Our ONL181 journey has come to an end…  I started out thinking that I would write about me, my adhd and the challenges that are related to teaching and learning in a digital world when you have adhd. In a way I have but I have also managed to explore other matters related to online learning… things I didn’t know exist…

I think that one of the things I am taking away from this course, apart from knowledge gained, is the experience of being a student again, and of having a look into what the world might look and feel like for students of today… in a different era than when I started my studies and using different tools. This course, and my thoughts on student experiences, has also reminded me of work life experiences I have had and how they have shaped me as a person and also shaped my life…

Fifteen years ago before I was diagnosed with ADHD, I had a boss who nick-named me ‘The Duracell bunny’. I felt that he saw my strengths, not my weaknesses. He pointed me towards the goal but let me find my own way. He let me grow and when I outgrew my position he wished me good luck in the future and told me to go and conquer the world.

So onward I moved… towards a new job, new responsibilities and new studies.

Seven years ago I had a boss that told my Ph.D. supervisor that I was like a chicken…, He was referring to my ADHD, he claimed I could easily get distracted and that he needed to ‘throw me treats to keep my attention’ and by doing that he kept me on a straight and narrow path. My supervisor was shocked that he used this analogy, especially in front of me. I, on the other hand, was numb and felt that there was a point to what he said. I felt that I was lost and that I wasn’t learning anything of value in that job. I left not long thereafter.

Guess which of these two ex-bosses that I remember with warmth, that I remember as a good boss, who made me a better person and who changed my approach to life and learning… yes, boss number one. I can only guess that teachers have very much the same effect on students. We can inspire or we can kill the joy a student feels when they are interacting with us or in our courses.

During this course focusing on online learning and teaching, and on using new and different tools, I learnt a lot. So many new things and yet ‘nothing new under the sun’ as they say… whatever the platform, whatever the tool the most important thing is the learning experience. It is something we need to focus on and we need to spend time cultivating an atmosphere that is good for learning. We need to take this in to account when designing and teaching our courses. I want to be the kind of teacher that inspires and that makes students become the best version of themselves that they can be. In a small classroom I have been able to do this, now I am going to challenge myself to do the same online and with a bigger group… wish me luck!!!

Have I told you how much I am enjoying this course… and how much I hate it… 🙂

I have only been a teacher for approx. 6 years, before that I was doing clinical work and research. Teaching is not something that comes naturally to everyone. It is hard work and something you learn often through trial and error. What has surprised me the most has been how you can teach the same course several times to different groups and each course turns out completely different. Is the course material different, no… is the teacher different, no… but the student group is and the world is… and this results in a different course each time.

The fourth topic ‘Design for online and blended learning’ that we have discussed in our group made me reflect both on courses I am doing at the moment and courses that I have done previously… and I had one of those ‘AHA’ moments… like a light bulb going off in my head…

There are certain stages you need to go through when designing a course no matter if it’s digital, blended or plain old fashioned in house teaching. What works face to face doesn’t however always work in a blended learning course or in an online course. The five stage model by Salmon (2013) was discussed in our group as an interesting way of approaching digital teaching/learning and we decided to create a Prezi presentation to show how we investigated the different stages.

https://prezi.com/view/c1jz5MO7mxS7kD2DXmRx/

We also read Wrights (2015) article that compared e-tivities, e-moderation, and the 5 stage model to the community of inquiry model for online learning design. What I took away from this article is that an educational experience is very individual… social presence, teaching presence and cognitive presence all make for a kaleidoscope experience and need to be addressed and contemplated on when planning all stages of an online course.

Salmon, G (2013) The Five Stage Model. [Homepage] http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Wright, P. (2015). Comparing e-tivities, e-moderation and the five stage model to the community of inquiry model for online learning design. The Online Journal of Distance Education and e-Learning, 3(2), 17–30.

Isn’t learning in communities something we do all the time… or do we? No man is an island someone once said and I guess this is true, we are constantly interacting with each other and in that interaction we learn from one another. Put people in a group with the sole intention of learning and look at the magic that takes place…

Topic 3 in the ONL181 course was about ‘Learning in Communities and Networked Collaborative Learning’. In our group we brainstormed mainly around the topic of learning in communities and at the end of our discussions we noticed that the following topics stood out:

Collaboration, motivation, skills, reflection, engaged learning and values

Each of these subjects, and how they influence our learning in communities, were discussed in-depth and presented in a Padlet. We also made a video each on a chosen topic and I chose ‘reflection’ as I believe that it is a fundamental aspect of both teaching and learning.

There are several different types of reflection according to Ghaye (2011), reflection IN action (thinking about what you are doing while you are doing it), reflection ON practice (looking back and reflecting, perhaps focusing on something significant), reflection FOR action (gaining understanding for why you have done something) and reflection WITH action ( a conscious action to develop your skills).

All of these types of  reflecting  are important in the learning process as reflecting is more than just thinking…, it is a purposeful act… a cycle of learning. The article found below is an interesting read and looks at how we can help students move beyond thinking that reflecting is a waste of time and to understand that ‘learning how to learn’ is a key factor in self regulated learning.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/three-ideas-implementing-learner-reflection/

Reference:

Ghaye, Tony. (2011). Teaching and Learning Through Reflective Practice: A Practical Guide for Positive Action. Routledge.

