First steps
The course started this week, and there were already some interesting moments that I would like to remember as an educator and also as a researcher.
For example, in the first webinar of ONL, five of us were sent at random to an online discussion room to answer a certain question. There was a long silence before someone had the courage to start the conversation. As there was no previosly assigned leader or chairperson for the small group discussion, we just had to wait until one of us took on this role. But then further obstacles emerged: How do you select the next speaker? How do you signal that you want to say something? It was surprising (and, to be honest, entertaining) to see how unskilled all the participants seemed to be at handling this.
It will be interesting to observe how a random collection of fellow lecturers, researchers, and education developers develops into a learning and collaborating community. We have already made the first steps into that direction.
For example, in the first webinar of ONL, five of us were sent at random to an online discussion room to answer a certain question. There was a long silence before someone had the courage to start the conversation. As there was no previosly assigned leader or chairperson for the small group discussion, we just had to wait until one of us took on this role. But then further obstacles emerged: How do you select the next speaker? How do you signal that you want to say something? It was surprising (and, to be honest, entertaining) to see how unskilled all the participants seemed to be at handling this.
It will be interesting to observe how a random collection of fellow lecturers, researchers, and education developers develops into a learning and collaborating community. We have already made the first steps into that direction.
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