MOODLEMOODLE – A pedagogical tool, or post and run? Dra. Allyson Roberts FCSH, 2008

Moodle in practice in Higher Education How can learning needs be supported by Moodle? How can learning tasks be designed to deepen learning - to avoid “post and run”? Some examples of practice

What is Moodle? - (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) a place for creating learning opportunities enabling learning through doing in a virtual environment. The design of Moodle is based on socio constructivist theory ; an inquiry-based and discovery- based approach to learning.

What do learners need? a sense of community dialogue with others through meaningful co-operation active learning – with meaningful, relevant examples and problems flexibility of pathways – individual and group choices of activities to tap into their strengths and needs to do things at their own level and in own time clear objectives and assessment feedback to reflect on processes and product of learning (adapted from Palloff and Pratt, 2003)

What can Moodle offer the learner? Different tools to support learning through: Socialisation Individualised learning Collaborative channels Discipline related terminology Opportunity for collaborative/knowledge building tasks Reflective processes Feedback, grading, comment

Socialising: promoting a sense of community of learners Care and share Get dialogue going and growing Establish good practice of engagement

Individualised learning/varied approach SCAFFOLDED TASKS DESIGN Learning at own pace Learning at own level Getting personalised feedback Repeating learning tasks Approach learning task from different orientations Reflecting on product and process

Engagement with: Engagement Learning resources Teacher/tutor Tasks self Profession/ Situated learning Co-learners Constructivist approaches to learning advocate allowing learners not only to interact directly with information to be learned, but also to add their own information and construct their own relationships. (Chun & Plass 2000). How can Moodle support this flexibility?

Engagement through Moodle tools Chat Forum Group spaces Group writing tasks – wiki THROUGH COLLABORATIVE – CO-OPERATIVE TASKS Planning Sharing ideas and opinions Making sense of learning input Small group setups 5/6 Collaborative text productions Chat session towards action research

Forum: to promote writing - 9 year-olds

Halloween rap

IATEF (SIGs) Special Interest Groups DISCUSSION FORUMS (HOSTED IN Moodle)

Forum: Teacher Training and Education, IATEFL Exeter online

What do learners need? a sense of community dialogue with others through meaningful co-operation active learning – with meaningful, relevant examples and problems flexibility of pathways – individual and group choices of activities to tap into their strengths and needs to do things at their own level and in own time clear objectives and assessment feedback to reflect on processes and product of learning (adapted from Palloff and Pratt, 2003)

Moodle support Things Moodle! 1. Free Moodle download, supported by the Moodle community and hundreds of forums and examples of Moodle in practice A site for language teachers who want to play around using Moodle to get an idea of how it works Introductory and Advanced courses in how to use Moodle, online with the E- Consultants Cole, J and Foster, H (2007) Using Moodle - Teaching with the Popular Open Source Management System, O’Reilly Community Press. Thank you to those on the Masters courses and to colleague Dr.David Hardisty, who inspires learning.