Moodle Book Review

By: Jose, Mary and Sandra

Simple but effective recipes for teaching reading and

writing using Moodle 1.9 and Web 2.0

Each of the activities is clearly presented following 3 steps:

1.Getting Ready2.How to do it3.How it works

• Matching sentences• Unjumbling and connecting sentences• Using Twitter and Facebook for surveys• Brainstorming ideas using Forums• Answering a quiz designed in a lesson• Uploading pictures from Microsoft Word• Connecting events—uploading drawings from

Microsoft Word• Linking to a website and writing a description

Chapter 1 - Connecting Ideas

• Carry out activities through Hot Potatoes.

• Click to access the Hot Potatoes website

• Showing Hot Potatoes Quiz in Moodle.

Matching activity in Hot Potatoes

Unjumbling and connecting sentences

Creating an empty book (pictures only) for students to write a story 

Using Twitter and Facebook for a survey

Writing somebody's biography using a link to a

website

Chapter 2 - Matching pictures and text - chapter covers the following activities

• Picturing comprehension• Matching text to speech bubbles of strip

comics• Picture paragraph matching• Sceneries and possible stories through

flowcharts• Working with painting—Salvador Dali's art• Choosing a book by its cover• Advising posters• Cooking recipes

Picture paragraph matching 

Matching text to speech bubbles of comic strips

Add an activity  , select a Quiz. Create the comic strip in Word ........ design it in Moodle. The pictures are not in the correct order, so arrange them.

• How to become a well-known character• Understanding secondary characters• Adding technology to a story• Statues can think• Changing an adventure• Old age versus childhood• Beauty versus ugliness• Curious characters

Chapter 3 - Looking at things from different perspectives

Chapter 4 - Defining types of sentences

• Embedding videos, games, and matching the correct topic sentence

• Writing detailed sentences according to the topic sentence• Multiple choice questions—selecting the correct concluding

sentence• Mixing paragraphs• Selecting correct sentences• Adding detailed sentences• Writing the topic and the concluding sentences• Hamburger paragraph—writing a composition using three

types of sentences

Embedding videos

• Debating about a topic• Cause and effect diagram, Fishbone fact or Ishikawa diagram:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram)• Positive and negative points list• Play the reporter• Writing a story guessing facts• Writing a very short play using text messages• Chain composition• How to summarize information

Chapter 5 - Creating Stories using Twitter and Facebook

Inserting a Twitter button in Moodle

• Describe—description of the topic and identification of its parts• Compare—similarities and differences of one topic to other topics• Associate—relationship between the current topic and another one.

Compare it to another topic it makes you think of• Analyze—relationship between the components of the topic and its

parts• Apply—usage of the topic• Argue—arguments for and against the topic

Chapter 6 - Improving Your Students' Writing

Using Sweet Home 3D

• Summer holidays versus winter holidays—drawing Venn diagrams using OpenOffice Drawing• Living in the country versus living in an overcrowded city—drawing Venn diagrams with clip

art from Microsoft Word• Being famous versus being unknown—drawing Venn diagrams with SmartDraw software• Having a healthy lifestyle versus bad habits—completing a Venn diagram using the website:

(http://classtools.net/)• Famous coincidences—drawing Venn diagrams of Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy

using Paint• Comparing different types of pollution—drawing Venn diagrams using MOffice Visio 2007• Types of students—drawing Venn diagrams using Edraw Max• Puzzles—placing adjectives and sentences in a Venn diagram according to the description of

personal possession

Chapter 7 - Comparing using Venn Diagrams

• Updating a fairy tale—using a database to guide writing activity• Changing a poem into a cartoon—using resources from Web 2.0• Listening to a poem and writing another end to it• Imagining that your house is a palace• Superheroes have other powers—creating your own hero using tools

from Web 2.0• Flying shoes—creating an Ad using the website (http://animoto.com/)• Becoming your idol—using Quandary 2 in Moodle• Embedding a video from YouTube and changing the lyrics of the song

Chapter 8 - Composing New Sceneries

Creating an Ad using Animoto

• Pictures in mind maps—using Buzan's iMindMap V4• Adding data to pictures—creating a mind map using MindMeister• Providing a situation to a story—drawing a mind map using the website,

Draw Anywhere• Creating mind maps using resources from Web 2.0• Creating a tree diagram using Microsoft Word• Pictures in a tree diagram—creating a tree diagram using the website,

creately.com• Completing a tree diagram comparing two persons using the website,

my.lovelycharts.com• Comparing the Flintstones and the Simpsons—using cacoo.com to

create a tree diagram

Chapter 9 - Working with Mind Maps and Tree Diagrams

Chapter 10 - Preparing a Discussion Clock• How to prepare a discussion clock—words to cover different viewpoints• Writing from a viewpoint—using tiny URLs in the discussion clock• Picturing the clock diagram—adding images• Music in the clock diagram—embedding mp3 files to our Moodle course• Just words—using a target diagram to create a discussion clock and creating

a story out of it• Questions in the clock diagram—writing a newspaper article• Correcting through a clock diagram• Designing a discussion clock in order to create an aircraft using resources

from Web 2.0