Jan 16, 2017

Learn Moodle - Digital Unit

Hi! Ministry of Education people (and dedicated and incredibly talented teachers, such as Adele Raemer and others who take action in the framework of GEG ISRAEL, to mention but one example) are giving Digital Pedagogy a good push. I am taking one of the Online courses offered by LNET (Digital Pedagogy), and like it very much. Since the core of each course is similar, regardless of the subject, there is a useful attempt to create a "common language" in whatever has to do with the added value of teaching with Technology (it's not just using digital tools). I believe that using Learning Environments (Moodle is my favorite, but there are others, too), can help us teachers make the most of using Tchnology for its added value.
I decided to create a short video to show one example of a Digital Unit that I hope to be using soon with my pupils. We  live in a world where visualizing is quite important  and images and  video spread a message in a way that written text does not, so below there’s a video that can will do that.
 You see, one aspect of using Moodle in the classroom that I find very useful is that "you can bring into it" any stuff you think it serves the purpose of teaching English. Instead of sending pupils to see many different tools everywhere (You Tube videos, podcasts, Emaze presentations, Google Docs, Quizlet, Websites, and the like, and this is just to mention a few examples), you can "bring them into Moodle". You can add content created by other people, or create it yourself using different tools. You do so by placing a link (on a Moodle Page, a Moodle Book, a Moodle Forum, a Moodle URL, a file you upload on Moodle, etc - It's up to you. Moodle is great as a safe environment: you and your pupils are the ones who have access to your course if you do not allow guests in. No less important, pupils will always stay in the safe environment of your course if you make sure you set the link to open either as a pop up or on a new window - they will not get lost in the Web.
The Ministry of Education uses Moodle for all its professional Development Workshops. In Ministry of Education schools, we could have the option of using it, too (not as a must, but as an option, of course), couldn’t  ? Other Learning Environments might serve that purpose, too but I am crazy about Moodle (That's life)