As the course comes to an end, it is time to look back to what I have learnt, and how I can bring them forward into my practice.

A deep dive into teaching strategies

Being new to teaching, this course gave me the opportunity to not just interact and learn with experienced teachers, but also to look into various teaching strategies and models. It made me look back to my own teaching practice, point out problems and questions, figure out potential solutions, which raised even more questions. 

Heh, but I guess that’s what learning is about isn’t it?

One model that I definitely want to incorporate into my own practice is the Community of Inquiry Blended Learning survey that was shared with us during Topic 4. I am a real newbie (read: noob) at writing assignments, and was feeling wildly lost when I did my first one last year. 

That feeling of, I know it can improve, but I don’t know where to begin?

I think this survey will help me reflect on my teaching practices in a step-by-step manner and better understand the specific areas which I can improve in. 

An exploration of new teaching tools

I really appreciate that our university took the initiative took the initiative to provide all kinds of support for teachers during the transition from face-to-face to remote/ blended/ hybrid learning, and I think this course helped me to discover more tools that I can incorporate into the classroom beyond the ones that I already know (i.e., the ones in Office 365, PollEverywhere, Kahoot, and a few others).

Moving forward, I plan to be more active in consulting the teaching and learning development team in our university. I hope to gain more knowledge about the teaching tools available and perhaps also their professional advice about which tools would best serve my intended learning outcomes of my assignments. 

A renewed understanding in collaboration

In particular, the topic on learning in communities left the largest impression on me. It marked a stark improvement in our group dynamics, as well as a renewed understanding to the term “collaboration” in learning. Gaining inspiration from collaborative learning model in Topic 3, I hope to guide students to this understanding of collaboration as I think that it can really enhance their learning experience.

All in all, I really enjoyed the course and it has really provided a new kind of learning experience – both in terms of the delivery as well as the content covered. Feeling inspired to do more in my teaching practice, wish me luck!