UDK821.111
OlhaChaikovska
(State Agrarian and Engineering University in Podilya, Kamianets-Podilskyi)
CREATING FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSE FOR MOODLE
Lack of time and space, the possibility of natural disasters and diseases can be solved via the implementation of technology. Currently the issue of designing online teaching-learning courses is an up-to-date issue. The study deals with the learning strategies of “Career development” at Coursera platform. It has been found that the course is well structured: video fragments are equal to texts, a lot of tests, and different tasks for multileveled students. The author recommends using the format and strategies of analyzed course for creating foreign language resource in Moodle.
Keywords: technology, Moodle, Coursera, language learning, online platform
Technology has always played a very important role in education.Currently, the issue of preparing state, school and university administrators, teachers for eLearning in the wake of university and school closing related, for example, to COVID-19 virus, inevitable inclement weather or other disruptive events. We need to have firs-hand experience of implementing eLearning strategies for state university and school education at no cost.
Nowadays, over 49 600 educational institutions, in more than 210 countries, have registered Moodle sites (www.moodle. org/stats) [1, p. 480]. Most educational institutions in Ukraine use Moodle. It is a virtual learning environment (VLE) that usually combines multiple tools and activities for teaching and for organizing learning. It offers a single blog, wiki or open,public forums and chats all in one space. Moodle provides the following features that support:
- course editing and courseadministration
- the integration of – authentic or didactically-enriched multimedia learningresources and avariety of communicative and collaborativelearning activities(e.g. forums, chats, wikis)
- tutorial guidance through communicative contact (via e-mail, forum, and chat) as well aslearning control (via feedback, evaluation, and tracking statistics [4, p.4].
The characteristics of Moodle show that it’s a powerful digital platform. However, a university teacher should have experience and practice to create an online course. To acquire such skills a teacher should, first of all, examine professional foreign language courses and determine the format of the course. In addition, Moodle isn’t primarily created for language learning, it cannot be the perfect tool for English language teaching and learning, regardless of the willingness and comforts both students and teachers have [1, p. 383].
Thus, we aim of the paper is to analyze the main features of English language course at Prometheus platform to further implementation into Moodle.
The open online platform Prometheus is one of the biggest free educationalresources in Ukraine. It was founded in 2014 and more than courses from leading universities and academics from all over the world are available at https://prometheus.org.ua/about-us/. Prometheus works on the basis of nonprofitible platform of Massachusetts and Harvard universityOpenEdx. This foreign platform makes it possible to adopt the interface of the online tool to the individual user. OpenEdx is constantly upgrading its functions to be able to download video lectures, presentations, tests and forum discussions.
Having looked through the course content, information about the organization it belongs to, we found that the course “English for career development” was created by the University of Pennsylvania, and funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs. We enrolled the course for free and selected “full course with no certificate”. This online course guarantees to develop the following skills:
- speaking;
- listening;
We should admit, that Ukrainian analog of this course starts a week later. This course is designed for non-native English speakers who are interested in advancing their careers in the global marketplace. In this course, you will learn about the job search, application, and interview process in the United States, while comparing and contrasting the same process in your home country. This course will also give you the opportunity to explore your global career path, while building your vocabulary and improving your language skills to achieve your professional goals [3].
The course “Career development” consists of 4 units. In the first unit “Entering the job market” there are 15 videos (the total time is 55 min.), 12 texts for individual study, 14 tests.
The introductory part gives the brief description of the unit: job search process through selected readings and video lectures. In addition, there will be a discussion board for applying the learnt vocabulary. The unit aims at:
- Become familiar with the course structure, different learning options, and overall course objectives
- Identify the steps in the job search process
- Define and accurately use content-related vocabulary in course activities and games
- Identify word forms to expand your vocabulary
- Compare and Contrast the job search process in the US and your home country
- Read, watch, and listen to a variety of texts and multimedia sources.
- Demonstrate your understanding of these texts and key course ideas through comprehension check quizzes and a discussion board response.
- Tell the difference between simple present and present progressive in course activities and games
- Use phrases for compare and contrast in the discussion board responses
The introductory part of the unit is represented by 3 or 4 minute video fragments with a native speaker. Each video fragment, in its turn, is interrupted by a question to attract the participant’s attention. In the video fragment “Job search overview” the tutor with the help of pictures and bubbles explained what the professional profile mean. The participant reads that it is a short summary of your education, work experience, special training, volunteer experience, hobbies and interests. Each unit has 1 or 2 assessments designed to help the student to practice both language and content at the same time:
Which of the following is not included in a Professional Profile. (Choose 1)
- Education
- Work Experience
- Special Training
- Hobbies and Interests
- Salary Information
The platform marks the correct answer and the course participant continuous the unit.
Then the material for individual work is given and it is divided into basic version advanced one. We analyzed the texts, they have the following answers: What you offer the world, Functional skills: the things you do, Acquired skills: your expertise, Personal trait skills, One of a kind. The titles of the texts motivate the participants and show that they are worth reading. After reading session the participant of the course is given a 30-minute test and instructions, the total score is 5. All questions in this quiz refer to the reading, “What you Offer.” You are allowed to refer to this reading as you answer these questions. You can open the reading in a new tab by clicking one of the links:
Basic: https://www.coursera.org/learn/careerdevelopment/supplement/EM3My/basic-what-you-offer-the-world
Advanced: https://www.coursera.org/learn/careerdevelopment/supplement/rYhcT/advanced-what-you-offer-the-world
Here we give the sample of Coursera test:
- Skills that focus on what we doare called _____. (1 point)
Personal trait skills
Functional skills
Subject skills
2.TRUE or FALSE: Acquired skills are skills you learn as you grow and are rarely forgotten (1 point).
- True
- false
3.Which of the following are Subject Skills ? Check all that apply (1 point).
- Planning
- Flowers
- English
- Driving
- Computers
4.TRUE or FALSE: A Transferable Skill can be used in a variety of different jobs even if you change careers (1point).
- True
- false
5.Which of the following are Personal Trait Skills ? Check all that apply (1 point).
- Courteous
- Responsible
- Researching
- Fashion [3].
We should admit that Ukraine is a pioneer in creating courses via online platforms. That is why we recommend using the experience of foreign language courses in creating your own one. The analysis of “Career development course” showed that the material is thoroughly structured. Each unit is accompanied by goals and instructions. Each important issue is followed by1 or 2 assessments designed. The material for individual work and tests are divided according to language level of the students.
REFERENCES
1.Boskovic, V., Gajic, T., and Tomic, I. (2014). Moodle in English Language Teaching.Sinteza,Internet and Education, 2014.P. 480–483. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15308/SInteZa-2014-480-483.
2.Courses. Prometheus. URL: https://prometheus.org.ua/courses-catalog/ (Accessed10.03.2020)
3.English for career development: Coursera. URL: https://www.coursera.org/learn/careerdevelopment (Accessed01.03.2020)
4.Warth-Sontheimer C. Using Moodle for language teaching. University of Tübingen: Tübingen. Wide Minds& the Comenius projecticEurope. 2011. P. 4-28. URL: https://www.academia.edu/620127/Using_Moodle_for_Language_Teaching._A_Guide_to_Moodle_Activities_for_the_Language_Classroom (Accessed25.02.2020)