In the first week of this course we were told that this would be an unpredictable adventure and that we would need to ‘trust the process’. While I didn’t understand it at the time, looking back I can agree that this was good advice! A major lesson I learned is that trusting the process doesn’t come naturally to me! But what is “the process”, and what happens when you have issues believing in it?!

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a process is ‘a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end’. The cliché ‘two steps forward and one step back’ comes to mind here, as it can often take multiple attempts to find the right path and make progress. It seems logical to take measured steps (forwards, backwards, sideways) towards a goal, but this definition does not mention that oftentimes these steps are not linear and much depends on the resources that you have at your disposal at the time.

During this course I was introduced to digital resources that I had never used before such as Padlet, MiroBoard, Story Dice, Genial, MindMeister, and Jam Board. I learned that using new and unfamiliar tools does not come naturally to me, but with the support of other people in my PBL group it was easy to become more confident. To optimize our use of these tools we had to work together and trust each other. We took the time to get to know one another and our strengths and weaknesses – learning through the process.  

On reflection, I have realized that it is easy to focus solely on reaching the destination, without seeing the value in the journey you to take to get there. This is an important lesson as an educator, as building trust in the learning process should be at the forefront of the activities and assessments we set for students. As demonstrated through our time in the ONL-universe, the process can be made much easier (and more enjoyable) when the journey is made with other people using tools that can support you to get there.