Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching

523 Pages·2009·20.247 MB·

by  Jeff Stanford

Moodle 1.9 for Second
Language Teaching
Engaging online language-learning activities using the
Moodle platform
Jeff Stanford
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching
Copyright © 2009 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: October 2009
Production Reference: 1141009
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.
ISBN 978-1-847196-24-8
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Parag Kadam ([e-mail])
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Credits
Author Editorial Team Leader
Jeff Stanford Abhijeet Deobhakta
Reviewers Project Team Leader
Andy Baker Priya Mukherji
Clive Wright
Project Coordinator
Leena Purkait
Acquisition Editor
David Barnes
Proofreader
Chris Smith
Development Editor
Swapna V. Verlekar
Graphics
Nilesh Mohite
Technical Editor
Mithun Sehgal
Production Coordinator
Shantanu Zagade
Indexer
Hemangini Bari
Cover Work
Shantanu Zagade
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
About the Author
Jeff Stanford is a free-lance educational technologist. He discovered Moodle
five years ago, and has remained an ardent fan ever since. He now does regular
consultancy work, helping teachers make the most of online learning possibilities.
To get away from the computer, he also does training consultancy work for
organizations like Anglia Assessment, Fintra, Pearson, and the British Council
now and then. He is an Associate tutor in Applied Linguistics for the University
of Leicester and a teacher trainer on Cambridge ESOL courses. He also runs
a web hosting service and advises on setting up and running Drupal and
Moodle websites. You can reach him via http://moodleflair.com and
http://moodleforlanguages.co.uk.
I would like to thank my reviewers, Helena Gomm, Malcolm
Griffiths, Constanze Eichelbaum, and Maria Stanford, who provided
a great deal of constructive feedback on the book. I owe Helena a
particular debt of gratitude: if she hadn't coaxed me into writing an
article for ETP on Moodle, Packt Publishing's David Barnes wouldn't
have come across me and the book would never have been written.
I would also like to thank Anthony Gaugham, Tim Francis, and Sue
Morris for their helpful comments on some of the chapters.

Thanks must go to Packt Publishing for their impressive patience
and support throughout this project.

