This was an interesting journey… I started off very confused as to where this fit into my everyday life and how this will actually benefit me. I was frustrated with the working in a group part, not to be able to participate in all meetings and webinars due to other commitments. It felt like I have let down my group. The only way I could contribute was to take part in the FISh model analysis and comment on presentations. And that is not me – to do things half way. If I do something it’s all or nothing. So that is something I had to make peace with. I guess that’s part of working in a group and especially in the online environment and when you live in different cities, not to say continents.

Learning about filter bubbles was quite interesting. Feels like way back. But I was still confused as to where it would fit into my work environment and be to the benefit of especially my students. Then we started with Sharing and Openness. And here is where I started to think about my own views in my work environment and my willingness to share and how open I really am to share my own material and work with others. It has been a challenging thought process that challenges me to think differently as it can be of mutual benefit to build a network of people willing to share.

I was introduced to “free” education. Where people are sharing resources and material to be used and copied. This is inspiring. At first I questioned the quality and credibility of these free courses. But then I realized that if institutions like Harvard University, the University of Queensland, University of Washington, etc are willing to share their resources surely they would not compromise on quality and credibility and put their reputation in jeopardy. So I enrolled for a few of these courses to check them out. Why reinvent the wheel. And then Topic 4 were introduced – Design for online and blended learning. And I could just see the connections between the “free” resources and designing and online course. I wrote a comprehensive blog on how to implement these connections. Very excited about it!

So I have learned a lot. Maybe it was so frustrating in the beginning because it was all new. But I love learning and I can certainly see opportunities for implementing this is my work environment for both myself, peers and students. And I really hope I get the opportunity to implement this.

Thanks to all who made it possible for us to join this course and to my PBL 7 group who I got the opportunity to learn from and with. And all the best for the future!