This topic
has been interesting and I have as during the other topics, learned a lot!
However, not in the same way. This topic was new to me – or I mean the
framework(s) were rather new to me. I have no previous experience with
designing an online course or teaching one. Actually, I joined the ONL191-course
because I will start teaching a blended learning course from next semester and
wanted to experience being a student in an online learning community and learn
about online teaching.

Given my
little experience from designing such course, I found myself as a listener and
observer – a novice throughout this topic, trying to learn as much as possible,
taking the new knowledge, for instance about the framework (i.e., 7 Principles
of blended & online learning; Vaughan et al., 2013) and try to make it fit
into my previous knowledge. During this topic, I felt that I could not
contribute to the discussions in the same way as in the previous PBL meetings.
Rather, I learned from the others, listened and posed questions. This was a
nice experience, and made me realise the dynamics of a group, and the
importance of having different group members sharing their experiences and
knowledge.

One of the things
that particularly puzzled me during this topic was the large emphasis on the socio-emotional
aspects in online learning. As I acknowledge that this is an important part of
being an online learner, I recognized that this was not something that received
much focus in my PBL-group. I started to wonder if that was done on purpose. We
had one activity in the beginning of the ONL-course, which was about presenting
ourselves in a powerpoint-slide, in which we shared some information such as
hobbies, kids, family, where we live. I found this great as it said something
more about the persons in the group and not only their work-related info. Yet,
we did not have other activities, which dealt with the socio-emotional aspects.
However, when this was brought to attention during this topic, it made a lot
sense and as something that had developed slowly during the PBL-meeting. Now, I
wonder how it would have been if these aspects had been specifically dealt with
in the beginning of the course.

Also, this topic seemed in many ways as a topic that might should have been introduced earlier – as a tool to create online learning. Anyways, working on the topics prior to this one provided knowledge and experience which made this topic fit somehow “better”. More importantly, the knowledge about this framework and the idea that there might be other frameworks which could potentially help creating an online course, is of great value to me – and which I will definitely explore further now when I will initiate the planning of the course I will be teaching.