Last reflection on the course

 Now the course came to a close and I had some time to reflect on it. 



There are so many things that were valuable in the course that I continue to investigate and explore, but there are a couple that I have already started implementing in my work with students and even in research teams that I'd like to share here. 

Firstly, I loved the approach used in the course that is based on individual investigation but then sharing, integrating and presenting that knowledge together with the other investigators. I have a friend from a long time ago that once said that she identified herself as a seeker. We were both doing our PhD studies at the time. And I thought it was a profound statement, a fundamental statement for a scholar - to be a seeker. This course reminded me of that - that as scholars, as teachers, we should always investigate and never settle for what we know. Especially in this digital environment, with so many new possibilities for interaction and knowledge sharing. 

The structure where there is a problem or a scenario is introduced is great. It provided opportunities to explore personal interests, but still related to the topic. I will think of how to incorporate this in my teaching next year, but I have already suggested to use this in a research team. With my research team members, we are now reading research articles. Until now, we focused on reading article by article, what we found. But now, with this approach, I suggested that we identify issues related to the topic, and then every person picks on issue to investigate and present to the others. I am interested to see how it works in  a research setting. But others commented favourably about the approach, saying that it allows for independent investigation and work, adds accountability, and opens up options for different sources. 

Secondly, the course gave so much information about the different platforms to use. Actually, it was more the group members rather than the course itself. It was great to work with colleagues from other parts of the world - in our group we had members from Singapoure South Africa, Finland and Sweden, and from different disciplines. It was great to see the differences but also commonalities, and how technology was used by those different people. I have now started to use the Miro Board and while I hated Padlet before, I saw how it could be used better. I have already used Canva for another collaborative project. So the technical knowledge that the course allowed to create and share, was extremely useful. 

Looking back at the first weeks of the course, I have to say it was a challenging start for me - to learn where information was, what the structure of the course was, how to hold group meetings (and the focus on group meetings). But in the end it was all worth it, and it was all a different immersive experience. Now on to new discoveries!




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