Online learning activities at DWU

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Using social media and a learning management system like Moodle in teaching and learning is a tough challenge. One needs to spend a lot of time to read about all these applications in order to be competent users. 

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Take for instance, in a class of 30 students you have those who are avid users of social media and those who dislike social media for whatever reason. If half of the class is on the dislike side of the spectrum then the social media experience will not be as expected.

As a facilitator should you force students who dislike social media to open Facebook and Twitter accounts purposely for the unit or course? Should there be assessment tasks involving social media applications like Facebook and Twitter?

For Moodle, you have some students who are interested or competent users, while others who are not that interested or competent. The interested users are deeply engaged in glossary and forum discussions. They tend to read most of the definitions and shared their comparative analysis or most of the post and share their thoughts.

Hence, should it be compulsory for students and staff to use Moodle? Should there be assessment tasks involving Moodle activity modules like glossary, discussion forums, quizzes and others? 

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Student comments via their online anonymous unit evaluation has been mostly on the positive side for my units. Many have enjoyed the the use of Moodle, Facebook and Twitter citing that they have acquired more knowledge via these applications.

For example, one said; “……social media especially Facebook helps me to read a lot and thankfully learn new things”. Another said; “I think the lecturer should not change his teaching style because as a student I find it interesting and enjoyable when interacting with my colleagues on social media, especially Facebook and twitter….”. In addition, one said; “Learnt a lot about certain topics covered over the weeks. The best part was when students were always interacting online with the lecturer”.

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However, there are those who dislike the use of social media or online activities in general for various reasons. Their sentiment is reflected in this particular comment, “lectures on the unit is necessary than online activities”. These students would like to see more of the traditional mode of face-to-face lectures instead of online learning activities on Moodle, Twitter and Facebook aimed at sharing and measuring knowledge gained. 

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Taking into consideration the feedback from students, I would like to continue using Moodle, Twitter and Facebook in my units. There are many reasons why I believe this is the way forward.

Firstly, in Divine Word University’s Online Learning Policy, the blended learning mode is defined as; “a mix of online and short intensive periods of face-to-face teaching and learning”. Those students who are commenting about the need for more lectures need to read the policy and understand the direction the University is taking.

Secondly, the amount of information on the internet is mind boggling. There are many sites where one can use to help understand a concept or a theory. Through the process of reading at a time that is convenient and a location that is suitable one can learn more.

Online activities like the Moodle glossary is aimed at helping students to develop basic internet researching skills. Students are expected to find a definition of a theory like realism in international relations online. After locating an easy to understand definition on a particular site of their liking they are tasked to share that definition on the glossary activity module for the benefit of others enrolled in the unit. Thus, learning is collaborative, meaning they compare the various sources and comment on the common elements found in the many definitions from various sources. 

Imagine sitting in a classroom, in a hot place like Madang, trying to understand what the lecturer or facilitator is saying in his or her lecture from 10:30am to 12:30pm in the middle of the day. Furthermore, the classroom has no air condition and the fans are located only in the middle of the classroom.

In the afternoons from 1:30pm to 3:30pm is another story. You have students dozing off and those trying their best to focus because their minds are already switched off. This is the third reason why I believe online activities are paramount.

Online activities require the learner to do a lot of reading. If one wants to learn then they have to read the instructions, tweets, posts, articles, learning guides, their own work and the work of others. For those students who dislike reading then it is a big challenge.

Excessive reading is good for students because it will grow their knowledge and in the process help them to improve their English. Not only written English, but also spoken English. The more they read the more knowledge they acquire.

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