24.9.2024

With this post, I start a series of reflection blog posts for the class I am taking this fall: Open Networked Learning https://www.opennetworkedlearning.se/ . I am taking the course as I would like to get fresh insights into the online learning cultures away from my usual circles and compare it with my own settled practices. I also hope to meet people I would like to work with and who knows, maybe friends to share a hobby or a thought.

The first week of connecting and greeting each other felt a bit strange. But I often find myself in this situation without clear guidelines and structure with schedule and rules. Still, I think we have a nice team with very different characters and ways of working online which might be interesting to experience. Also the structure of the space is an interesting maze filled with people’s greetings, their thoughts, and a lot of useful info, so it is easy to feel a bit lost in it in the beginning.

Yesterday we had a conversation about the rules or signing the ‘contract’ we need to follow in the course and I felt somehow triggered by the fact that I would need to sign some sort of list or have more obligations I need to add to my list of duties. I agree that teamwork is a joint act, and this act does require an agreement that rules out possible misinterpretations of ways to contribute or collaborate. But I still feel I did not come here to police other people and manage their motivation to go on and work. I got wondering if I used so much to the Finnish ecosystem when your word or email or showing up to a meeting means already a lot. This made me think that the course would be especially useful in terms of matching my teamwork compass with participants from other countries and cultures. So, let’s see how it goes, I am looking forward to learn and reflecting more on this journey.