What a journey this has been! A very special thank you to PBL10 for your insights and such differing points of view!!
Despite viewing the scenarios from different angles, we managed to produce such works of educational art, that I doubt any one of us could have done it working on our own.
And that is the beauty of ONL. The sum always ends up being greater than the individual parts.
This process has managed to take total strangers from (mostly) different parts of the world, with various cultures and perspectives, and turn them into a merry band of learning rebels!
Each problem was taken on in such various ways and turned out to be greater than what was originally planned. What a privilege to become a “student” again and to learn from these amazing people.
As I am writing this, I’m listening to The Commitments’ Bring it on home to me (nod to Lars)
So, what am I taking “home” from this experience:
We need to bring it back to basics and start with our students. We must understand how they prefer to learn – otherwise all our preparation and researching relevant sources of information – will mean nothing to them. Not really motivating them to learn.
Participation from our students is key and we must “speak” to them where they are and in a language they understand. Only once we have established a relationship based on respect, can we expect them to be open to learning – not only new concepts, but always willing to try out new online tools.
When we truly understand that collaboration is vital to learning and to leveling the “learning fields” across the world, can we be open to the idea of sharing and openness in the works we produce. It remains our responsibility to train the next generation and help them build on what has already been established as viable theories and practices.
While the blended learning approach remains a challenge for some (in terms of access to resources like computers and data – especially here in South Africa), it is an exciting opportunity to make the most of the best tools that are now available online. (Thanks in part to the pandemic and just human ingenuity!).
We now have an international network of colleagues that understand the chaos and challenge and beauty of collaboration. Each with a different perspective that can enrich our own teaching. We are not in competition with each other, we are in collaboration with each other.
So, what has ONL taught me about online teaching and learning? Nothing and everything! And its an exciting place to be. We can break the rules we thought we knew and become the architects of how we allow our students to learn.
Let’s get started…