MOOC8 - My experience and my reflections

MOOC8 concerned online teaching and in particular how Moodle platform can be a very useful medium which enables an effective interactive communication.

In the five weeks of the course I have thought about the meaning of an effective online teaching and learning. I worked  with the KWHL chart, adding  my input in a glossary. 

The first thing I want to emphasize is  the method of the course, absolutely invaluable to me and founded on exciting practical component, coupled with strong theoretical foundations. Before taking this course, I didn’t imagine what was a  KWHL chart and its use.

During the course many webinars have been proposed on WizIQ, that I enjoyed as excellent resources for the explanation of teaching methods and theories. I feel that I understood the lectures and I am glad that the slides from the lectures and their registrations were uploaded. I have learned to critically examine the choices I make as a teacher, and to reflect on how well my teaching techniques align with the experts in the field.

Dr. Nellie Deutsch guided partecipants to learn how to use resources and activities that Moodle platform offers to design a course, and how to add blocks to personalize our course.

In the last week partecipants designed a course in teams and each one made a lesson of the course. This assigment gave me the opportunity to discover something about myself.  I’ve never thought of myself as a leader, but because the class used group thinking in more than one occasion, I found that I am a good leader. I communicated my ideas to the group while trying to balance the ideas of others so the group came to an agreed upon decision. I was happy to discover to be able to balance the ability to take control of a situation and still remain diplomatic with colleagues.

After all, I have in mind to be an online teacher and so it is important to learn how to be in situation.

In short, I am sad that this class has come to an end but I am very thankful for this experience and I look forward to using what I have learned in this class within my future career as online teacher.