It is not a simple task to put all the lessons learned through this ONL course into a blog post, but this one will attempt to explain my experience through the process of the last 12 weeks.

ONL started for me a little differently as most others.  It was recommended to me through work, and not even knowing what it was entirely about, I grabbed the opportunity fairly quickly.  After signing up for the course, I then started to do a little research on it to try and determine what I had signed up for.

After a while, I stopped the research as I felt like I had a good enough explanation of what it was all about and waiting for the course to officially start.

The welcome webinar put a lot into context for me, and I was ready to get started.

Very nervous to meet the group I would be with for the next 12 weeks – thankfully I was part of a group who worked really well together and were vastly diverse in different expertise.  The time spent with them twice a week was fun, exciting and felt natural.

The first two weeks really had me questioning why I was approached for this type of open learning course, however, as the weeks went on, this became more apparent to me.

The most important thing I have learnt through ONL is to be open to the experience of learning new and exciting ways of doing things we have been doing for years – the same old way.  It has also taught me to be a bit more confident in the knowledge that I have – it may not be the same knowledge or experiences that others have had, but it will add value to the greater point.

The learning that has taken place through ONL, and the learning which continues to happen is difficult to define, and to pin point exactly what has been learnt and how it has impacted my practice.  What I can say at this point, is that it has definitely affected my thinking around the way in which we do things online and I can slowly start to see a change in the way things are being done by myself.

The use of digital tools in education is a really fun and exciting aspect to look at and grow with – as with all technology, it is constantly being worked on and developed into bigger and better things.  I am excited at the thought of incorporating more digital tools into learning (whether it be my own learning or that of our learners).  The more us as facilitators are learning, the ideas and creativity can be endless to promote these new types of learning with our learners themselves.

I am excited moving forward feeling more comfortable, and more equipped to handle the digital side of education, and cannot wait to see how I can effectively use it more within my learning network!