Moodle: Enhancing Students’ ESL & Motivation Using an E-Learning Platform

ISMAIL FAYED IAT Ismailfayed [at] yahoo.com United Arab Emirates

Outline 1. What are VLEs? 2. Benefits of VLEs 3. Why Moodle? 4. Tips of designing an online course 5. Moodle case studies 6. Ideas for online tasks and activities 7. Challenges of teaching online 8. Role of instructor/course designer

Virtual Learning Environments.. PLEs CMSs VLEs Sharedpoints

http://www.waterstons.com/Industry/Education/?tab=2

VLEs in the UK Have been adopted by many UK higher education institutions (Browne et al. 2006) VLE use in HE increased from (from 7% to 40%) in about four years prior to 2001. (UCISA, 2001 and MLE landscape report 2003) Responses collected from 358 different institutions in the survey show a domination of VLE adoption of about (85% - 97%) by all types of institutions surveyed 2003. (Ibid)

VLEs in the US VE provides all or a portion of formal schooling for 1 in every 50 students. 3 out of every 4 public K-12 schools provide full, partial or ‘hybrid’ online courses to their students. Glass (2009: 5)

VLEs in the US - 2 “ Over 2 million HE students took at least 1 online course, that is around 90% of public institutions offered online courses in 2004 .” Allen & Seaman (2004) The number of Americans enrolled in at least 1 online course increased from 2 million in 2003 to over 4 million in 2009. Clark (2009)

VLE Benefits Flexibility of time and place. Coping with increased student numbers. Sharing and re-use of resources. Collaborative work. Student-centered learning. Reducing the administrative burden. Staff Development (Milligan, 1998) Key benefits of VLEs in HE: (Britain & Liber 1999)

49,256 registered sites 28,177,443 users in 2,571,855 courses 4,456 Moodle sites in the US 4949 in the UK 144 Egypt 25 in Kuwait 109 in the UAE (Moodle dynamic statistics as of May, 2009

What is Moodle? “… It has a significant user base with 49,256 registered sites with 28,177,443 users in 2,571,855 courses (as of February, 2009)… Moodle is designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. Its open source license and modular design means that people can develop additional functionality. Development is undertaken by a globally diffused network of commercial and non-commercial users.” (Wikipedia, 2009)

Why Moodle? free open-source that could be installed by any individual teacher or school easy and user-friendly different technologies and add-ons global community support system plug-ins

Activity 1 What are some of the challenges of teaching online? How can we introduce Moodle to our students?

Introducing Moodle to students Training for students Lab visits – personal laptops Reminders at the beginning of each class Reflection at the end of every week Self-study and home access Data show in class

Tips for designing an online course Structure it well Introduce students to the course Help students understand the structure of the course and the expectations of the instructor. Clearly state: Course and grading policies Learning outcomes Tests and assignments How and when to contact the teacher Could be stated in the syllabus or outline of course

Tips for designing an online course – 2 Break the ice: Help form a community of learners - introduce yourself and design a warm-up for students to introduce themselves. Ice breaker Virtual lounge: Informal students get together

Case Study High School Secondary School in the UAE

Case Study: IAT AlAin (2008) Participants: 65 G12 students in 4 sections (16 Ss each). Technology: Moodle & web 2.0 technologies. Approach: BL mode (f-2-f, computer lab & self-access.) data source : Reflective narratives “ To what extent did the Edu-Nile VLE help you practice and learn English this year?”

Students’ Reflections.. “ The edunile is wonderful and help the people in the CEPA exam and most people using this web site .when i using the edunile i have more experience .the web site is good to studying English correctly .Also it helps them in the grammar and vocabulary . This web site helps to stdying English at home. this web site is have more sections grammer, vocublary and reading” (S35). “ First, I start to used everyday to get use to it. It was very very nice because I can develop and improve my skills. I found it very easy in the some part. In this website you can find important thing that develop your skills. These things make it a better place for study. Really I benefit from Mr. Ismail website a lot of important things that will help me and other students in education.” (S1). “ I open web site every week to do some exercises and to see something new. I open the web in school and some time in home when I have a time” (S10).

“ Edunile is not only a studying in a web site but its a kind of an entertainment, and that makes me want to write more exercises, preferring then doing it in class with a pencil laying on a piece of paper, waiting for some one to start a thermal energy to brake its pin in the end” (S2). “… it give us motivation to develop our language and skills with using computer.” (S39). “ The using of web site, We do some home work and some practical that helps us to study more, also we can connect with teacher by web site. However, when I change the ways of study, I feel something good and like to study and I like to share more with teacher or with the member in the web site, That it can help us to study more and learn fast” (S43).

Thank you! Download this presentation from: www. slideshare.net/edunile

References Allen & Seaman (2004) cited in Albion, P. R. & Weaver, C. M. (2006). Motivating Learners to Participate in Online Discussions: Lessons from Research for Teacher Preparation. 17th International Conference of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE 2006). Orlando, U.S.A., Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Britain, S. & Liber, O. (1999). A Framework For Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments. Bangor, JISC Technology Applications Programme. Browne, T., Jenkins, M. & Walker, R. (2006). A Longitudinal Perspective regarding the use of VLEs by Higher Education institutions in the United Kingdom. Interactive Learning Environments, 14 (2), 177 - 192. Clark, K. (2009). Online Education Offers Access and Affordability. U.S. News and World Report. Available from: <http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/online-education/2009/04/02/online-education-offers-access-and-affordability.html> [Accessed: May 2009]. Fayed, I. (2009). Enhancing students writing skills using a Moodle VLE for EFL secondary classes in the UAE. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Manchester, UK. Glass, G. V. (2009). The realities of K-12 virtual education. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. Milligan, C. (1998). The Role of VLEs in the Online Delivery of Staff Development. JTAP Report 573 Riccarton, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University. UCISA, 2001 and MLE landscape report 2003 in Britain, S. & Liber, O. (2004). A Framework For Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments - Updated. Bangor, Educational Cybernetics Wikipedia. Moodle. Available from: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle > [Accessed: April 2009].

Moodle: Enhancing Students’ ESL & Motivation Using an E-Learning Platform

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