Personal reflection about the course

Before I started this course I was wondering what kind of content and procedure are we going to follow. I have never had an opportunity to participate either in an e-learning course or in a course being run exclusively via the Internet before the start of our course Learning and teaching in the 21st century. That is why I was really curious how the course is going to be organised and in what way are we going to participate. 

Then the course has started and I read the first task on our website. The idea of communication with the teacher with the help of a weblog - as a kind of tool through which we proved our participation - made me a bit scared but curious at the same time. I was worried if I would be able to create a weblog but I realized very soon that it is not only very easy to make one, but also it is a lot of fun to run it. Moreover, I started to think about incorporating such way of communication also in my prospective English lessons with my secondary school students. I think that they might like the possibility to create something by themselves, publish it on the web so that everyone can see it and "take care of it" on a regular basis. 

Also the topics we were dealing with were interesting and new for me. For example I was wondering for some time what the concept Web 2.0 was about since I had come across this term several times during my studies. But I have never found time or effort to really explore it in greater detail. The topics we were discussing throughout our course also made me think about starting to implement in my teaching (and I start to teach a real class very soon) more web-based tools. I think that the time has come to start teaching in a more interactive way and to start supporting more self-directed learning based on openness and sharing. Let's see if any of the ideas I picked from our course will become reality. I hope so. Thanks, Terje!

 

Mind map

This mind map is reflecting on my understanding of the situation "learning and teaching in the 21st century."

Competencies & e-portfolio

My e-portfolio for my home university would be based on this question: What kind of personal growth I have gone through during my stay on Erasmus in Linz?

In terms of educational growth I got the chance to develop my teaching competencies because we were allowed to undertake a school teaching practice at the primary school in Linz. This practice lasted for more than three months and we could familiarise ourselves not only with the local school environment, but also we were teaching in local classes. Because of the fact that we were mostly doing team-teaching, I could try out this way of teaching for the first time in my life. This experience enabled me to develop my teaching skills in terms of preparation and organization of the lesson, understanding various needs of the students and setting goals and expectations.

Apart from developing myself as a teacher-trainee, I could also develop as a student. The studies at a foreign university require a high degree of adaptation and inquiry. I familiarised myself with the Austrian system of education and with the life at the university. Thanks to the diverse study plan I could learn more about CLIL lessons, broaden my knowledge of German literature, come to know more about the contemporary trends in learning and teaching and in intercultural studies.

In terms of personal growth I experienced the life of a student abroad which is based on one's own responsibility and independence. This brings also the deepening of one's self-awareness and self-knowledge. Throughout my whole stay I could prove my talents and gain more self-confidence.

In terms of social growth I came in touch with a great number of people from different countries, with their languages, cultures and customs. It brought more openess and new perspectives into my life. I also realized the importance of one's culture and its influence on life. 

In terms of language competencies I could develop my English and German and thanks to my Erasmus friends I could learn a few words from various other languages. I realized how important English language is because it was always a very helpful tool for communication with non-native speakers. I also became aware of the fact that language is interconnected with one's thinking and personality.

My experience with Open Learning

I think that my learning didn't start to change to a more open one until our course Learning and teaching in the 21st century has started. Or more precisely, it is the first time I participate in a course where we consciously and purposefully use networking and sharing resources. We have shared a lot of resources - for example notes from the lectures and seminars, our presentations and papers as well as opinions, ideas and information - with my peers at the university since the beginning of our studies. However, this kind of sharing was done in an "unofficial" and random way. But it was very effective. Such sharing was (and still is) tightly connected with social learning and I have experienced that social learning always had a positive effect on my results. It is very helpful for me, for instance, when we take some time with my friends before writing a test and go through the topics and questions together, discuss them and clear things up. Exchanging ideas and opinions broadens one's view on the topic and encourages one to take more perspectives on the issue. Two heads are better than one.

In the open learning environment we have in our course Learning and teaching in the 21st century we use a lot of task-based learning. The procedure is step-by-step from one related topic to another and from simplier to complexer ones. We use a lot of sharing - we share not only information and knowledge but also opinions and data. All of the participants of the course are interconnected and can contact each other easily. Our learning is based on technology - i.e. it would not be possible without our basic knowledge of computing.