Session 1B The path and the map: Using Moodle tools to create a structured route for students through a module

Kathryn Drumm, Educational Technologist – City, University of London, Digital Education (LEaD)

Olivia Fox, Senior Educational Technologist – City, University of London, Digital Education (LEaD)

James Brailey, Assistant Educational Technologist – City, University of London, Digital Education (LEaD)

Miranda Melcher, Assistant Educational Technologist – City, University of London, Digital Education (LEaD)

Moodle has previously been used as an adjunct to in-person teaching, often being used as little more than an online repository for resources. The move to online learning has highlighted the need to create well-structured modules that students find easy to navigate, where they can identify essential tasks, know how long they take and when they should be completed.

Although students were generally positive about being able to access core learning materials online (Jackson, 2021) they can feel overwhelmed by the number of resources they were expected to view or read. Students were helped by signposting resources and being given clear expectations of what was expected of them.  “..Some students appreciated weekly study plans which were supplied by their courses as time-management aids.” (City Students’ Union, 2021, p4)

City’s LEaD team developed the Teaching Online Toolkit to “help City staff plan and design their teaching for online delivery in the academic year 20/21” (City, 2020). Building on the Present, Apply, Review model of module design, it offers a range of tools such the module checklist. The checklist emphasises the principles of emphasising realistic durations for tasks and communicating expectations of what students should achieve. (Chickering and Gamson, 2001)

This workshop will look at how this model can be combined with existing Moodle tools (checklists, activity completion, access restriction) to structure a module, create a route through it and to let students track their progress. At the simplest level, a checklist can be used as a to-do list. Another approach could see resources released based on date or the completion of tasks. At its most sophisticated, students can be direct along different paths through the module depending on the graded activities.

Slides from the session

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Recording of the session:

References

Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z. 2001, “Implementing the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education: Technology as lever”, Accounting Education News, [Online], pp. 9

City Students’ Union. (2021) Student Voice Report term 1 2020-21. Internal City, University of London Report. Unpublished.

City, University of London, 2020, https://blogs.city.ac.uk/teachingonline/ Accessed 15/03/21

Jackson, A (2021) ‘The expectation gap II – students’ hopes for learning and teaching in the next normal’, Wonkhe, 02 FeburaryAvailable at: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-expectation-gap-ii-students-hopes-for-learning-and-teaching-in-the-next-normal/ (Accessed: 15/03/21).