Greetings and welcome to my final blog post on this my ONL191 journey.

In this blog post i will highlight my main take home messages from ONL191. I will also endeavour to highlight how i intend to apply the knowledge so attained in my practice (academic and non-academic).

The most important things that i have learnt from my engagement in the ONL191 course are as follows:

1. the various strategies to ensure effective collaborative learning in online learning environments with a view to limiting drop outs and enhancing the online learning experience for students and tutors as well
2. the wide array of tools available for presentation of reports, tasks and assignments. By going through all the PBL group presentations you are exposed to a wide array of tools for doing presentations which are relevant in both academic and non-academic settings
3. working with shared documents through Google Docs
4. the realization that there are quite a number of online courses providers. By going through their websites i was amazed by the wide array of online courses available and from reputable consortium of universities as well
5. a working understanding of what a Creative Commons licence is? I had earlier seen it at our online course provider (www.faculty.ie) and was not understanding what it actually meant

The knowledge obtained from ONL191 will influence my practice as follows:

1. the course is a confidence builder allowing me to up my participation in online courses design and development at the Faculty of Capacity Development (www.faculty.ie)
2. the array of tools learnt from going through the PBL groups presentations will find application even in my non-academic engagements such as when doing presentations for my employer, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (www.pharmacyboardkenya.org)

The following are my thoughts on the use of technology to enhance learning:

The use of ICT tools is the way to go in order to boost access to education and this applies to all countries irrespective of their levels of income.

To boost penetration of online learning, governments need to invest in the necessary infrastructure to support internet access. Boosting mobile telephony penetration will help matters since mobile phones are providers of internet connection through WIFI

The following are my suggestions for development of eLearning in my teaching:

As stated earlier, i am engaged in online teaching at the Faculty of Capacity Development (www.faculty.ie).

My suggestion for developement of eLearning at the Faculty of Capacity Development would be on exposing students to the wide array of tools available for presenting their tasks and giving them an opportunity to apply the tools while undertaking their tasks.

Conclusion

ONL191 has been an eye opener for me.

We have decided as PBL Group 6 to continue with the engagements on matters eLearning and am looking forward to our first Zoom meeting post ONL191.

Cheers.