Resource tools in moodle

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acuña at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/
Resource Tools in Moodle
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña
Sharing and analyzing content is indeed a crucial part of any teaching and
learning experience and scenario [F2F, Blended, VLE, etc.]. In an online
setting, selecting and implementing tools that support these educational
processes is vital, but it is also necessary to assess teacher and student
needs and abilities prior to the implementation of any chosen tool. While
cautious gathering of such tools can enhance student learning experiences,
the selection may imply that instructors can face challenges and potential
failure.
Let’s now analyze three Moodle resource tools in terms of their potential
uses within an online or blende learning course and the challenges
instructors may encounter when deciding on the best use of each one. All
changes made to improve student learning experiences may imply that
instructor have to face with a variety of challenges to be successful.

Moodle Resource Tools Uses Challenges
Wikis
 Sharing of web links
with relevant and
updated information
regarding class
content: Vocabulary
sites, grammar
practices, etc.
 Collaborative writing
or assignments in
EFL/ESL contexts
 Sharing of documents
among students or
with the instructor
 The organization of
different pages in the
wiki seems to be not
very user friendly for a
first timer or an
amateur student or
instructor.
 Some sort of training
on the use of the tool
is a must to ensure
proper and effective
use of it.
Once both types of participants get the knack of how to use the wiki option in Moodle, they
won’t have much trouble making it work. It just takes a bit of patience to get confident on the
use of the tool.
Blogs
 If used as a journal,
they can be a great
tool to encourage and
foster reflective
thinking among
students.
 In ELT contexts, they
can also be used to
ensure reflective
teaching and critical
thinking in the search
of answers to their
teaching queries.
 They provide some
room for students who
barely voice opinions
or comments in a F2F
 For the first timer,
keeping a blog can be
a bit of a problem. As
in any kind of Moodle
tool, some sort of
modeling by the
instructor is a need.
This might subtract
some teaching time
for class but can be
the solution to
potential arising
problems.
 Many times students
have claimed that
their blog entries
cannot be accessed or

class setting. “reutilized” after a
course is over. It’s
always smart to ask
them to keep a copy
of their entries for
themselves.
Blogs are great tools for reflection, voicing opinions and thoughts, commenting, etc. It is
indispensable that instructors take some time off their regular teaching to train students on the
correct, optimal use of the tool to be successful and profit from the blogging experience for
their own learning.
Media embedding
 With some basic
knowledge of html
teachers and learners
can contribute greatly
to course content
along with their blog
entries, wiki
contributions,
glossaries, and the
like.
 Sample media that
can be displayed with
this Moodle tool are:
o Videos from
Youtube,
Vimeo,
TeacherTube,
etc.
o Docs from
Scribd,
SlideShare, etc.
o Widgets
 Training is a must.
Students and
instructors lacking the
basic notions of html
use will find
themselves incapable
of using this tool to
enhance content
within their lessons,
homework
assignments, forums,
etc.
 This tool for the
neophyte is or can be
a headache.
From the many options that Moodle provides educators, media embedding is the one that
really does need some sort of training to assess instructors’ understanding.

Training oneself as an instructor, whether that is by self-instructing
yourself or by being trained by one’s school is the first step to get really
acquainted with a learning platform. The second step is to take some time
off one’s class to train students who are new to the system and need some
extra assistance. After all this you online or blended learning scenario is
going to be easy and highly productive for both the instructor and the
learners.
 To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to
research and expand these areas:
1 Moodle tools
2 Moodle training for educators
3 Training students to use a Moodle LMS
4 Embedding media in Moodle
5 Html training for Moodle users
Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
NCTE - Costa Rica Affiliate
Resource Teacher at CCCN
Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail
Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are:
1. Pronunciation 1 2. Readding Skills 1
3. Pronunciation 2 4. Computering Applications in
Education
Get new ELT material and ideas by visiting my curated topics on
http://paper.li/ and http://scoop.it/
TEFL Daily English Language Teaching Journal
ELT Daily Phonemics Daily
The Linguists: Linguistics News
Published on October 4, 2013
Language Learning with Moodle? Of course!
http://lingedutainment.com/welcome/tag/moodle/
Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers
http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/wp-
content/uploads/2010/05/MoodleToolGuideforTeachers_May2010_JS.pdf

CLT Moodle Tool Guide http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/clt/2011/08/16/clt-moodle-
tool-guide/

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