I am one of the many education practitioner around the world that is taking advantage of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) such as Coursera, FutureLearn, OpenLearn, Alison and EDX. I have also benefited immensely from the use resources and materials available as Open Education Resources (OER) I have benefited immensely from resources on sites such as YouTube, British Council TeachEnglish and LearnEnglish. These resources have been useful to me either for professional development or as classroom resources to support teaching and learning. I have taken online classes and have used resources created by reputable universities around the world for free.

My journey with OER started about twenty years ago when I started associating with the British Council in Nigeria as a member. I gradually realized how huge the world of OER is, beginning with the resources offered to support teaching and learning by the British Council.

When I tried to take a MOOC, again this began with online courses on the British Council site, I realized how hard it is to participate in the online class. These online sessions needed strict self-discipline, sometimes much more than face-to-face sessions. But I enjoyed the new online teaching and learning courses and resources the sites offered.

Many years after, I got to know about many other MOOC programmes such as Alison, Khan Academy, Coursera, EDX and lately OpenLearn.  So I applied for the courses. I have completed some of the courses but have been unable to complete some of the courses. Over the years, I have gained the confidence to take many courses in the vast MOOC world. These days, when I sign up for MOOC, I know I have the knowledge to be successful in the courses.

My skills and expertise as a teacher and trainer have gotten better through participating in MOOC and sharing information colleagues worldwide who are taking the same courses. Today, I continue to participate in MOOCs from providers around the world and I have big dreams about achieving and becoming more. Participating in MOOC and utilizing OER has been a good catalyst for my professional development.