ONL241: Transcending virtual boundaries through a roller coaster ride

Having spent my past few weeks on Zoom, I can say that my experience with the Online Networking Learning course (ONL241) was wonderful! I got to meet new people, learn new things, and in the process learn more about myself as an educator, researcher, and more importantly as an individual. My project-based learning group (PBL2) was absolutely fantastic; we carried out each task efficiently like a well-oiled machine, and our experiences and wisdom fitted snuggly together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Towards the end of the course, I gave myself some time to think about what has changed for me, when comparing to the “me” before I embarked on this journey. Upon glancing and occasionally being fixated on the hypothetical “magic mirror” (hence the name of this blog), I began reflecting on my own participation of the course and identified two main takeaways.

First, I was able to make new connections from the comfort of my own home. Of course, home is where the heart is, but this flexibility of being able to attend our Zoom sessions from any location has initially encouraged me to allocate time due to its convenience of being one click away. I think deciding to be committed in the process has also helped me become more open with people I meet on a regular basis. What was surprising is that despite meeting virtually and across a screen, we were able to build a bond and foster our group relationship through active participation and willingness to cooperate. We even used the time to learn more from each other and to catch up on life in general; we often asked each other how we were doing, and what was going on in each others’ work lives. It is fascinating that being open has led to us establishing a safe space, inviting “all kinds of perspectives and positions” (Flensner & der Lippe, p. 276). We also made sure to try to keep in touch and hopefully one day be able to meet each other in person, transcending virtual boundaries.

Second, I am now able to practice what I preach. With ONL241, I was able to experience how a student would have to work collaboratively in a virtual environment. This was because when I was still a student back in university, the closest resemblance was face-to-face teamwork; being able to organise regular meet ups to workshop on projects in the same room was a norm for me, and I would not have been able to advise my students to do so virtually, if I myself had not experienced it. Now, I have learnt how group dynamics differ when it comes to a virtual setting, and not only I was able to facilitate a group via Zoom, but I made use of various education technology tools (i.e. Google Docs, Padlet, Miro) to complete designated tasks. It does really put into perspective that the same task would pose different challenges because of time and location constraints, amongst others as posed by Morrison-Smith and Ruiz (2020).

To recap, my journey with ONL241 is akin to a roller coaster ride. It started off with a steep climb uphill whereby everyone is still getting used to the course format and content as well as the team members. Once we hit the apex in which we found the sweet spot of being able to work together efficiently, then the rest of the journey downwards is smooth-sailing, and you would not want the adventure to end, but it eventually must.

References:

1. Flensner, K. K., & der Lippe, M. V. (2019). Being safe from what and safe for whom? A critical discussion of the conceptual metaphor of ‘safe space’. Intercultural Education, 30(3), 275–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1540102
2. Morrison-Smith, S., & Ruiz, J. (2020). Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: A literature review. SN Applied Sciences, 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-2801-5