It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

I am lacking behind with my blog-posts and the quote above can sort of describe my feelings and also the reflections on almost all topics we have dealt with. I will now swiftly write down my reflections, because I have been thinking and reading, one topic at a time.

I froze and started to overthink about openness. We talk a lot about transparency, openness and also honesty. But at the same time we are surrounded by fake news, Social Media bubbles and political movements taking advantage on the openness on the web. So I got stuck reflecting on this one topic for weeks, not knowing how to express myself. But now I have to just do it so I can continue with the other topics in the hasty path I put up to me.

For me openness is about honesty and also about being brave – when I share experiences or thoughts, it doesn’t really matter if it is online or in real life (IRL), I truly mean what I write or say. But it is easier to share things IRL, and I think this has made my poor blog so empty and left alone. When things are posted on-line they really have to stick! And I also know that I have become more careful online because of the harsh communication on different platforms. And also learning more and more about copyright issues and working also with artists in different fields I get so aware and cautious about my activities online.

But saying that, the whole online world is a goldmine of information, experiences and I do move around a lot in that space. I am quite comfortable looking for content to use in my own teaching and know how to use Creative Commons or open resources, even though I tend to make excuses quite often and explain i.e some pictures I use as “fair use”

Last a couple of words about MOOCs – I have been attending quite a few of them, mainly via coursera.org and futurelearn.com – the courses have been quite good and gave me some insight in subjects I was curious about. But the problem was the depth in learning – and I think this course, ONL181 patched up that shortage with the interactive meetings in PBL groups and also different assignments and other ways of sharing and creating knowledge.