TEACHING WITH MOODLE

FORUM DISCUSSIONS AND GLOSSARY ENTRIES

SESSION: SEPTEMBER WEEK TWO

SUMMARY

Moodle forums and glossaries can be powerful learning tools both independently and when used in conjunction
with each other. Moodle forums can be used to facilitate discussions and co-construct meaning as well as offer a
supportive environment for English language learners (ELLs) and introverts to participate in discussions. This two
hour session will provide participants with strategies for facilitating learning using the Moodle forums and glossary
activity as well as strategies for supporting ELLs and introverts.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this session, participants will learn to use:

Forums to

Facilitate meaningful online discourse

Provide students with opportunities to co-construct meaning
Support ELLs (time to reflect, organize, respond)
Create an environment for introverts to participate in discussion

Glossaries to

Support ELLs
Co-construct meaning (using the comment system)

Forums and Glossaries in conjunction to

Support ELLs
Socially negotiate meaning

PARTICIPANTS

Participants of this session are teacher volunteers of the schools recent technology integration initiative. They
have expressed interest in learning to integrate Moodle activities into their unit plans and later take on the role of
teacher technology leaders. Self-reported data shows that participants have varying experiences with Moodle and
confidences with technology.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Participants should know how to create Moodle forum and glossary activities. They should also be familiar with
features of the toolbar, including how to change font, create hyperlinks, and add images and video.
Participants should also have completed the readings in the Resources section of this document. The readings
should have taken no more than one hour to complete.

FACILITIES

The following facilities are required for this session:

Personal or school-provided computer for each teacher and trainer

Wireless Internet access
School Moodle credentials for all participants
Classroom with a large screen and projector and audio facilities

RESOURCES

The following resources are required for this session:

Forums

Glossary

Facilitating Meaningful Online Discussion (UNC Charlotte)

o This resource for facilitating online discussions clearly and concisely itemizes important strategies
for fostering online discussions.
Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions (University of Oregon)
o This resource expounds on the previous resource and offers brief guidelines and examples for
each strategy. The resource also offers forum discussion activities and prompts to guide the
creation of online discussions that facilitate meaningful online discourse.
Using Online Forums in Language Learning and Education (Manprit Kaur)
o This journal article clearly outlines three key ways that online discussions benefit ELLs: 1) ELLs
participate more in online discussions than in face-to-face, 2) ELLs are provided time to reflect on
class material and compose their thoughts, and 3) ELLs can read and reflect on other students
ideas before responding, facilitating both language development and knowledge construction.
Hidden Assets: Online Learning Benefits Introverts (Matt Griswold)
o This resource details the benefits of online discussion for introverts. Similar to the benefits of
online discussions for ELLs, this article explains that introverts are provided time for reflection,
greater opportunity to participate in discussion, and possibility for peer-learning.
Moodle Glossary Activity (Computer Services)
o This resource outlines several strategies for using the Moodle glossary activity.

Other Documents:

Forum Rubric Example

Participant Materials:

One full unit plan that the participant has created for his/her subject

INSTRUCTION PLAN

Time
5m

Stage / Procedure

Rationale / Notes

Participants will recall from the readings the

strategies for fostering meaningful online
discourse.

Notes: If the participants cannot recall all

components and have exhausted their ideas, they
should use the homework resources to recall.

Warmer:

10m

Model / Practice:

10m

Share:

10m

The trainer will divide the participants into two

groups. Each group will receive the forum
rubric example document. Participants will
discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the
rubric as well as areas of improvement. The
participants may also suggest how they would
adapt the rubric based on their courses
student learning outcomes.

Each group will share their ideas about the

forum rubric and offer improvements for the
rubric and/or how they would use a similar
rubric in their own course for fostering online
discussions.
Produce:

Participants should take out their unit plans

and consider how forums can be integrated to
allow students to co-construct meaning.
Participants should use forums with a specific
lesson or concept from their unit.

10m

5m

10m

Present:

Participants will present their ideas and

strategies to the rest of the class.

Break

Review:

Rationale: Activate Prior Knowledge

The trainer should write the ideas on the

whiteboard or type them for everyone to see on the
projector.
Rationale:

The forum rubric provides general and specific

forum guidelines that can be modified for individual
subjects depending on the learning outcomes.

