Reflection on Open Networked Learning course

I took part in the Open Networked Learning (ONL) course in the Autumn term of 2022. The aim of this blog post is to share some of my experiences and views regarding the course.

How and why did I join the course? Well, I just noticed the course in Intra and decided to apply because it seemed interesting, and I had thought about doing more pedagogical studies. I had also just figured that I would have some time in my calendar this Autumn to do some studies. The course was conducted fully online and it can be included in the University pedagogy studies.

The ONL course included five topics that we explored in our PBL (problem-based learning) groups. My group was a group of six and we were from different countries and had different disciplinary backgrounds. This made the PBL work fun and we had lively discussions. Most of the coursework was done in these PBL groups. We met two times a week to work together and produce an output of our learning, such as a mind map, poster or something else. Besides group work, all the topics included other content, such as readings and video material as well as webinars that we were able to participate in either live or watch afterwards as a recording. For each topic, we had to write a reflection post on a blog and comment on a peer’s blog post. To be honest, the course was a bit time-consuming in the sense that I think I would have benefited from some extra time to immerse myself into the topic and truly read and reflect on the materials we were given. Now the 80 hours that was a “recommendation/approximation” of the time the course would take was pretty much used in just taking part in the coursework in PBLs and in the webinars, going through some of the materials and producing/commenting on the reflections.

Thinking back about my experiences and learning during the ONL course, first of all, I got to know new super nice people. I feel that our PBL group worked very well together and as the weeks passed and we got to know each other better and better, our collaboration and discussions were ever more fruitful. I enjoyed working in the PBL group and learning from my peers and with them about things such as how to use different technological tools, online environments, and problem-based learning in my own online/blended teaching.

In this course, we had a practical, hands-on mentality and we actually tested many different learning/innovation tools/techniques. Therefore, perhaps, the most concrete things that I can take with me from the ONL course are these tools and ways to work that we tested in our PBL group. For instance, we tested different kinds of presentation tools (e.g., Miro and Canva). I had not tried these before but do think I will use them in the future. For example, Miro worked super well for us in the ideation phase and as a base for discussions as we first wrote down our own ideas on post-its and then discussed them together.

One of the most beneficial things about taking part in this course is that now I have actually taken part in a problem-based online course myself. Therefore, I know in practice some of the difficulties/challenges it may have and am able to give some hints to my students, on how to go around these pitfalls. I can also give concrete examples of the benefits and positive aspects of online/blended learning and PBL. This enables me as a teacher to facilitate this type of course better as I have a similar experience myself.

All in all, I think that the ONL course was a nice learning experience, and I would recommend it to people who would like to learn more about online/blended learning or problem-based learning in a hands-on course. I think the course suits best those who are not that familiar with these aspects of teaching and learning, but I think discussing with different kinds of people from different backgrounds and disciplines gives possibilities to learn more even for a person more merited.

Read more about the course on the ONL website. The next iteration of ONL starts in February 2023.

Marjukka Mikkonen, Doctoral Researcher, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University