And finally, I'd like to thank the hundreds of teachers I've worked
with who've provided me with feedback and comments that have
been so valuable in the writing of this book.
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
About the Reviewers
Andy Baker is Head of ICT at Bishop Challoner Catholic College in Birmingham.
He has a strong interest in innovation, particularly in education, and feels that
technology, if used effectively, is fundamental in motivating learners to learn.
When he's not teaching, Andy likes to spend quality time with his wife Vicci and
daughters Francesca and Grace.
Andy lives in Worcestershire, England, and can be reached at [e-mail].
Clive Wright has been a senior teacher in charge of e-learning as well as a
secondary schools advisor working with educational establishments and leading on,
amongst other things, the use of Information and Communication Technology in the
classroom. He has had extensive experience leading teacher training on the use of
new technologies in education. Clive believes that technology can engage and excite
young people in their education, enhancing their learning as well as making the
learning experience more enjoyable and thereby more effective. He is director of a
website software company nomumbojumbo (nomumbojumbo.com), and he also
works with schools setting up Moodle environments and providing Moodle
training. Clive lives in the medieval Cathedral city of Lichfield in England with
his wife Rebecca and four children Ellie, Beth, Hannah, and Will. He can be
contacted on [e-mail].
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: What Does Moodle Offer Language Teachers? 7
What is Moodle? 7
Assumptions 8
Who is this book for? 9
Why another book on Moodle? 10
Assessment 11
Making Moodle look good 12
Communicative Language Teaching 12
Age and level of students 14
What languages can you teach using Moodle? 16
Suggested approach to using the book 16
Chapter 2: Getting Started with Moodle 17
Part 1: Overview of Moodle 18
Installing Moodle 18
Topography of a Moodle site 18
Topography of a Moodle site: Front page 19
Topography of a Moodle site: Course page 20
Moodle overview: Core blocks 21
Moodle overview: Add-on blocks 23
Personal glossary 24
Exabis E-portfolio 24
Moodle overview: Core modules 24
Moodle overview: Add-on modules 26
Part 2: Site administration how-tos 28
How to create and manage users 30
Authentification 30
Accounts 30
User profile fields 31
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Table of Contents
Defining roles 32
System roles 34
How to create and manage courses 34
Course request 39
Backups 39
How to set up activities 40
Quiz settings 40
How to upload files to Moodle 44
How to upload images to Moodle 46
How to set up a grading system 48
General settings 48
Outcomes 50
Letters (grade letters) 51
How to edit labels and instructions 51
Language settings 51
Language editing 52
Language packs 53
How to manage modules 53
How to manage blocks 54
How to manage sticky blocks 55
How to set up remote RSS feeds 55
How to manage filters 56
How to control the HTML editor 57
How to manage tags 58
How to control My Moodle 58
How to enable users to add RSS feeds 60
How to set up a course calendar 60
How to create a Flash audio player 62
How to import glossary entries 65
How to download videos from YouTube 66
How to display other websites within your Moodle site 67
How to avoid spam 68
Part 3: Some useful external programs and resources 69
Assessment 70
Websites relating to assessment 70
Audio 70
Avatars 74
Directories of websites 75
RSS feeds 75
Websites 75
Firewalls 75
Hot Potatoes 76
HTML 77
[ ii ]
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Table of Contents
Learning some basic HTML to edit your pages 77
KompoZer 77
Images 77
Paint program 78
International accent marks and diacritics 78
Reminder service 78
Scheduling service 79
Screen capture 79
Screencasts 80
Twitter 80
Video 82
Movie Maker 82
iMovie 82
Jake Ludington's Media Blab 82
Mashable 82
Video hosting 83
Subtitles 84
Widgets 84
Word processors 84
XML file creator 84
Part 4: General design principles for creating a
good Moodle course 86
Moodle course design: Do's and don'ts 87
Chapter 3: Vocabulary Activities 89
Activity 1: Setting up a class glossary 90
Here's how to do it 92
Adding categories 95
Activity 2: Using a Glossary to create a "word of the day" feature 98
Here's how to do it 99
Activity 3: Using comments in the Glossary module
for students to comment on keywords 100
Here's how to do it 102
Activity 4: Using the rating facility to provide feedback
on students' definitions 105
Here's how to do it 106
Rating scale 106
Glossary 106
Rating students' entries 108
Activity 5: Using tags to highlight vocabulary and link to
example stories 109
Preparation 109
Administration 110
Activity 112
Result 113
[ iii ]
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606
Table of Contents
Activity 6: Using polls to vote on the meaning of words 114
Variation 1: Defining a word 115
Here's how to do it 116
Other variations 117
Activity 7: Using a chat session transcript to analyze
vocabulary errors 118
Here's how to do it 119
Review 1: Review errors in a word processor 121
Review 2: Review errors in a wiki 123
Review 3: Review errors by comparing to a teacher recording 125
Activity 8: Using a Personal Glossary to set up simple individual
vocabulary lists 126
Here's how to do it 127
Instructions for students 128
Activity 9: Creating a crossword in Hot Potatoes 130
Here's how to do it 130
Activity 10: Using a Database to set up categorized vocabulary lists 134
Here's how to do it 135
Formatting the data view 138
Activity 11: Creating a gap-fill using the Quiz module 141
Variation 1: Using a text as a stimulus for a gap-fill 142
Here's how to do it 142
Variation 2: Completing the lyrics of a song from an
audio file using Audacity 146
Here's how to do it 146
Variation 3: Completing texts based on charts and other images 147
Example 1: Family tree diagram 147
Example 2: Picture of an activity 149
Activity 12: Creating a text/text matching activity using
the Quiz module 151
Variation 1: Matching words 152
Here's how to do it 153
Variation 2: Creating a picture/text matching activity using
the Quiz module 155
Here's how to do it 155
Variation 3: Creating an audio/text matching activity using
the Quiz module 156
Chapter 4: Speaking Activities 159
Activity 1: Helping students improve pronunciation using
the Forum module 163
Here's how to do it 165
Preparation 165
[ iv ]
This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by JEROME RAYMOND on 30th October 2009
125 Louis ST, , So. Hackensack, , 07606