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Teaching class while off campus using Moodle

Moodle SuitecaseDid you know it’s easy to create a unit in Moodle to hold class virtually?

“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back,” states an old Chinese proverb. Opportunities arise for faculty to attend/present at conferences during the term. As travel remains an important piece of teaching, holding class while off campus provides professors peace of mind that students are still learning, synthesizing and assimilating information. Creating a course unit in Moodle for students meets this need.

Ideas

The list below contains ideas easily incorporated to create an online unit for use while traveling.

  1. Use web conferencing software to record a lecture or hold class synchronously
  2. Add your lecture notes to the bottom of the PowerPoint slides
  3. Include Podcasts lectures
  4. Integrate audio into the PowerPoint slides
  5. Videotape a lecture given in a face to face classroom & upload
  6. Add links to related resources in your PowerPoint
  7. Create a notebook of lecture notes & have the students download & read it
  8. Assign groups a different course topic to explore; post in the main discussion area for review & comment
    • Assign discussion groups to create a product & post, such as: a quiz for the class, write a response to an author, compose a critique of a reading, brainstorm a topic, create a journal article review, compare & contrast an issue
    • Reinforce procedures or processes by asking students to relate it to daily life, or respond to a case study

Recommended readings

Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition, 2005, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Building Online Learning Communities, 2007, Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt

Effective Online Teaching – Foundations and Strategies for Student Success, 2011, Tina Stavredes


About the author

Cheri Crabb, PhD, Academic Technology Consultant with TLT, has a career in academia focused on instructional design and development using integrated electronic media systems for blended learning.

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