As the ONL 181 course comes to an end, I am able to reflect that this is a start of a new journey to a new ‘open’ me. This is particularly exciting and thrilling for me!

This experience has opened my mind to a host of new possibilities and I thoroughly enjoyed the PBL group experience. I have learnt about new digital tools which I am am able to take back to my institute and I have already highlighted a few which I would like to include for online course facilitators to use as a means to improve the Online Student journey.

Below is a summary of my experience of each topic:

Topic 1: Topic 1 had me in a bit of a spiral, I was coming to terms with learning and sharing in an OPEN space and I was forced to do a personal reflection as to how did I really ‘fit in’? What is my niche in the online space of open learning.

Topic 2: had me investigating being ‘open’ – what it entails, how it is beneficial and contributes to the online earning space. I also reflected on ‘Openness’ in the South African context and how far (or near) we are on a global spectrum.

Topic 3: I was able to reflect on my Masters dissertation which I had just recently completed, which entailed some collaborative work. I must admit, that this is something that I tend to struggle with, but I know that a lot of this difficulty has to do with the fact that I am hearing impaired and prefer working on my own. There are new tools I learnt about which enable and support collaborative work, which I am quite keen to get to greater grips with.

Topic 4: Topic 4 was my favourite and one I could most relate to! I thoroughly enjoyed leading this topic as it allowed me to do more research and reflect on the models in my own day-to-day practice.

Topic 5: We as PBL 3 decided to do a reflection via questions in google forms. This allowed us to reflect and give feedback regarding what we most enjoyed vs. what we least enjoyed, what we have learnt, favourite topics etc. This was actually exciting to round up and analyse the course in retrospect.

All in all, ONL 181 and PBL group 3 has taught me how important sharing and collaboration is. I have gained insight and knowledge, more importantly, about new technologies, tools and ways to improve my understanding and implementation on a day-to-day basis. I have also been able to (and very excitedly did this) share what I’ve learnt with my colleagues and peers.

Would I do this all over again? Absolutely YES!