Last topic of the course. Time to say goodbye.

After several weeks of learning, exchanges, growth… a mixture of feelings comes over me.

On the one hand, I am happy for the job done and also a little relieved that I no longer have to devote so many hours a week to the course.

However, on the other hand, it seems that I am already starting to miss the weekly meetings, new learning, moments of cultural exchange with colleagues in the group, and even the small nervousness before the meetings because of my difficulty with the language. Hehe

By the way, I know it’s not part of the course proposal, but I need to say that attending this course in a language not native to me was perhaps one of the biggest challenges of my life. So, in addition to everything I’ve learned, I finish this course with a sense of overcoming and eager to perfect my English. I already have plans for an international trip for this purpose.

I want to take this final post to talk about my main learning throughout the course. I already said in the previous post that I intend to apply them when developing an online leadership training with workers from different educational institutions here in Brazil. So, I will talk below more specifically about learning.

First and foremost, I must say that ONL teaches by example, which is the most effective form of teaching, in my opinion. We spent several weeks learning new subjects and reading materials, but most of all we experienced a new learning model, new tools, dynamic activities, networking and collaboration.

Definitely ONL inspires me!

I could tell here about the many new tools I used and learned during the course, such as prezi, mindmapping, paddlet… but it was undoubtedly the conception of learning in community that made the biggest difference for me.

I realized how much potential we have as we team up with others in a collaborative spirit. It is amazing. Especially when they are people with different backgrounds and cultures.

Technology may not yet be able to replace the human warmth of face-to-face contact, but on the other hand it has the power to bring people together who might never have any contact at all. When could I imagine that I would be studying about education and listening to the experiences of people from South Africa, Sweden and Turkey, for example?

To my group colleagues, I hope this experience was as good for them as it was for me. At times I was able to identify cultural differences perfectly. I realized that here in Brazil we have a more open culture, we like to share more about us. During the course, I had the opportunity to record a video on the beach, attend a meeting while driving to my work (showed my place of work), also recorded a video with my wife and shared in our whatsapp group.

Meanwhile, other colleagues had little comment, were more concerned about their privacy, and restricted to doing only the course activities.

It is interesting to note this cultural difference and to see that there is no right or wrong, but different perspectives. This brings us closer and enriches us as human beings, increasing respect and appreciation for others.

As you can see, the experience in this course went far beyond the education content. I developed personally and also learned about life. I venture to say that it was one of the few experiences I had where there was really education.

I remember a phrase attributed to Socrates in which he says (in a free translation from Portuguese to English): “knowledge is only useful when it makes us better.”

Finally, we could not fail to record the perfect driving of our facilitator on ONL192, Mr. Alastair. It was much more than a teacher who only tells the student what he should learn. Alastair encouraged us, guided us and supported us at every stage. Many thanks for all the support, attention and affection throughout the course. Your acting is a source of inspiration to me!

And with these words, I’m saying goodbye to this beautiful journey that was ONL192.

In 2020, in addition to applying everything I have learned, I will improve my English so that in the future I may also act as a co-facilitator in ONL. I also want to personally visit the friends I made here. Why not?

Yes, we can!

Diego