Things I Wish My Faculty Would Do on My Moodle Course: A Student’s Perpsective
Things I Wish My
Faculty Would Do on My Moodle Course: A Student’s Perspective
The relationship between a teacher
and a student is a very special one. Teachers are very influential in society
as they mold the ever expanding minds of their students. Teachers share
information, challenge higher thinking, instill helpful morals, and healthy
habits to those learning from them. As generations grow, more needs emerge from
underneath the surface. In an era that is more accepting to inclusion, and
accessibility, there comes a conversation that suggest ways in which teachers
could meet the needs of their students even more.
Moodle
is a database used by many scholastic institutions. It serves as a website that
host course materials, information, exams, assignments, etc for student access.
Moodle is essential as it acts as a virtual classroom. While it is a virtual
classroom, it comes with its pros and cons. A benefit would be that students
are able to navigate through course materials, and assignments outside of the
classroom. It’s also beneficial in the essence that students and teachers can
correspond, upload content, assignments, and grade through automatic response.
A con would be that, most of these features not only have to be built in and
uploaded, but they also have to be explained. Not all institutions have had
Moodle as a platform, so some features may be unfamiliar, and overwhelming to
students. In addition to that, it is primarily helpful to explain the features
for students who may not be as technologically advanced.
As a student that has been using
Moodle for years’ I have had some professors that were very thorough with their
content on Moodle, and some that I had to ask for clarity. Described below are
a few things that are key for professors to include on Moodle to better help
serve students.
Welcome letters are important as it helps
establish the tone for the teacher student relationship. Greeting students’
this way may break the ice between a student who might be intimidated by a
course, or set the standard for student who might be too relaxed. Just as
teachers want to know their students. Students want to know their professors.
For years, students have been groomed into fostering close relationships with
their teachers before college. Most students would like to carry on with that
same dynamic. While classroom time might be limited for this to occur, a
genuine welcome message, detailing information about the professor is a
respected effort.
One
essential element when building a Moodle course is to keep the course concise.
Humans respond to patterns. Having content separated in folders at the top of
your Home page is helpful to see, opposed to having folders separated all
throughout Moodle. It prevents the constant scrolling, and overlooking of a
folder composed with additional information, especially if a course is pretty
lengthy. In addition to being concise, it is helpful to have items listed in
sequential order by date. Having an assignment that is due in August, yet having
the drop box at the bottom of the page could create confusion, or an overlook
on the student’s behalf.
Another tip would be to customize
the text. Be sure to keep the customization to a minimum. Utilize what is appropriate
based off of accessibility rules. However, try to use the appropriate tools to
emphasize text that is important, or might be commonly overlooked by students.
One feature that I wish professors
would incorporate on their Moodle home page would be to add their contact
information at the top. This would include the name of the professor, the
classes taught, section number, time, contact number, email, office hours, and
location. Professors do a great job on incorporating this in their syllabus.
However there have been times where I’ve had to go through several steps, and
download this information whereas it could be easier to just pull up the Moodle
page and refer to the info through one quick step. This is information that is
commonly sought throughout numerous times of the year. So it can be beneficial
to have this content listed on the common home page.
Another useful tool would be if
professors could ensure that the assignments that are due are synced with the
Moodle calendar. The Moodle calendar is a very helpful tool, as you can look
over all of the assignments due a week to a month in advance. It’s even more
helpful as it’s color coded based off of all of the courses that are synced to
the calendar as well. In addition to that, it is also synced with the feature
titled, “Upcoming Events”. This has been one of my favorite tools as it boldly
indicates what is a priority to be submitted. In the past, I have had
professors suggest not to rely on the calendar as some assignments are not
synced to the calender. This is important, as not every teacher warns about the
discrepancy between assignments listed, and the calendar. With that being
said, some students may discreetly rely on the calendar, and miss a listed
assignment.
Another helpful tool to mention on
Moodle is the use of tools like Ally, Turnitin, Respondus Lockdown, etc. All of
the mentioned tools are great scholastic innovations. Unfortunately, not all
students have been previously exposed to these resources. It’s great to mention
resources like Ally because it might be just what’s needed to help students
become more successful in their classes. Mentioning tools like Turnitin, and
Respondus is important especially if it’ll be utilized as a requirement in courses.
It’s nice to have any 3rd party tool explained as it is not a
requirement in all courses, and some students may be unfamiliar.
The most painstaking part of
beginning a class is gathering materials, books, and registering access codes. There’s
a financial burden that is nicely paired with a limited timeframe. Knowing
exactly what book is required prior to class, or at the very beginning of class
at the latest is imperative. Differentiating whether an access code/textbook is
necessary, or supplemental materials are required is also imperative. Stating
whether an older edition of the book will suffice would be helpful too. If
there is an access code necessary, it’s helpful to provide the direct buying
link/registration link and to provide the necessary information to register for
the specific class.
One of the most important documents
that should be incorporated on every Moodle page is the syllabus. The syllabus
is essentially an upfront contract between the professor, and students. It’s
important for the professor to list all of their expectations, but it’s also
important for the professor to list all of the resources that they can provide
to help the student. Most syllabi are pretty concise, and are well put
together. As a student, I would just like to mention some information that I
primarily look for when reading the syllabus.
On the top of the list would be
grading. How many points do I need to accumulate to maintain a certain letter
grade? How many total points can I earn? How many assignments do we have? What
is the percentage, and the weight of those assignments? How many exams/ quizzes
do we have? Are there any additional graded assignments that need to be kept in
mind, as in projects, pop quizzes, discussion questions, homework, or
assignments on another platform? Providing such information will give students
the opportunity to plan ahead, but will also protect professors from claims starting
out with the common phrase, “ I didn’t know…”.
Most students also are interested
in the attendance policy. Yes students are paying a lot of money to learn, and
they should not squander their pre-paid class time by missing class. However,
situations happen and sometimes class is missed. Incorporating an attendance
policy is helpful for students. In addition to that, it’s nice to include
whether attendance counts as a grade as well.
My favorite part of having a
syllabus is to have a clear outline of due dates. Having this clear outline is
great for student planning. The best outline that I have ever had provided for
me, which I recommend; included the assignment name, the due date, the time
due, and specified between am/pm. It also included what would be covered, or
should be learned that week of class. It was even color coded to differentiate
between assignments, and separated through a table which was very easy on the
eyes.
While a
syllabus give a clear expectation for what is traditional, and typically
expected. Should professors include information about subjects that are
unexpected? Sure, it can’t hurt. Weather for example is something that can be
unpredictable. If an institution has a policy for how classes will proceed due
to hazardous weather, it’s nice to implement that into the syllabus. In
addition to the general policy of the institution, one can even mention the
specific policy for the course taught. Such information can answer the question
of whether students will pause, and pick back up when classes start again. Will
students need to wait for instruction via email/ Moodle? Will an in person
class continue, and function as a temporary online course? Being proactive in
this area will hopefully decrease confusion during a storm. It will also give
students, and pondering parents an ease of mind.
The last suggestion I’ll mention is
probably not one most people think about, but I do know that it is an initial
disconnect concerning freshmen students. On the syllabus, where the
assignments, and due dates are posted. Often there will be a topic of the
chapters covered in class listed. For most people who have been in college for
some time, it’s clear that those chapters should be read prior to the proposed
date covered in class. However, it’s important to think about the minds of
incoming freshmen. Most are used to guided reading with their former high
school teachers. Most are used to being fed information, and then digesting it
outside of class. This is opposed to college, where students prepare for a
subject before class, have the subject further reiterated/clarified during
class, and then fully digested outside of class. Sure, freshmen will eventually
pick up on that, but maybe there is a way that professors could bridge that gap
by mentioning that content should be read prior to class.
Listed above is some great
information that I have been exposed to via Moodle through my professors, and
some suggestions for improvement as well. I hope that these suggestions will
help bridge a gap between instruction provided online, and how it’s being
received through a student’s perspective.
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