Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Art Lader -
Number of replies: 6
A friend just sent me a message asking why we use the word "teacher" in the documentation, as opposed to "instructor" or something like that. She wonders if this is dismissive of professors and course admins in the business world.

I never thought about it. I am a teacher, so I like the word teacher. smile

I do not really know how to respond to her.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

Thanks,
Art
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Darren Smith -
Teacher is more readily understood by those who may not be so fluent in English. It's amongst the first words most people learn when starting a new language therefore instructor or facilitator would be understood by less people.

I could be wrong, and you'd know more about that than I, but it seems reasonable to me smile
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In reply to Darren Smith

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Ulrike Montgomery -

Darren,

I never thought of that - it does make sense, tough. You are right, teacher is very easy to understand. The MoodleDocs should not be too difficult for non-native speakers.

Ulrike

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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Ralf Hilgenstock -
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Hi Art,

in the german translation we use this wording:


teacher  -   german: Trainer/in
direct translation of teacher is Lehrer/in and use for teachers at school.

other wordings in german are:

german: 'Dozent' at universities like lecturer, instructor, tutor
german: 'Trainer' like (executive) coach
german: 'Referent'  like contributor, instructor, speaker

student - german: Teilnehmer/in

If non-school-teacher hear the word Teacher/Lehrer they think moodle is a LMS for scools and not for other fields of learning.


Ralf

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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Martin Dougiamas -
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Everyone will have a different synonym for this, which is why I have the option in Moodle course settings to choose the name for it. In the documentation, though, we have to pick SOMETHING.

A Moodle teacher is someone with the most reponsibility for creating and facilitating a group of people towards some learning goals. I think "teacher" is the simplest word with the widest amount of coverage.

Frankly, I think if a professor/instructor/facilitator/moderator/guide feels offended by being called a teacher then they have the problem, not us. smile
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by John Nicklin -
Where does one find the course settings to change things like teacher, etc. in Moodle 1.9?
In reply to John Nicklin

Re: Moodle documentation: why "teacher"?

by Séverin Terrier -
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You can find this in each course, using the link in the Administration block, for Parameters smile