#30 - Organise your Moodle Module Space into resource pots
- The conventional, week-by-week, approach to providing online resources and activities does not fit well with techniques such as research-based learning and problem-based learning.
- If we want the students to be more independent, more creative, then we may want to break away from the weekly feed of content from the teacher.
- A thematic approach to organisation, with a set of "resource pots" containing things that the students can dip into as needed, is an alternative that encourages students to take a more self-directed approach. We might even allow the students to review and add new resources that they find to be of use.
Enhancement goals addressed: Flexible learning | Encouraging student independence
Tools and how to get support: Moodle Module Space | Moodle Book | Moodle Forum
Solution overview
Rather than organising resources chronologically, create a series of "pots" into students can dip to find resources as they need them. For example, you could create a "knowledge" pot containing reading lists, videos etc. You might create a "technical support" pot containing support materials. A "discussions" pot could contain a place for students to upload and discuss. There are many possible options. You could match this to the structure of your Talis Aspire reading list, showing a matching section in the list in each Moodle section. You might also present a weekly plan on a single page, or as a Moodle Book.
Process
- Put yourself into the position of the student - what will they need to be successful? how would they expect those resources to be organised? how might this organisational structure and descriptions encourage them to be more independent from you and collaborative with each other? Perhaps you could work with some students to design the best approach.
- Create sections that fit with the themes you have identified.
- Use activity types such as discussion forums, Talis reading lists (divided into sections matching those in your module design), and glossaries, to enable students to contribute their observations on the resources and to share new resources.
- Perhaps create a Moodle Book with a series of pages giving a chronological guide to the module as well.