Learning Technologies: Design & Applications

Running head: MOODLE FOR AN ACCELERATED SPANISH PROGRAM

 

Creating a Moodle Course for an Accelerated Spanish Program:

A Proposal

(500 words / not including: preamble; cross-reference numbers)

Note: the numbers in the text are active cross-references and highlighted

By: Chantal Drolet

For: ETEC 565, John P. Egan

University of British Columbia

2010

Creating a Moodle Course for an Accelerated Spanish Program: A Proposal

 

Preamble

The following proposal is intended for the IT coordinator of an independent high school for girls. This educational institution, where I work, underwent major technological adjustments during the past few years and is encouraging teachers to find innovative ways to deliver their courses.

As the curriculum leader of a three year accelerated Spanish program, one of my responsibilities is to convince our IT team that a Learning Management System (LMS) would be ideal for our Spanish courses. To start the process the most advanced course, Grade 12 Advanced Placement Spanish, could be piloted online within a Moodle shell.

What is Moodle?

Any time, anywhere. Moodle, a Learning Management System (LMS), brings together resources and tools in one place and is accessible any time anywhere through a web browser. For our purpose, Moodle would be used as a blended learning strategy to supplement the face-to-face Spanish language learning experience. However, the LMS would be designed to accommodate a possible full online delivery in the future (1). Advantageous features include: course information; access to electronic readings; multimedia content including audio files, videos and wikis, just to name a few (2).

Creating a Moodle Course for an Accelerated Spanish Program:

A Proposal

Introduction

An important part of a 21^st century skills’ approach to education is second language acquisition. Since this didactic perspective is also linked with technological advancement, I propose the creation of a pilot grade 12 Spanish Moodle course.

Why Moodle?

Interaction.  The communication approach in second language acquisition is one of Canada’s claims to fame in the educational realm. Communicative language teaching (CLT) emphasizes interaction as the main process, as well as the chief objective, of linguistic skills (3).

Technological environments using constructivist processes, like Moodle, are compatible with the CLT focus on interactivity. Such learning platforms develop communities of practice encouraging asynchronous and synchronous communication activities in the foreign language. As part of the linguistic experience, grouping students in discussion forums or chats facilitates collaboration and feedback (4, 7).

Safety and opportunities. Our school’s present Moodle site ensures the privacy of students by using a password protected access to the courses. It is also linked to our library to guarantee a safe connection to web 2.0 resources such as blogs and journals.

 

How to Evaluate Moodle’s Implementation

Low cost. The cost, for maintenance and technical support, is already part of the current infrastructure.

Ease of use, reliability, accessibility. The system, monitored by the school, is virtually crash free.  The course participants have computers at home and can also easily access computers at school. Furthermore, Moodle runs on systems supporting the widely used Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), minimizing accessibility problems.

Organizational issues. Enrolment would be limited (for a pilot course given in combination with face-to-face interaction) and students already have access to technical support (5).

Teaching and learning. The impact of technology resides in the functions that educators allocate to it (Zhao, 2005). For Moodle, special linguistic functions may consist in: open forums or posts for students; online oral assessment practice, etc.

The arbitrariness of Web searches relieves students from the predictability inherent to artificially structured language learning environments (Warchauer, 2004; as cited in Lai & Kritsonis, 2006). In their presentation for the computer assisted language instruction consortium (6), Rheinhardt & Thorne (2009) list technology mediated activities such as: CMC (or LMS), blogs, texting and social networking. They see the need to bridge the gap between on-line communication tools and in-class linguistic activities, which is exactly the aim of this proposal.

Authentic material would provide relevant and current information, including links to Spanish news broadcast agencies, for research and oral comprehension. A variety of assessments, including audio-visual presentations would offer opportunities for practical application of the linguistic knowledge. Each student would build an E-portfolio, within the Moodle shell, in which selected artifacts could be displayed.

Speed and knowledge transfer considerations. One of the great advantages of Moodle is that the speed allows effective knowledge transfer.

Novelty. Moodle has already been tested successfully for other courses in our school.

Conclusion

As the first of his kind in the language department, this innovative Spanish Moodle pilot program would be easy to operate; appeal to learners and provide participants with access to educational opportunities otherwise not available.

 

References

1. What is Moodle: http://www.open4yourbiz.com/docs/moodle.pdf
2. Moodle features: http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Why-Use-VLE.php
3. CLT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching
4. Constructivist environment: http://www.open4yourbiz.com/docs/moodle.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)

1. System’s requirements: http://www.open4yourbiz.com/docs/moodle.pdf
2. Calico: Computer assisted language instruction consortium

Recognized international clearinghouse and leader in computer assisted

learning and instruction. It is a premier global association dedicated to

computer-assisted language learning (https://calico.org/page.php?id=240)

1. Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996).  Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6.
   http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

Also inspired by:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

 Communicative approach: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching)

Constructionism: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory))

Moodle – About, available at: http://docs.moodle.org/en/About_Moodle

Moodle Accessibility Standards, available at: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Accessibility_Specification

Moodle Design Philosophy, available at: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy)

Moodle Features, available at: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Features

Moodle Support, available at: http://moodle.org/support/

Moodle Why? http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Why-Use-VLE.php  

http://www.open4yourbiz.com/docs/moodle.pdf

Panettieri, J. (2007). Addition by subtraction. University Business, August, 58-62.

Accessed online 11 March 2009. <http://www.universitybusiness.com
                  /viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845>

Reinhardt, J., & Thorne, S. (2009). Developing technology mediated language awareness through bridging activities [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Calico 2009 web site: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jonrein/presentations/TMLABA_CALICO09.pdf

Zhao, Y., (2005). Technology and Second Language Learning: Promises and Problems.

Michigan State University: Technology in Support of Young Second Language Learners

Project, University of California: William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2009 from: http://www.ucop.edu/elltech/zhaopaper011505.pdf

 

Also posted here:

Assignment #2 (ePortfolio): LMS site proposal