Being a part of the ONL program is like a fish trying to survive on land. Sounds melodramatic? Not so, if you consider the fact that the virtual environment I live in outside of ONL is as different as night and day or land and water. None of the tools (not even google, let alone google drive) exists in my part of the virtual world. Google? Banned. Twitter? Banned. Facebook? Banned. Youtube? Banned. Linked? Banned. Zoom? Disrupted service.
To get into the ONL world, I first have to fly over the great virtual wall of China (with the help of my VPN service, fortunately) and then start to figure everything out, from zero.
My anxiety and frustration hits stratospheric levels once I am in the ONL world. Despite the community’s best efforts to ease my way in, by way of “speed dating” and going over… and over… and over what was written on the ONL website, I feel even more alienated and lost. Who are these people, and where are they now and why can’t we use the limited time we have to meet the people in our own group and build stronger connections? Why are we going over… and over…. and over some of the materials? Did I miss something? Or are you trying to hint to me that I might have missed something.
What I think I have Learned
1. Streamlined Operations
Instead of sending out 3 reminder emails with the same message of “please register if you have not done so”, send 3 short reminder emails, each with 1-2 key messages or actionable items. This will reduce confusion and increase participation in the intended activities.
2. Pre-Dating
Instead of speed dating that leads to almost no meaningful connections, create a virtual world map showing where everyone comes from and let the participants write a short introduction about themselves. Anyone can browse the introductions and make the deeper connections they desire. The current community space layout makes it quite laborious to go through. Of course, to create a virtual map and community space take a great deal more work and technical expertise. But we live in a world of hope, and I do hope this vision can be realised somehow sometime so that a global, open learning community is truly built.
3. Not So Speedy Dating
Allocate the time for speed dating to let each group interact within themselves, break the ice and build a stronger rapport.
4. Key Take Home Points
Quite a bit of the same content given at the first introductions meeting was repeated over and over at subsequent meetings. Instead of laboriously going over very much of the same thing. Just hit the salient points. The AIMS section on the ONL site is a very good pedagogical tool to keep the learning on track and in focus. The zoom meetings should follow the same structure.
5. Slow Down
With the intermittent internet connection, language barrier, different accents and brand new content, I could barely follow what was going on when some of the facilitators spoke. Note to self: speak slower, enunciate, keep to key points.
6. Mandate The Use Of Excellent Microphone
Listening at the zoom sessions was quite painful and frustrating. Some content are lost to accents and (my poor listening skills) and just sub-standard microphones. Note to self: to make sure my students will be able to hear me clearly, I must insist upon myself to get noise cancellation microphones that produces crisp, clear output sounds for my listeners.
These are my reflections for today.
