I have taught scientific writing courses over Moodle to graduate students in Japan. I think Moodle works very well for collecting students' assignments, giving feedback, and keeping track of submissions and grades. However, I've found that a lot of students don't interact over the forum that's part of our courses, even if it's a one-to-one forum (just one student and one instructor in each forum). I haven't used all of Moodle's features, but from my experience I think it's easy for students to remain silent or passive.
If you want to conduct a blended-learning course on academic writing over Moodle, I'd suggest you use Moodle for the following:
- Providing handouts, presentation files, or reading material
- Managing assignments, evaluations, and grading
- Administering quizzes (multiple-choice quizzes and other types of quizzes can be created easily)
A greater part of the classroom time may then be available for interacting with students and resolving their doubts.
I'd like to hear if any teacher of academic writing has managed to make students into active learners on Moodle. I intend to make a presentation in the MoodleMoot conference in Japan next month, which will largely be about the academic writing courses my organization has conducted using Moodle. I hope to learn more about engaging learners in Moodle during the conference.
--
Ravi Murugesan, MS, ELS
Head, Educational Services
Cactus Communications
Mumbai | Tokyo | Philadelphia
Email: [log in to unmask]
On 29 Dec 2010, at 13:23, Ida Klitgård wrote:
Dear all,
I'm going to use Moodle in my spring courses in EAP (one in academic writing and one in academic reading) for students of English as a foreign/second language and would love to receive ideas and suggestions for exercises, tasks, etc. in a blended learning context.
Thanking you in
advance.
Best wishes and a Happy New Year to everybody,
Ida.
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Ida Klitgård, ph.d., dr.phil.
Lektor i akademisk engelsk
Roskilde Universitet
Language and Intercultural Communication Services (LICS)
Institut for Kultur
og Identitet, 03.2.4.
Postboks 260
Universitetsvej 1
4000 Roskilde
Tlf.: 46 74 24 67
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://magenta.ruc.dk/lics/akademisk_engelsk/Underviser_/
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Ida Klitgård, PhD, Dr.Phil. (Habil.Doctor)
Associate Professor in English for Academic Purposes
Roskilde University
Language and Intercultural Communication Services (LICS)
Department of Culture and Identity, 03.2.4.
P.O. Box 260
Universitetsvej
1
DK-4000 Roskilde
Denmark
Tel: 46 74 24 67
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://magenta.ruc.dk/lics_en/english_academic/idak/
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