Usually I do not miss an opportunity to learn new things. Curiosity and learning have always been a central part of my life. There has been a great deal of learning opportunities in my life, not only related to my studies or work. I have many hobbies, and I always get inspired to learn new skills. It has really surprised me how much you really can learn, for example how much a better singer you can be (yes, I joined a choir a few years back).

But most of the learning has been related to my job and many times to having a new position with new challenges. It seems that the need to learn new things just accelerates with time.  As there is so much to learn and time is as limited as before, I need access to good digital learning tools and networks. As an example, in my “previous life” (before becoming a teacher), around 10 years ago, when I started to work with business sustainability, there was a very strong need for me to find as much information as possible about the topic. Now, when business sustainability is “allover the place”, it might be hard to understand, but back then there was still not so much information to be easily acquired. During that period I learned from colleagues, by taking part in a recycling research project, by attending open university lectures and by browsing for information on the web. But as I said, it very time consuming.

Later on I discovered the MOOC courses and the free webinars, that became available thanks to the acceleration of digitalization. These two ways of learning have been a great support to me as I have been able to take part in them despite a full time job. Nowadays I feel I have a quite good personal learning network. One important network for me is LinkedIn. By following relevant organisations, companies, professionals and opinion leaders I have the opportunity to keep track on what is happening in the field of logistics and sustainability (which are the main topics I am now interested in). One source I really enjoy is Finland’s national public broadcasting company Yle. I use Yle as a source for my lectures too, usually I introduce some news from today.I hope to keep the students on track and raise their interest on current things.

What I really appreciate is the collaboration with other teachers. At my university, often two teachers are responsible for one study unit. That has taught me a lot. I really have enjoyed the discussions with my colleagues.What else? Yes YouTube naturally, I love the step by step instructions, the visuality and auditory. And use YouTube as a tool in my teaching, as a base for discussions for example.

How could this be taken further? I guess it would be to take steps to more interaction, to share my thoughts and knowledge not only to my students and other teachers, but to a wider community…