Using Moodle by Jason Cole & Helen Foster

Author:Jason Cole & Helen Foster [Jason Cole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: COMPUTERS / Educational Software
ISBN: 9780596554989
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Published: 2009-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

Collaborative glossaries

Instead of creating a glossary on your own, why not have the students create it as they encounter unfamiliar terms? A collaborative glossary can serve as a focal point for collaboration in a course. Each member of the class could be assigned to contribute a term, a definition, or comments on submitted definitions. Multiple definitions can be rated by you and by the students, with the highest-rated definitions accepted for the final class glossary.

When students are responsible for creating the definitions, they are much more likely to remember the word and the correct definition. Engaging in the process of learning, debating, and refining a glossary can go a long way toward helping students begin using new terms. Moodle community member Leslie Smith has created a glossary for students to submit entries that contain the definition, part of speech, an original sentence using the word correctly, and some type of mnemonic or visual device to help classmates remember the word’s meaning. The visual devices the students use are quite creative and definitely help with memorization.

You can also structure multiple glossaries over the course of a semester. Break them up by unit, chapter, week, or any other organizational structure. Another Moodle community member, Andy Diament, has his students create as many entries as they can in 20 minutes after a topic review, which creates both a framework for further discussion and a nice study aid when printed out.

If you have a large class, assign student teams to come up with definitions and answers. One strategy for managing large courses is to make each team responsible for one week’s worth of definitions, while all the other teams must rate and comment. Alternatively, each team could be responsible for one definition per chapter and then rate and comment on the other teams’ work.

To set up a collaborative glossary, create a new glossary for each unit with the following options:

Glossary type: Secondary glossary

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