Our Open Networked Learning (ONL) course has come to an end and it is time to summarize the journey. Now it feels like we just got started and found our way as a group how to operate on it and I got used to the rhythm of the course. Earlier I used to be quite sentimental when closing projects or similar. Now I know that there is a time and place for everything and after that it is time to move on. Take the leap of faith.

I felt that the last assignments (creating a meme of what our group thinks about the journey and listing tips for the next ONL participants) were a perfect way to end this course. We had such a blast in our group when we were looking for a fun meme to go with our message “just keep swimming” (reference 1). Laughing together makes good for the group feeling and sense of belongingness. Our thought behind this “just keep swimming” is that although the beginning of the course seems overwhelming you need to keep swimming and trust the process.

I have learned a lot from online learning and teaching during this fall. Some of it is something that I have learned already earlier but now I have a more clear view on it. Or the understanding is now deeper. It was also priceless to get new perspectives on online learning and teaching.

For me the key takeaway from this journey is engagement. The importance of engagement in online learning is crucial. Like in any other type of learning. I don’t think anyone can emphasize that too much at all but still too often there is not enough emphasis on that. For the participants it might feel a little bit odd in the beginning to have many activities related to engagement but you need to trust in the process and that they will also understand it later on. Just keep swimming.

In practice, I have already added more activities related to engagement in our courses. Like allocating more time on getting people committed to the course. I have also shared some best practices, links, references and tools from our ONL course for my colleagues who are planning an online course.

After this ONL course I am at the same time more positive but also more critical about using technology to enhance learning or teaching in our university. I was quite positive already in the beginning and I have attended other online courses, too. And I have had some really nice learning experiences in the online environment. I really think that it doesn’t matter how you learn but as a teacher you need to plan and justify your decisions carefully. Teaching, no matter if it is contact, online, blended.., should support learning and achieving the intended learning outcomes. It’s always dangerous to be blinded by the tools or methods. Let’s keep learning in focus!

References:

1. Padlet of the memes: https://padlet.com/filip_levalahti/ONL192, PBL group 12.