I have come to the conclusion that these blogs written for the ONL 181 course are more of a personal reflection journey that will benefit me more than being a treasure trove of information that others might find interesting and learn from. I have been reading several blogs from the participants of the course that I am participating in… and I am impressed by the amount of knowledge and inspiration that can be found in some of the blogs. I think that many people are light years ahead of me when it comes to digital learning but that doesn’t bother me… It’s not a race, it’s a journey… my journey, and I need to take time to reflect in-depth on how I feel about each topic we discuss and learn about.

During the two weeks that we have been focusing on the topic of sharing and openness in education and learning, I have had the fortune of engaging in work activities that have given me the opportunity to think in-depth about the subject areas we have been discussing in our group… especially openness.

From the beginning of next year, I will be in charge of Arcada’s Master of Global Health Programme. This is a joint programme together with another  Finnish university and a Kenyan university. Alongside my current job as director for the international nursing programme at Arcada, I am busy creating content for two courses that I will be teaching next spring. One is a subject I am familiar with (ethics) but in a new area (global health) and the other subject is one I am a bit more unfamiliar with (crises, globalization, and health care) and this means that I need to myself gain knowledge in that specific subject. In order to do this I need to collaborate with the teachers that have taught the course previously and also look into what material is available for me to use so that I do not have to reinvent the wheel in order to teach the best course I can.

I think that we sometimes look at openness and sharing as a sort of Pandoras box… we are afraid to open it up thinking that we might not be able to control what comes out… we want openness when we need it, as it then becomes an opportunity for us. On the other hand when openness is demanded from us it can sometimes be perceived as a threat, we might question ourselves, our skills (is my material good enough!), what is our value if we start ‘giving’ our material away (will students choose our universities’ courses?) etc. Openness for me also means exchange of ideas with colleagues, not just facilitating exchange of material or data, it’s talks, it’s sharing of values and opinions and being given the opportunity to broaden my horizon… to become a better person and a better teacher.

I’ve been thinking a lot these last few weeks about digital literacy… no surprise there… 🙂

As I mentioned earlier, I have ADHD. For those of you not aware of what ADHD stands for it is Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. So what does this mean and how does it manifest… well it means nothing and everything. ADHD has a diverse range of symptoms that can in some people be very predominant and in others, you will only find a few quirky symptoms… So when is it an illness and when isn’t it… How long is a piece of string…

I personally feel that my own ADHD it is more of a personality trait than an illness. Most often when I tell someone what my symptoms are (some problems with concentrating, problems with self-regulating, memory problems, short span of attention, oh, and I also move house and change jobs often… more than ‘normal’ people do…) they look at me and say ‘well, that sounds a lot like me…, I do that…, I have the same problems…, I just might have ADHD as well…’. Most often I can be quite sure that this is not so. I guess the difference is that other people function quite well in their daily life despite having ‘the same issues’ while I sometimes need to take medication in order to do or complete something that requires total concentration.

I have often attributed ‘my poor digital literacy skills’ to my ADHD… my brain’s inability to sometimes focus on one topic for long enough for me to learn… especially if I am not interested in the subject. However, the last two weeks have shown me that this may not be the case… My digital literacy skills are not great, but they don’t suck either… So why haven’t I been able to learn more about digital tools and use them in my teaching? Maybe I just haven’t been curious enough… This thought prompted me to poke around on the internet in search of an answer and look what I found.

After watching this I started to ask myself the following questions: What is different this time about my learning? What is motivating me to become more digitally literate? I tried to analyse the six different steps in the video that were pointed out as facilitating one’s being able to learn anything… so here goes…

Step #1 Write it down… This blog will serve as my writing block.

Step #2 Create urgency… I have been given the responsibility for a Masters programme that will be predominantly online and use multiple digital platforms and tools. This is from the 1st of December this year… so I better learn quickly…

Step #3 Create accountability… My colleagues are taking part in this course… along with the ‘rest of the world’ taking part in this ONL181 course… I need to show everyone that I can do this.

Step #4 Fail and fail hard… Last year I was one of three people teaching an online course and I felt that my contribution was poorer than it should have been… I promised myself that the next online course I take part in will be much better. I have embraced failure… and didn’t particularly like it.

Step #5 Ask for help… I have never had a problem with asking for help. I think that the problem has been that I haven’t really known what questions to ask. After a few weeks participating in this course, I already have more questions to ask than I thought possible. I think that having the questions now and the forum to present them in will be a game changer.

Step #6 Follow through and own it… I’m going to finish this course, no matter how hard I find it, I’m going to prove that I can be as digitally literate as anyone else and that my ADHD can be a positive force to reckon with. I have always been a curious person and now I’m curious to see how much I can learn… Wish me luck!!!

Thanks for joining me! This is my story, this is my journey, and this is me…, a woman with ADHD trying to learn to slow down in order to reflect on what I will be learning during this ONL181 course… and hoping to improve my digital pedagogical skills and make new acquaintances at the same time.

I’m quite the oxymoron… a quick thinking, fast-speaking introvert who loves having deep conversations with a handful of people and hates small talk in crowds. I can easily speak in front of a 100 people but get tongue-tied in a group of six. I can spend hours researching on subjects that interest me but have a short span of attention and very poor memory if I don’t feel ‘flow’… I need to be extremely structured in my work manner because I am chaotic in my creative process. I am an expert at starting projects and an expert at getting nothing done. I need my space, my peace, yet desperately want to be part of the gang. I want to be invited to the party but will most likely have a dozen excuses not to come…

I’m here now for some time to come and I’m glad you’ve come along for the ride…

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton