Moodle and student engagement

Moodle & Student Engagement – Theory & practice

Moodle And Student Engagement

– Theory and practice

Yong Liu


Contents

• eLearning

• What is learning

• Bloom’s taxonomy

• Constructivism and Moodle

• Behaviourist

• Conclusion


eLearning

• Student centred learning

o Knowledge is constructed by studentso The lecturer is a facilitator

• Activity based learningo Discussiono Collaborationo Peer reviewing


What is learning• The acquisition of knowledge or skills through

experience, practice, or study, or by being taught (Google Dictionary 2013)

• Learning is not something done to students, but rather something students themselves do (Ambrose 2010)

• New learning is constructed from old (Petty 2009)

Existing learning

New learningCognitivist Constructivism


Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom 1956)

EVALUATION -- (judge, critically appraise ) • Make a judgment • Comparing and contrasting • Evaluation

SYNTHESIS -- (create, design, invent ) • Solve problem • Write essay • Design • Give constructive

suggestions • Design a policy or strategy or device •Hypothesis • Create new ideasANALYSIS -- (consider the parts separately)

• Analyze a situation, experiment • Classify • Compare • Give reasons

• Give causes and effectsAPPLICATION -- (do it after being shown how)

• Apply • Calculate • Use • Punctuate

COMPREHENSION • Explain • Classify • Interpret • Describe

KNOWLEDGE • State • Define • Recall • Describe

Low-order skills

Fully functional knowledge

High cognitive demand

Low cognitive demand


Bloom’s taxonomy

Example

• 108 ÷ 4 = ?

• A cage is full of dogs. There are 108 legs inside the cage. How many dogs are there in the cage?

Application

Synthesis

There are 10 lollipops in one basket and 8 cookies in another basket as gifts. Each student took one gift from one of the two baskets. At last, both baskets are empty and each student got a gift. How many students are there?


Bloom’s taxonomy• Knowledge: to be able to recognize the divide sign on the calculator

(Petty 2009).

• Comprehension: to be able to explain how to divide with a calculator.

• Application: to be able to succeed with 108 ÷ 4 = .

• Analysis: to be able to break down an arithmetic problem expressed in words and recognize the component parts.

• Synthesis: to be able to recognize a question as an arithmetic problem, and decide how best to solve it, e.g. to know when to divide.

• Evaluation: to be able to check your own working and problem-solving strategies or that of another, and recognize errors and omissions.


Bloom’s taxonomy

• For a given topic, learners must have all the skills in the taxonomy to have fully functional knowledge. (Petty 2009)

• The lower skills are required for the higher skills.


Constructivism and Moodle

• The principles of learning according to the cognitivist: (Petty 2009)

o Teachers need to set high-order tasks. (Analysis, synthesis and evaluation)

o High-order skills can be taught and are not God-given gifts.

o Set ladders of tasks. (Set tasks that gradually climb Bloom’s taxonomy as if it were a ladder)


Constructivism and Moodle • Common constructivist teaching strategies

o ‘Teaching by asking’ or guided discovery – Let students construct (Petty 2009).

o ‘Diagnostic’ question and answer, and use of poor answers to explore and correct misunderstandings – Let students evaluate.

o Explaining tasks that require students to express their understanding to each other or the teacher

o Group work requiring students to discuss the material, so that constructs are made and peer checking and teaching takes place. (This requires high-order tasks and questions)

o Students creating ‘mind-maps’ or ‘spider diagrams’ and other summaries that identify the key points and how these parts relate to the whole.


Behaviourist: rewards and motivation

• Learners require some reward or ‘reinforcement’ for learning -- Nobody learns for nothing! (Petty 2009)

• Divide long tasks into a number of shorter tasks -- Courses are often divided into modules to increase the frequency of rewards

o If a learner is never successful in your lessons, he/she will soon give up.

o Stress key points and summarize them at the beginning and at the end of classes

• Reinforcement should follow the desired behaviour as soon as possible.


Conclusion

• Moodle is a well designed effective learning platform

• Always use Bloom’s taxonomy check your activities

• Follow the constructivism principles

• Effectively and efficiently use Moodle tools

• Being a facilitator not a dominator


References

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. John Wiley & Sons.

Petty, G. (2009). Teaching today: A practical guide. 4th Edition, Nelson Thornes.

Bloom, B. S., and Krathwohl, D. R. (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. New York: Longmans, Green

Hofmann J. (2013) Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to Learning Technologies, May 14, 2013, Retrieved 2nd Oct, 2013, from http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/L-and-D-Blog/2013/05/Applying-Blooms-Taxonomy-to-Learning-Technologies

Google dictionary (2013) Retrieved 2nd Oct, 2013, from https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?hl=en&tab=ww&ei=g1FPUs3UFNGYlAWH5YGoCw&ved=0CBMQ1S4#hl=en&q=learning&tbs=dfn:1


Questions

Yong [email protected]

http://www.slideshare.net/yong_liu/moodle-and-student-engagement

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