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The change

Image retreived from Pexels under CC0 licence by Tookapic

„Change is the end result of all true learning” Leo Buscaglia

I’ve changed during the ONL course and I really feel I’ve learnt A LOT! Everything is so fresh, so it’s hard to say what was the most important, but let’s try to sum up some reflections…

First, I have to say that I started with almost 10 years of experience in teaching, but it was restricted to classroom teaching only, although my digital literacy happened to be not bad (that was encouraging at the beginning of the course, that I wasn’t lost with the tools etc.). Before the ONL I didn’t actually participate in any online course, so the whole experience was very new for me. I’m really happy, that my first online course was so well-designed and great, so my attitude towards online learning is very positive now.  Actually, when thinking of our FOCUS courses that we are going to create next year, I feel sorry that we probably won’t be able to offer so active courses. And as for me – the webinars, our PBL13 online meetings, Google+ forum, all those activities really helped me to finish the course.

Apart from the important work done by our Facilitators, the other thing that really helped me to keep up and understand/assimilate all the discussed issues better, was the support from my friends from work, Kasia and Agata. All three of us were involved in the course, we tested on ourselves the idea of “study buddy” and it worked perfectly ;)

In the evaluation survey, we had the question about the balance between the pedagogy and tools. For me it was ok. I’m teaching for some time, but apart from few small courses, I didn’t have many didactic trainings. So, e.g. I will for sure get back to ADDIE Model Instructional Strategies many times. When it comes to the tools, I’ve already started to use some of them (e.g. creative commons, padlet, ZOOM, flipgrid). The ONL course also changed my attitude towards openness and sharing.  For example, I started to be actively involved in commenting scientific blogs, not only reading and taking the information, as  I did before. 

The problem of most of ONL Participants was the lack of time. Before the course started, I truly couldn’t imagine how I would make it. Autumn is always the hardest part of the year, in terms of duties at work. I’m not saying it was easy…but somehow, I found the needed time. I devoted much more hours from my schedule, than it was planned for the course, but it was my choice…I really got involved in the ONL. So – thank You ONL172 People, it was a great pleasure and unforgettable experience. 


Komentarze

  1. Wonderful to read your positive comments and I hope that you will continue to share and participate in other networks and develop your skills. I'm still learning every week and it's great to meet and discuss with so many inspiring people out there. It has been a big challenge for the project members to find time for ONL, especially when the course was a late addition to your already packed schedules. Your example shows how important it is to have local support in online courses. If you're on your own it's easy to drop out but one colleague who pushes you can make all the difference.

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