It is now three months since my ONL-journey started. In the beginning I really did not know what ONL was and I was not really sure of its purpose and certainly not the aim. Now, three months later I at least know the journey, am a little bit more aware of the purpose and the aim. And I sure know my personal outcome.

What are the most important things that you have learnt through your engagement in the ONL course? Why?
This is the first question to reflect on from the ONL community. When thinking back, there are several things I like to highlight here and I like to do that by summarizing my learning topic by topic.
First, digital literacy. I had to dig deeper into to even understanding these terms. And where do we university teachers stand according to our digital literacy? How well are our student’s literacy in the digital and technological world? Are the students really as well educated in digital literacies as we think they are? This was discussed in my PBL-group as well as at home and with my colleagues at work. I can really identify myself in the expressions of digital literacy as a “native” or “second” language.
Second, openness in education and learning. For me, this topic was very interesting and concerning. And it is political! It is about freedom of learning what you want to learn and the opportunity to form your own future. For me, it is a question of empowerment and democracy! No matter what country you live in, if you live in a city or in a rural area, if you are young or old, your sex or religion, your language – education is about sharing knowledge. And knowledge is power!
Then there was learning in communities – networked collaborative learning. During this topic we discussed our personal learning networks (PLN). A PLN is kind of a collective brain, meaning I can be able to use my PLN to give and receive information from everybody’s brain, and it is open 24-7. For me it is crucial to have a large and wide personal learning network, both privately as well as professionally. We all need each other. And by interacting with many different people, with different ideas and from different countries and cultures, I can both contribute and receive and therefore be nothing but richer, both in knowledge and in personal well-being. We need to guide our students in collaborative learning, guiding them to get personal learning networks and learn them to both share and receive. We all need each other! Let us all take part of this worldwide learning community, but in a responsible and academic way!
Finally, design for online and blended learning. Due to the pandemic we had to go through a significant rethinking of how to approach the teaching and learning in a very short time. Fortunately, at my university we have had some online and blended teaching already, so the transformation was not so difficult as for others. But during this topic I still got the chance to discuss how to support and design learning, both face-to-face learning, blended learning as well as e-learning. We were introduced to the five stage model and the scaffold of learning as well as the three key elements or dimensions of the Community of Inquiry framework; social, cognitive, and teaching presence.

Then why?
All the things that I have highlighted above are important to me in the way that I have had the chance to stop and think about these different topics over quite a period of time (3 months). I have had the chance to read about it and to discuss the topics with colleagues from different countries in my PBL-group. That has been very important to me. I have also noticed that I have brought my thoughts back to work. I have talked to my colleagues at work about the topics in the ONL and my reflections, which has started some discussions at work as well. As a senior lecturer, and as a teacher for over 20 years and with over 30 years of being a physiotherapist, I love teaching as well as receiving knowledge from my patients and students. I have learned to teach by “trial and error” for so many years, but now I have had the time to reflect on my teaching with focus on the digital part. That has been very important to me.

How will your learning influence your practice?
It already has! I have already made some changes in my courses, both due to the pandemic but also due to this ONL-course. I have recorded several of my lectures so that the students can look at them in advance, and then using the lessons for discussions instead. I believe that this is a better way of using my skill and experiences as a teacher.
Another change that I have already done is having more lessons in Zoom. I also try to use breakout-rooms more frequently to get more students to be active in discussions. By “going around” in the break-out rooms I can more easily listen to them and contribute when needed. My experience is that more students are more active in breakout rooms than in face-to-face classroom.
In face-to-face classes, as a teacher you are always in the classroom some time in advance and afterwards to meet the students and answer questions. I will try to do this as well in my Zoom-classes. So if there is a student that have any questions, they know that I will be there in advance.
In my PBL-group, we discussed the problem with collaborative learning, students working in groups but be graded individually. A very “hot” and interested discussion! I do think we all agreed on that this is a problem. By having both collaborative tasks as well as individual tasks, the students get to practice both. Also, by having synchrony as well as asynchrony tasks, more students get to explore their own ways of learning as well as practice the ways that they do not like so much but most probably will have to do out there in the society during a future job.

What are your thoughts about using technology to enhance learning/teaching in your own context?
I already do, but after this course I will try to use it even more. Most of my classes are in physiotherapy methodology and therefore face-to-face lab classes. But I still have some classes where technology can improve my teaching. As I am working at Luleå University of Technology, we have an IT-department with such skilled IT-pedagogic personnel that are just waiting for me to contact them if I need their help (which I do and will).

What are you going to do as a result of your involvement in ONL?
I will do an inventory in my courses and see what changes I can do to improve learning for the students. I am also involved in developing a new education plan for the physiotherapy program, where the ideas from this ONL-course will fit right in.
Why?
Because I believe that several pieces from this course can improve the courses and education programs that I am involved in or in charge of. You always have to keep the best part from every course you take, the parts that can improve your teaching.

Summary:
For me education is such a big question both in society and in the world. For me open learning is about freedom and opportunities. Freedom of learning what you want to learn and the opportunity to form your own future. It is a question of empowerment and democracy! Education is getting knowledge. And knowledge is power! So let’s keep on sharing the power!