He estado estrujándome el cerebro este fin de semana y aquí va el resultado. Se trata de una propuesta de comunicación para la conferencia final del proyecto COVCELL, en el que participo por parte de la Universidad Humboldt de Berlín.
Mi propuesta es muy simple: Un curso de formación de profesores para aprender a usar Moodle. El grupo meta de este curso son docentes de lenguas extranjeras y esp facilita el empleo de una metodología con la que ya están familiarizados, el enfoque por tareas.
Mil gracias a Marisa Gamonal de la Consejería de Educación en Berlín por darme la oportunidad del probar el concepto con profesores de E/LE y a Monique Dorang por hacer presentable mi inglés “made in China”
Train the teachers as they train their students!
An experience using a task-based approach for teacher trainingIn this paper, I’d like to describe a model for teacher/tutor training in the field of foreign language learning. It doesn’t necessarily mean that this model is only suitable for language teachers but that it is based on the assumption that language teachers are already familiar with the selected methodology.
The task-based approach is one the most popular language teaching methodologies used nowadays.
In a task-based course or lesson, the teacher doesn’t pre-determine what language items will be studied. Far more, the lesson is based on the completion of a central task and the language items studied are determined by the needs the students face in completing the task given.
This approach offers some advantages in language training, such as providing an authentic context for learning the foreign language and providing a personalised and relevant learning experience, in the sense that the language items explored arise from specific student needs. This approach is also communicative and motivating. So, why not use it to train the teachers themselves in the use of technology?
When I received the assignment to develop a course aiming to show teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language how to use Moodle, I though it was worth a try to design it with a task-based approach.
The Moodle training course I had to present took place in March 2007 as a seminar organized by the Spanish Office of Education in Berlin (Consejería de Educación).
Target group: Teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language with no previous experience in using Moodle
Course objective: Show the participants the core features of Moodle for Language Learning, so that they are able to design and run their own courses. It is not intended that the participants become competent Moodle users after this type of crash-course. What is essential is that they become independent users. In other words, they should be enabled to develop their own problem-solving strategies and their own means of continuing to learn about the platform use.
Course contents:
FIRST-PART
1. Overview of CMS and LMS Introduction to Moodle
2. First steps: Course configuration
PRE-TASK: In groups, the participants have to answer three questions about the basic course configuration options in Moodle.
After the task, learning outcomes are discussed in the course plenum.
3. Getting familiar with edition icons
PRE-TASK: In groups, participants have to fill the blanks in a list with the Moodle icons. They have to describe what the icons stand for and complete the list they are given. The list to fill in is provided in a wiki.
After the task, learning outcomes are discussed in the course plenum.
4. Course appearance
PRE-TASK: Discovering the available blocs in a Moodle course and coming up with ideas about possible uses in a language course. For this, a group discussion in a forum is provided.
After the task, learning outcomes are discussed in the course plenum.
FIRST TASK: For this task, each participant has his/her own test course, in which he/she adopts the teacher role. Participants have to configure they own test courses including a description, a photo, a calendar and an html-bloc or RSS-bloc.
At the end of this first introductory part of the course, participants have already become familiar with the basic features of Moodle and the first steps to run their own course. They have also already experienced first-hand working in groups with a chat, wiki and forum. With these introductory activities, they share an experience that will be valuable when it comes to discussing possible language learning activities involving wikis, chats and forums (addressed in the second part of the course).
Contents for the second part of the course are available online:
https://lms.hu-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=3759
