Things are really moving full steam ahead in #ONL world now! Actually, things are moving so fast that the topic 3 train has come and gone, but it was an exciting couple of weeks as I was one of the facilitators for ‘Learning in Communities – networked collaborative learning’.

Our group, PBL10, reflected on how we as educators could support students to collaborate in online learning. In trying to solve this problem, we discussed our own experiences learning in groups online. As expected, there were a range of experiences – some positive… and many negative.

It seems like we are all still trying to find ways to navigate, and make the most of, online learning as both students and educators.

One aspect that was discussed at length was our unfamiliarity with online tools and resources. Before starting this course I had never used (or heard of) tools like miroboard or mindmeister – in fact I didn’t even know about the ‘annotate’ feature in zoom!

As it turns out, by discussing these topics in our PBL groups, our own personal and professional learning networks have expanded. Without necessarily knowing it, we have lived the process and learned some of the principles that can be applied to our future students to encourage the shift from cooperation to collaboration.  

It is easy to forget that the process of learning is as much about the journey as it is about the destination. So yes, the road is long with many a winding turn, but it is much more fun to be on the road with others who can help find the way!