It’s a magical world, Hobbes…let’s go exploring. (Bill Watterson)
Summarising the last weeks is difficult and easy at the same time. First of all it is easy, because it was a fun, engaging and productive curriculum. The course sparked the interest to do more in this regards of open networked learning. But this is where the challenge starts. At the moment I am highly motivated to do more. Leaving the fertile PBL-groups behind I now face the challenge to find collegues and peers who share my new focal point. This again means stepping away from remote learning to classic face-to-face-interaction.
I learned a great deal of things, which I am aiming to implement into my daily practice. The concept of “universal design for learning” is one of the key take-home elements. Whenever I meet people and engage in conversation about the ONL-Course, the “universal design for learning” concept is the first topic I elaborate. I am hooked…
We learned about tools. Tools to gather information. Tools to distribute information. Tools to collaborate. Tools to communicate. And Tools to present information and findings. Even the course ran over 10 Weeks, I have the strong impression that we barely scratched the surface of what is out there. The digital landscape is always in motion and changing. Every week, a new tool or start-up arises and gains attention. We managed to leave our concerns about trying out new things behind and found even joy in searching for and testing untouched software or tools.
Outlook – What’s next?
After meeting Gregor Theilmeier from an adjacent PBL-Group on a conference we conspired to collaborate on a project. We are aiming with a group of motivated collegues to mirror the ONL-Concept in designing and implementing a course for the German Society of Anaesthesiology. We want to focus on essential skills of remote collaborative work in an academic environment. This includes education in methods, tools and concepts.
In the beginning of the course, we were asked, wether we could imagine starting a MOOC by ourselves. I denied with regards to the workload and suspected lack of engagement of my academic peers. My point of view has changed completely. Starting and curating a MOOC is now a realistic and reachable goal for the next year.
If there were something like an advanced course of ONL, I would happily apply and take part. On the other hand, this course was intended to help people to help themselves, spark interest and incentivise to do more. I will recommend the course.
Well done, ONL181!
Tools we used
Der Beitrag ONL181 – Topic 5 – Mapping the educational landscape of the digital age erschien zuerst auf ingmar-finkenzeller.de.