My wife (who used to be a high school teacher) was trying out Moodle today and while wanting to add content to her course the first thing she picked out was Lesson.
Then she got quite confused with the complex information that Lesson initially presents.
I explained what the Lesson module did and she thought it should be called "Comprehension" instead of Lesson, since Lesson is so generic.
I think I agree with her, but naturally such changes are not to be taken lightly. Does anyone else thinks this makes sense? Is it worth a poll?
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Petr Skoda -
I did have similar problem when I was translating Moodle interface to Czech language. I could not find the right word. The only similar term I found was (translated from Czech) "Programmed lesson". 
In reply to Petr Skoda
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Nicolas Martignoni -
Same problem with french translation: "leçon" is very generic and I'll surely welcome a better term, specially that could avoid any confusion for a new moodler.
On the other hand, "comprehension" seems to be a little too restrictive.
On the other hand, "comprehension" seems to be a little too restrictive.
I had a similar discussion with Ray about assignement/workshop/exercise and IMHO he had a point (see http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=7190#33923 and the rest of the discussion), but I have to agree with you guys. I translated it litteraly (to dutch) and I regret that I did that, because it is not clear enough to teachers what the module does. Programmed instruction (translated from Dutch) was a term that was used at the time teachers made such lessons on paper.
In reply to koen roggemans
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Hans de Zwart -
Yes, I like instruction, but maybe that is because de Dutch instructie (or as Koen suggests geprogrammeerde instructie) would be a very good choice.
My grasp of English might not be good enough and maybe instruction is not so ideomatic. Hard choices to be made!
Let's make it a choice.
My grasp of English might not be good enough and maybe instruction is not so ideomatic. Hard choices to be made!
Let's make it a choice.
In reply to Petr Skoda
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Ralf Hilgenstock -
In German we use "Lektionen" this is something like chapter/lesson. I never heard about problems.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Martin Dougiamas -
Really it seems this module is for practicing/testing student's comprehension of a text ... are there other uses?
I feel like I'm always questioning Ray's choice of names but he always picks such generic ones.
I feel like I'm always questioning Ray's choice of names but he always picks such generic ones.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Petr Skoda -
I thought it would be usefull for students that want to quickly refresh some knowledge. There could be some paths for those who already know something and for those who need to learn everything.
There are to uses of questions:
There are to uses of questions:
- test whether they understand current page (comprehension)
- decide what set of pages to show to each student (hence "programming" = if else and goto)
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Michael Penney -
We've been using it more like hypercard/authorware, where branch tables carry information (including video/audio and intereactive applets) and are followed by immediate assessment questions (V-CATs-virtual classroom assessment techniques
.
We've also used it for scenario similuations, with a randomizer choosing from a set of situations where the student uses their knowledge to make the best decision for that situation.
We've thought we shoudl call branch tables 'cards' or 'slides' to reduce the confusion. Of course, 'cards' may be confusing to folks who never used hyper/super card and slides may imply an unintended impression of linearity.
BTW, we've added a slough of new features like essay questions, timed lessons, lesson passwords, question clusters, and various other randomizing & display elements for a project, we're working some code and interface changes Ray requested and then we'll have a beta out.
We've also used it for scenario similuations, with a randomizer choosing from a set of situations where the student uses their knowledge to make the best decision for that situation.
We've thought we shoudl call branch tables 'cards' or 'slides' to reduce the confusion. Of course, 'cards' may be confusing to folks who never used hyper/super card and slides may imply an unintended impression of linearity.
BTW, we've added a slough of new features like essay questions, timed lessons, lesson passwords, question clusters, and various other randomizing & display elements for a project, we're working some code and interface changes Ray requested and then we'll have a beta out.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Francisco Gómez -
What about Comprehension Lesson?
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Tom Murdock -
I agree with the proposed change.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Bert Demandt -
I'm inclined to agree with some of the remarks made here before, e.g. that changing the (pretty generic) name of lesson to comprension is rather too restrictive (as Nicolas pointed out).
I also believe it can be used in more creative ways than just testing comprehension of a given test. We (all high school teachers) are working on what could better be described as a set of hypercards (as Michael called it), in which pupils are sometimes asked to answer questions about a text presented to them (comprehension, right) but in other instances can choose which element they want to explore further. So the question they answer is not a real question but a simple choice. That way they can "moodle through" a given subject following more or less their own path. With all its limitations it borders on what is often called structured learning in our educational system.
This technique seems to give them the idea that they can do it "their own way". It strengthens their impression of the course being interactive and this in turn proves to be stimulating.
Not that changing its name would in any way alter or limit the module's possibilities, but the proposed name doesn't seem to make its features clearer.
Just one guy's idea, of course.
I also believe it can be used in more creative ways than just testing comprehension of a given test. We (all high school teachers) are working on what could better be described as a set of hypercards (as Michael called it), in which pupils are sometimes asked to answer questions about a text presented to them (comprehension, right) but in other instances can choose which element they want to explore further. So the question they answer is not a real question but a simple choice. That way they can "moodle through" a given subject following more or less their own path. With all its limitations it borders on what is often called structured learning in our educational system.
This technique seems to give them the idea that they can do it "their own way". It strengthens their impression of the course being interactive and this in turn proves to be stimulating.
