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So the ONL192 course has come to an end. It has been an adventure and I have learnt much, including many new words and concepts, and also stepped into paths of thought I have not walked before. For example, during the first topic when we discussed online participation and digital literacy, I actually learnt much about myself – interesting to map my own online participation and consider if I was a resident or a visitor – new thoughts! This has been very valuable trip for me and I think I have been ignorant in this area in the past and now I need to practice a lot!

There were many lessons learnt during this course, and one of the most important things I have learnt are about the Online resources and Creative Commons, since these will be very useful and I do think it is unnecessary to re-invent the wheel when it is already there. I will surely utilize these sources and also be able to share my own material. Another very important aspect was the understanding of how to design a course, which was discussed in the fourth topic; the building up of the course, the scaffolding, exploring the Community of Inquiry framework highlighting crucial pedagogical aspects, etc. This will be very useful when setting up an online or blended course in the future, and having this knowledge will make it so much more interesting to evaluate the course and the impression by the students! Also an important experience, was the various tools available to facilitate online learning – Zoom was not new to me but many of the presentation and collaboration tools were. I found, for example, Padlets very easy to use and a very good tool for brainstorming.

With respect to technology usage to enhance learning/teaching, I consider it important to start out easy, add a little piece at a time. If it is too complex and too many instructions from the start, the learning curve will be extremely steep and many will be lost directly. I also think it is important to make a pilot “study” of what I intend to do during a course – e.g. will my tools and tasks to do work with all web browsers or should one specific be recommended, make sure usage of tools and resources are for free irrespective of where you are in the world, and much more.

My involvement ONL has made me aware of the importance of networking and join communities to learn – to be a continuous learner. I will from now on try to find and/or create my own networks where I can learn more in my specific areas of interest.

Also joining ONL192 gave a very good understanding of being a student in an online course – probably the most important aspect of this course. We did experience the ups and downs, but came to final conclusions in all topics.

Thanks to all involved in this course and particularly the members and facilitators of PBL02. Good luck to all!

The path of learning during ONL192 ?
ONL192: The end