After working with the ONL 192 course for a full three months it’s time to sum up my thoughts and lessons learnt.

It’s been an exciting ride: meeting new friends in our PBL group, trying our way in problem based learning, struggling with how to make good use of digital tools, crazy scheduling to make our ZOOM meetings work, epiphanies and setbacks, etc, etc, etc.

So what did I take from the course and how will I use it in my profession?

When speaking of how to use it moving forward I think blended learning could be very, very efficient in teaching classical music if used correctly. Technical guides to complement traditional individual teaching could work extremely well, either using pre-recorded videos as reminders of what to (or not to) do, or video chats with quick check ups that development is proceeding in the right direction. Doing this would be a big undertaking but I’m sure that most, if not all, students would benefit greatly if the material is of good quality. It would mean better continuity in individual teaching and surely help my students set up short term goals. At the same time we would remove a bit of the students responsibilities for their own development which could potentially turn into a disservice in the long run.

Another topic I’m also very interested in is stimulating students to communicate among themselves in a constructive way. A project that involves many students learning the same work/repertoire and helping each other would be interesting but also potentially dangerous depending on how they would communicate among themselves. Here we would need a teacher in the role of a facilitator and mentor to guide the development, we would also need specific methods of how they should give feedback to ensure that all students both give and receive relevant feedback.

Even more than these concrete ideas however, what has really affected me during the course are the possibilities of online and blended learning. I’ve noticed that during conversations and thought processes, the possibility of moving in this direction very often comes up and opens up for new types of development. As such, the course already has affected my thinking and will continue to do so. I’m thankful to the ONL staff and very happy to have taken part in the ONL 192 and look forward to developing these thoughts for many years to come!