Teaching Teachers to Teach with Moodle

A presentation from the MoodleMoot conference, Oxford, 2005

About the course

March – June 2004

30-sth participants
SWPS teachers of English
international guests

teachers
participants

in English
free, opt-in
very little preparation

March – June 2005

20-sth participants
SWPS teachers
in Polish
free, opt-in

About the course

Most participants have no previous experience of online education or Moodle (at least in the second offering)
The course is not meant to be a comprehensive “How to use Moodle” course
It's more of an introduction to online learning and Moodle, with the aim of creating in the participants an inner desire to learn more on their own

! If they are to teach online with Moodle, they should first experience online learning in Moodle as students.

! No F2F orientation session.

Phase 1 – arrivals

creating accounts and enrolling in the course
filling in the user profiles
looking at the profiles of others

! allow ~1 week for arrivals

Phase 2 – getting to know each other

community building
“transparent” learning about Moodle
a good time to start a course-spanning “Discovering Moodle” forum

Some activity ideas

An assignment/choice activity “What would you like to know about the other participants?”
1-to-1 interviews, followed by forum introductions and then a quiz “How well do you know your course-mates”

! In the first two stages, employ the most important Moodle tools, e.g. resources, forums, quizzes, assignments.

! Don't teach them too much about Moodle. Teach them through Moodle and explain things as you go (if necessary).

! But do make them aware of which Moodle tool you are using in which activity.

! Don't always wait for them to ask questions in the “Discovering Moodle” forum. There are things they would want to know if only they knew what to ask about ;-)

Stage 3 – learning about teaching online

Readings about online teaching (pre-selected or leave the choice to them?) followed by a discussion (in groups?).
Reflecting on their own experience in the course (as students) and on the work of the tutor.
Other activities which build upon the readings, e.g.

running polls
creating a glossary

! When discussing online pedagogy, try to put off (or even avoid) telling them what you think. Let them discuss the issue and swap opinions. You may contribute your own later .

Stage 4 – getting their feet wet

sandbox courses (preferably something that they may use later in their work) – 2-3 weeks long, 5-7 hrs of student work per week
allow ample time for the creation of sandbox courses
provide each participant with an advisor
participants share

their ideas for the design of the sandbox courses
their experiences running them

! Rather than telling them how Moodle works, let them explore and discover.

All stages – A reflective journal

Participants asked to step back and look at what has happened in the course so far.
Continuous evaluation of the course, but also of one's own involvement.
Particularly valuable comments were publicized (anonymously, with the writer's consent)