Rationale:

Sharing strategies will offer insights to other

participants and create opportunities for
innovations.

Note: Participants should support their reasons for

modifying the rubric, such as stating how they
would use the rubric for evaluating student learning
outcomes.
Rationale:

Participants apply their understanding of Moodle

forum activities to their units.
Note:

If participants are struggling to create ideas, the

trainer should point them to the following
document: Generating and Facilitating Engaging and
Effective Online Discussions (University of Oregon) also located in the Resources section
Rationale:

Participants can discuss strategies that may have

cross-subject application.
Note:

Participants are encouraged to consider ways of

using others suggested strategies in their own
lessons or units.
Rationale:

Participants will be asked to review and

discuss in small groups the two readings:

10m

5m

10m

5m

5m

Using Online Forums in Language

Learning and Education (Manprit
Kaur)
Hidden Assets: Online Learning
Benefits Introverts (Matt Griswold)

Practice:

Participants should consider individually or in

pairs how they would use forums to support
ELLs and introverts. Participants can use
specific lessons from their units as examples or
discuss how specific students (either an ELL or
introvert) in their class might benefit from this
activity.
Share:

Participants should share their strategies and

determine how others examples might be
used in their own classroom.

Model / Practice:

The trainer will ask students to log onto the PD

Moodle course. The trainer will show a sample
Moodle Course Glossary on the projector with
several entries. Teachers are asked to use the
model as an example and input their own
example entry using a term or concept from
their unit. The glossary entry should also
contain a link to a video, an external resource
for further reading, or an embedded picture.

Activate prior knowledge on forums for supporting

ELLs and introverts.
Notes:

The trainer should monitor discussions to check for

misunderstanding. The trainer may consider
allocating more time to this topic if necessary.
Rationale:

Participants apply understanding to the unit and

justify their application by detailing the implications
for one of their students.
Note:

Participants shouldnt mention the student by

name.
Rationale:

Participants share and discuss strategies to cocreate understandings of how forums may support
ELLs or introverts.
Note:

The trainer may highlight strategies not mentioned

or refer to further readings from the resources for
this session.
Rationale:

Modeling sets expectations. Also, as participants

create their own entries, they understand how
students interact with this activity.
Note:

The participant sample entry should be in the PD

course and NOT the participants individual courses.

Reflect:

Rationale:

Discuss:

Note:

Participants are asked to browse the PD course

glossary and see how others have formatted
their glossary entries. As they are browsing,
they should consider the different ways that
participants presented or defined the
term/concept.
As a group, discuss the different entries and
how they might facilitate student learning and
support ELLs.

Participants view the diversity of entries and

examples pinpointing strategies that may be used in
their own unit.

If participants struggle to explain how the glossary

entries may support ELLs, the trainer should point
out the use of graphics and videos to support
vocabulary (and concept) acquisition. Students may

5m

Break

also know the word or concept in their mother

tongue but not in English.

5m

Review:

Rationale:

5m

Produce:

Rationale:

Share:

Rationale:

10m

The trainer should review the auto-link

function in the Moodle glossary activity. The
trainer will demonstrate adding and autolinking an entry. Next, the trainer will enter a
pre-configured forum with several paragraphs
and linked words. The trainer will then
demonstrate how the auto-linking feature
works in forums, the comment system, and
the multiple entries feature.
Participants should individually consider how
they can use Moodle glossaries in conjunction
with forums in their unit plan. They might also
consider how glossary entries when used with
forums can support ELLs.
Participants will share how theyve decided to
integrate Moodle forum and glossary activities
into their units.

Participants should have learned about these

glossary features two sessions prior. However, a five
minute review will ensure that everyone is on the
same page.

Each subject teacher will bring their own insights as

to how the function(s) might apply to their subject
area.

Participants are encouraged to consider how

different subject teachers are using the function(s)
and how these strategies might transfer to their
own courses. Although this is a relatively short time
to consider how these strategies apply, later during
the unit planning phase, teachers are encouraged to
share innovations.
Note:

The trainer may also point out:

5m

Review and Final Q&A

The use of the comment system to cocreate understanding or ensure the quality
of definitions.
The use of forums for co-creating
definitions of complicated concepts or
processes that may later be added to the
glossary.
The use of forums in conjunction with
glossary activities to support ELLs
comprehension.