This is the first time I attend a course like ONL. I was quite confused at the start, not knowing what was expected from me, how we should work and what the learning goals would be (actually I am still not sure about the learning goals, but probably the goals have to do more with the process than with a specific knowledge).

After the confusion, after a few meetings, when way of working became a routine that was clearly scheduled in my calendar, I started to enjoy the journey.

First of all, this course gives you an opportunity to meet other professional educators from universities around the world. This kind of international context, with peer to peer learning is very valuable, as it makes you see things with new eyes. But I must admit, many times I was quite tired, as the course involved a lot of work. At one point, in the end of the course, I can even say I felt exhausted.

One challenge with this course is, that it is very hard to estimate how much time to invest. And what is required to achieve the 3 (or 5) credits for the course? We have got some positive feed-back from the facilitator about our work, but as there is no “official” feed-back on your progress, you really do not know if the work you have done is enough or not. Did I pass? The course is finished and I still do not know.

Another positive take away was the way we worked in the group, synchronously and asynchronously. The starting point for every topic was a scenario, from which we together chose a problem we wanted to solve. Then all group members individually did a research to find answers to the problem, and then we finally got together again and made a presentation together. I am thinking of applying this problem based method in my future teaching. This way of working can be very useful when confronting wicked problems, like sustainable development for example.

A third take away has been all the online tools my group, but also other groups, have shared. Now I have an inspiring toolbox, but what I need to do by myself, is to study them more in-depth to see the differences, the pros and cons. Now at the first glimpse they seem quite similar to me… But I will definitely start using some of these in practice to support blended learning and hopefully engage and motivate students.

Well today we had our last meeting, must say, I will miss my group for sure. All different personalities, their way of thinking, expressing themselves, how they acted as moderators etc. I am not a Twitter person, but maybe I need to re-evaluate that? Just to be able to follow up on this project…