Reflections about Topic 5

Before I started the course, digital learning was to use zoom until things return to normal mode. Now online and blended learning are here to stay and then it is not enough to be able to handle zoom. The course has broadened my views a lot. I now have important basic knowledge to be able to make changes and understand what such changes can mean.

One of the two most important things I have learned is about communities and PLN. This is because it enables my professional development. I must continue to build my networks but have already added some good groups and people to follow. I would like to have a network with other teachers in nursing programs, who have similar courses as I have, but in other Universities.

Design in online and blended learning was the second of the two most important things for me because I could create a list of concrete things that I can improve. Improving this work will start already next semester when I meet the students in the first semester. I have started with an increased social presence, where I have worked on a more personal presentation of me and activities where students get to know each other and can raise expectations and fears. I will be using Padlet for the first time. Technology can really enhance teaching. I think especially of the way Dr. Cleveland Innes recorded a short video and used the Padlet to answer our questions at the webinar. It was so interactive!

The most important thing for me is to start changing something, because then I will gain experience and be able to develop myself or argue for my cause more and more. I will use google drive and Padlet in my teaching, to begin with. I will adjust a lot of my powerpoint presentations following the advice from the Youtube movie with David White about color, size of the messages and amount of information per page. I have quite a few powerpoints so this is a pretty big job in itself.

I will spread information about this ONL course because it gives even greater impact the more people who take such a course. Imagine if someone else in my teaching teams had taken this course and we could continue our discussions in the context of our activities. Discussions about e-learning in the teachers working teams and faculty is an important activity.  Some changes can be made yourself; others require more collaboration in the teaching team and some changes require a change in the syllabus. I will use the support systems available at my university to increase my pedagogical and digital management.

Overall, I have gained a completely different understanding of work in PBL groups and what collaboration means. The PBL-group has been like family to me. I have also seen how facilitators work and have learned about their ways of providing information and supporting the learning process. It´s been challenging to do this in English. To all the ONL-organizers, thank you for a great course! I´m sorry, but I can´t join the webinar tomorrow.