Why I took the course.

My main motivation for the course was a wish to learn about online and digital pedagogy from somewhere else but Aalto University, as I got pretty familiar with the in-house practices. After two pedagogical courses I took at Aalto (and working on supporting online education), I was ready to explore the pedagogical practices beyond my usual working settings. This course presented an excellent opportunity for this.

My second motivation was to understand better the settings where teachers and higher education in general are evolving, and the methods utilised in the field. I was hoping for insights, food for thoughts, and lively discussions, where opposing someone’s opinion is an invitation to find out the deeper meaning of things and not a critique by default.

Finally, I looked at it as a great opportunity to develop myself professionally. Continuous learning is important for me and should be for anyone in any industry. I believe that learning and adopting skills is a part of every work and shall be supported in a progressive working environment. It is great that we have this opportunity and I recommend it to all who want to learn more about digital pedagogy, find their own ways to improve their online teaching, and look at it from a different perspective.

Course components.

The course consisted of many different activities: webinars, workshops, literature and video reviews, team meetings, ideation sessions, personal reflection, and giving feedback to others. Also, an important experience was co-hosting one of the themes and making it slightly more personal or special for you and others. It is very versatile and confusing at first, but logical, and you get used to it pretty fast.

Course expectations.

I was expecting a lot of literature materials to work with, workshops, and webinars. At the same time, I wanted to come with an open mind, and looking back I think that it was a good starting point. Course materials are doing that much, and there are also other factors contributing to your experience and outcome.

Course reality.

As I said, some factors go beyond teaching materials, tools, and methods, that are laid out and prepared by teachers for students. I can compare it with cooking: it is like getting an ingredient for a complex meal, but it is just part of the journey: even if you have a recipe and ingredients, you will also need a kitchen, cooking equipment, someone to show and explain to you some tricks or ideas ‘on the tips of their fingers’ in real-time, someone to support and help you to cook and someone to share it with when it is done. 

When you enter the course, you enter the process, and you become one of the players, and not only an observer. Of course, being active all the time is rarely possible and that’s when you need your good team – they support you, get you inspired again, bring back a conversation to a state you all can enjoy and contribute, and help you grasp on what you might have missed while you were busy with other things. It is a conversation with yourself and others and (occasionally) with AI, which is also fun. So, I felt that in many ways the course experience really depends on all the participants and yourself in particular.

How to get the most out of it.

• Be present during your team meetings, whenever you can engage in conversation and listen to others. The time is running fast and every topic you will cover in the course is worth the attention. The blended (sync and async) are better than doing it completely on your own, you will gain so much better when you have sync meetings with your PBL team.
• Encourage yourself to deliver value with your original thought, but of course, be mindful of your time. I do recommend blocking time slots in your calendar and not dismissing them for ‘more important’ meetings later as the course progresses. Try to fit the course hours into your schedule so you have time to breathe and reflect between the sessions and be there with your team.
• Open up and discuss challenging or uneasy or unknown teams related to digital education and education transformation with your teammates, and get inspired by them and by what they bring to the table. If you feel unclear about the topic acknowledge it and try to grasp a better understanding of it as you progress. It does not have to be perfect, but it can for sure be better than before. 
• Set up 5 goals for the course (maybe one for each topic) and build your personal reflections while keeping your goals in mind. It can help to focus your learning and uncover unexpected paths in your learning. So, think about your own learning and tools on the way you can use to motivate yourself in the course and progress with your own explorations.

P.S.: I felt that ONL is one of the courses where you do need to contribute to your own outcome and experience. By giving away your attention and time, contributing to the joint result, and reflecting on your own and other people’s ideas you can multiply the return of your ‘investment’. Also, being attentive and allowing yourself to reflect on things in your own way is important – even if it feels weird and not concerning anyone but yourself – I would encourage you to go for it.