A grumpy millennial

 

Until next time! 

The meme above, with David Hasselhoff comfortably surfing that scary wave, was our group (PBL03) meme. It could not reflect my experience through the course better. We began timidly sharing ideas and arguments in Microsoft word (the online version, of course), and ended up recording a podcast! It may sound a bit silly, but this was a real journey for me.

Although I have helped in designing and teaching blended learning courses before, I’ve never been in the receiving end of the online teaching, and it was eye opening. Also, the last time I was involved in blended learning teaching was back in 2012 (light years from now for the tech development times). So the course was also an update on online tools and platforms, they have really improved!  

A first leaning lesson is to try not to be overwhelmed by the online tools and platforms, but patiently work with them until I learn how to use it. If it takes too much time or hassle, then it is not a good tool to use in my teaching. Online teaching needs to be fun and easy; there is no need to make it complicated by expecting the students to use all sorts of different platforms, sometimes simple is better. I guess the group’s dynamics will tell me how many or how diverse the online tools need to be for that particular course. Another aspect here is openness. I support open learning, and maybe using open platforms, but not every course, subject and group may be suitable for it, so it is important to asses carefully.

A second lesson is to be aware that online learning can be boring, so it is time for us as educators to find our creative selves. Maybe is not your class that is boring, but to be honest, lectures have a tough time competing with all the distractive possibilities we have at our homes. Therefore, finding ways to keep students engaged is key. I can think of some ideas, like breaking the lectures shorter and complement with groups’ discussion, asking for interaction via the chat, sending an emoji or photos of cats that reflect if the students are following the lecture, or maybe recording the lecture and making it available before hand, so the online teaching space can be used for questions, discussions, workshops, etc.

A final lesson I take is the importance of incentivise my future students to create engage and enjoy their learning community. Leaning is both and introspective and a social process, and I am afraid the social aspect of it is often minimised or deemed less important (well, at least that has been my experience), but it is so important! Talking and listening to other people’s intake of a given topic is enriching. It enhances your own learning and gives you extra abilities like listening, building arguments, and articulating your thoughts verbally or by any other chosen medium. Now, as an educator, I must be aware that group work, or learning communities, implies a larger responsibility of each student, but that responsibility can be better measured by the group itself (I mean, who hand how has contributed and who is free-riding). ONL202 had a good strategy of having facilitators for the groups, but I am afraid that is a privilege we will not have in our normal teaching, so if you reader, have an idea of how to ensure students participation and learning in their groups, please leave me a comment.

I am confident that having been a student of an online course will improve my teaching practice, now I am looking forward to get back to teaching!