The course has ended and it has been good! I have learned a lot, foremost about the pedagogical theories of learning and how others deal with moving their teaching activities online. It surely is all complex and only experience will make us proficient, overall, using digital tools in teaching seems to be an exciting and fruitful activity.

I remember from the first PBL meeting that I said learning by doing is my preferred way to learn. Guess what, the current pandemic has forced everyone to do so. Lucky us, who were simultaneously taking ONL201!

So far, I have little teaching experience. Nonetheless, I plan on using digital tools to complement teaching activities a lot. It simply provides flexibility and freedom and more importantly, I wouldn’t know how else to do it. Maybe this is why experienced teachers need to get used to it? Blending experience with more tools can only be good…

I consider good communication as the key for any social interaction and will aim to implement the use of technologies that foster easy means to communicate in any upcoming teaching situation. Also, I have always been taught in PBL groups at university and have appreciated this informal setting. I think it is crucial for students to realise that they can achieve a lot more by actively participating than only taking in lectured content. However, every student has their own preferences and I hope I can be sensitive for individual requirements – offline and online. The big question that remains is how to find the right balance of additional workload that might be connected to individualising learning experiences. I guess, only time will tell.

In my field, a number of webinars have been made available by experienced researchers over the last couple of weeks and I think this is amazing. Having more educational resources available will allow for better time management. It can give more people access, at times that suits them and it cuts down on the amount of time required for travelling. Surely, online activities won’t replace offline face-to-face activities completely but it might make make the occasions that we meet offline more special and efficient in output. Maybe.

For the practical part of my field, which definitely cannot be replaced by online activities, I think that online tools can help to prepare students for the practical activities. Having covered the theoretical side of things beforehand will provide more time for the practical side of things – and all the questions that arise with it. Learning by doing and with others!