimal tool which doesContinue reading “Social presence: Making sense of an experienced lack”

The article Designing a Community of Inquiry in Online Courses (Fiock, H (2020) The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 21(1), 135-153) has been instructive to me. Terminology wise, as set out in the article, “social presence is a theory that explains the ability of people to present themselves as ‘real people’ […]