Asynchronous Lesson Planning for Moodle

Converting a Face-to-face lesson into an Online one is usually a time consuming, arduous process. However, in this emergency situation we are looking at ways to get things done within the quickest and most hassle free way possible by making the best use of existing materials and the best practices shared by other established institutions.

The following is a simple step-by-step approach to get a single lesson online on Moodle:

1. Title / topic:

2. Objectives/Outcomes:

3. What will you present to the students as ‘content’?

   1. Core reading? If so, please think about the length of the reading and how long it would take students to complete the reading. Usually they will take 2 or 3 times more than it would take us to complete the reading.

   2. A PPT presentation? Please consider adding a ‘concept check’ question in between each subtopic in the PPT.

   3. A video? Please consider the length, and also prepare some guiding questions to identify focus areas for students to think about while they watch the video.

   4. Please add a brief description to any of the sources of content you present, explaining to students what they are reading/watching and how it relates to the objectives/outcomes.

4. What do you want the students to ‘do’ after they read/watch content?

   1. Answer some review questions? Please think about the number of questions and the time it would take for students to complete this task. We can give this as a Moodle assignment.

   2. Demonstrate their understanding by (1) 3: we can have a Moodle forum (2) individual write-up: Moodle assignment

   3. Do you want to add a self-check MCQ? This would be ideal if you already have a set quiz with answers. A Moodle quiz can be created provided questions and answers are given in a word doc.

5. How will you give feedback and further instructions? Please think about ways to make your presence felt by the students by:

   1. Posting on the forum discussion; summarise what the students have written, introduce probing questions, direct them to the actual answer(s) etc.

   2. Create a Q and A forum to clear student doubts.

   3. If you wish to have a synchronous or live component, you can have Moodle chat or Google hangout chat for groups of 10 students at a time for about 30 mins per group where you can discuss the most essential parts of the lesson.

   4. Create a facilitation time-table similar to your usual face-to-face class time-table where you get into the Moodle ‘class’ and look at the work of students and provide feedback and additional instructions/guidance.

6. Links to help you with lesson preparation:

   1. Writing learning objectives, Centre for Teaching and Learning website from Learning House Wiley, link:https://ctl.learninghouse.com/learning-objectives-basics/

   2. Designing and organizing instructional material, Centre for Teaching and Learning website from Learning House Wiley, link: https://ctl.learninghouse.com/course-design/instructional-material/