Course Site
As part of my e-portfolio presentation, I have created three working modules in Moodle for my French 1 course. These modules are intended to serve as a way to enhance a face-to-face classroom environment, however they could be adapted for a stand-alone, fully-online course. Click here to view my course or go to http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/view.php?id=160.
My Moodle course page contains the following components to create a student-friendly, online learning environment and to enhance student learning:
* A splash page with a graphic user interface
* Two complete learning modules
* One module hidden from students
* Two general discussion forum topics
* One group discussion forum in Module 3 for three groups
* Online answer keys to certain activities
* Fully online quizzes and practice quizzes with a variety of question types and pre-programmed feedback
* Wiki-based activities to increase student-centered learning
* Student-centered activities related to reading and writing in French
* Embedded graphics, cartoons, and a digital story presentation
I have found numerous advantages, particularly in terms of learning affordances for students, to creating and using a Moodle site. The various activities give struggling students new opportunities to practice their skills and understand the material before an actual assessment. For high-level students, the Moodle activities provide them with a new venue for learning beyond the classroom walls. The wikis, discussion forums, and self-check quizzes with instant feedback create a much more learner-centered approach that can be used in either a school language lab or simply at home for homework.
In terms of design, I found Moodle to be relatively user friendly to use and navigate. With few exceptions did I have to consult a Moodle manuel or an online demo clip on YouTube to learn to do a particular feature. Creating the GUI was one of these exceptions, however I was able to figure it out by simply looking at how another student had designed her course site. I also had difficulty finding out how to perform a selective release function for an entire module, until I realized that Moodle does not currently provide this function. With these few exceptions, I found the program somewhat intuitive.
I didn’t find Moodle to be perfect, however. I found editing to be a challenge, particular when certain fonts and functions (i.e. underlining) were not adjusting as I wanted. Copying and pasting information into Moodle from another program also led to problems. Lastly, my largest frustration with using Moodle is that the course design was not nearly as professional looking in appearance as I would have liked, however I understand that greater course design options will be available in the future.
Overall, I was very pleased with the opportunity to design three modules entirely relevant to my teaching setting in Moodle. More than anything, I found the skills that I gained to be invaluable, particularly as I set upon my goal of designing online-supported activities and units in my French 1 class this coming fall through our school’s online course designer, First Class. I am eager to extend my students’ learning now through online activities as a result of this course.
