This course begins with an exploration of a range of digital tools, openness, sharing of ideas and documents, collaborative learning, and online course design. During the course, various digital tools are used in all topics which were very interesting. They are very useful to be used effectively to support students’ learning activities. The last session was to summarize what are the key learning points that we have gained after attending this course and our future practice.
Attending the course was an important step in my academic life, as it gave me an opportunity to connect with a global learning community of academics. During this course, I gained a lot of knowledge regarding different digital tools, sharing a great FISH model and how to collaborate and work as a team together on the same project. Since I was a student until now, I have been learning the basics and facts on my own with more ease and flexibility than participating in lectures. So, the main learning points for me in this ONL experience were engaging with my colleagues, hearing different opinions, collaborating, and helping me be more inclusive and open to sharing, especially when our group leader Cecilia sent a special message to encourage me to speak up and write my thoughts. However, I still find it a bit difficult to “reflect” and “share”. It is not that easy to reflect what you have learned, what you agree with and disagree with, what you understand and what you do not understand. I have to work on it. We have always heard and read about being objective in evaluating your students and colleagues. In fact, I have found that the roadmap to becoming an objective person is to have the skill of “reflection” in education.
Lessons Learnt
Before starting the course, I was hesitant about the rate at which online learning could replace on-campus learning. After following the PBL course, I realized that the comparison between the two concepts wasn’t helpful. Both complement each other in effective higher education. On the one hand, a teacher does not need to get students together physically in the classroom, it may be virtual online (anywhere), and on the other hand, online learning activities are fundamental to the teaching methods used on campus to be more productive. I actually came up with an important practical lesson from my time in ONL: “Don’t be afraid of not having experience and open up earlier”.
What is my future plan?
In my new position as a quality assurance of teaching and learning, I want to apply the knowledge and skills that I have acquired. I plan to take a similar concept to the open course. PBL was a successful open course within Western Context. Therefore, replicating this course in our context may not achieve the same results.
At last, I would like to thank my colleagues on PBL Group 6. Victor Souza, Mohit Gupta, Marcus Stensmyr, Stephanie Birkner, Hui-Chen, Erik Elfgren, Vigdis Ahnfelt, Charlotta Hilli, and our wonderful facilitator Cecilia Hellekant.