Not that changing its name would in any way alter or limit the module's possibilities, but the proposed name doesn't seem to make its features clearer.
Just one guy's idea, of course.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Petr Skoda -
A bit off-topic...
To Martin: Could you please add link to lesson discussion to http://moodle.org/download/modules/. BTW discussion links for Book and Questionnaire are missing too
thanks
skodak
To Martin: Could you please add link to lesson discussion to http://moodle.org/download/modules/. BTW discussion links for Book and Questionnaire are missing too
thanks
skodak
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Timothy Takemoto -
I think that "Comprehension" is pretty generic too. The quiz module tests comprehension and without resources one would not have it. Added to that, "comprehension" would become the even more generic "understanding" (rikai) or "reading comprehension" (kaidoku) in Japanese.
I think that something with "card" in it works well - the above suggested "Hypercard" sounds nice, trendy, new, and makes one want to try it out.
Somethign to emphasise the fact that there is a "route" or "pathway" might also be plausible. "Pathway Module," "Card Path Module."
The fact that it is programmed or planned is also important. "Planned Route," "Programmed Pathway"
Or something softer like "Learning Path," "Comprehension Path" "Comprehension Card,"
Other than that, there is always "Maze Module" which is the way that I generally explain it to people, but it probably does not sound very nice.
On the other hand when the new improved version of the Lesson module comes out thanks to Michael Penny, the generic name might be entirely appropriate since the lesson module combines the functions of just about everything else.
tim
I think that something with "card" in it works well - the above suggested "Hypercard" sounds nice, trendy, new, and makes one want to try it out.
Somethign to emphasise the fact that there is a "route" or "pathway" might also be plausible. "Pathway Module," "Card Path Module."
The fact that it is programmed or planned is also important. "Planned Route," "Programmed Pathway"
Or something softer like "Learning Path," "Comprehension Path" "Comprehension Card,"
Other than that, there is always "Maze Module" which is the way that I generally explain it to people, but it probably does not sound very nice.
On the other hand when the new improved version of the Lesson module comes out thanks to Michael Penny, the generic name might be entirely appropriate since the lesson module combines the functions of just about everything else.
tim
In reply to Timothy Takemoto
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Hans de Zwart -
Reading all these posts about the naming of the lesson modules and the suggested solutions make me wonder whether to whole module itself isn't too generic.
Would it be a good idea to split the functionality of the module into two? This way we would have two modules (that might even share some code libaries and would require to be installed together).
One would be about comprehension/instruction and could be could something like Learning Pathways. The other would be using the flashcard principle and could be called something like hypercard.
Would it be a good idea to split the functionality of the module into two? This way we would have two modules (that might even share some code libaries and would require to be installed together).
One would be about comprehension/instruction and could be could something like Learning Pathways. The other would be using the flashcard principle and could be called something like hypercard.
In reply to Hans de Zwart
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Andy Diament -
How about "Lesson Pages" for the instructional aspect, just "Cards" for the flash card aspect.
I've only ever used lessons for instructional material - for people who use it as flash cards - does the current interface lend itself to this use - if so - you could actually have two identically coded modules but with different names/icons, so that the student knows what to expect.
Hypercard, that takes me back - it's where I discovered hyperlinks in '88-anyone still using it? It was good, but never quite That good, jack of trades, master of none
I think Apple might have something to say about moodle using name. I have this personal theory that Hypercard was Apple's biggest wasted opportunity - had they thought of it, hypercard stacks could have been the face of the web even before Tim Berners-Lee invented the web as we know it;
but then we'd basically be living in a proprietary web dominated by Apple/Steve Jobs to an extent that even Bill Gates would be quite jealous - who'd want that?
Just my random thoughts, Andy D
I've only ever used lessons for instructional material - for people who use it as flash cards - does the current interface lend itself to this use - if so - you could actually have two identically coded modules but with different names/icons, so that the student knows what to expect.
Hypercard, that takes me back - it's where I discovered hyperlinks in '88-anyone still using it? It was good, but never quite That good, jack of trades, master of none
I think Apple might have something to say about moodle using name. I have this personal theory that Hypercard was Apple's biggest wasted opportunity - had they thought of it, hypercard stacks could have been the face of the web even before Tim Berners-Lee invented the web as we know it;
but then we'd basically be living in a proprietary web dominated by Apple/Steve Jobs to an extent that even Bill Gates would be quite jealous - who'd want that?
Just my random thoughts, Andy D
In reply to Timothy Takemoto
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Michael Penney -
How about Learning Adventure.
Maybe this is where the name "Quandry" came from, the folks at Half Backed weren't referring to the quandry's you could create with it but rather the problem with naming it.
Regarding the changes we've been making to Lesson, thanks really should go to Mark Nielson, the coder, and Andy Alm, the funder. As the project manager, I just sort of translate between the two.
Maybe this is where the name "Quandry" came from, the folks at Half Backed weren't referring to the quandry's you could create with it but rather the problem with naming it
Regarding the changes we've been making to Lesson, thanks really should go to Mark Nielson, the coder, and Andy Alm, the funder. As the project manager, I just sort of translate between the two
All the talk about hypercard/supercard, those names are owned, but that kind of functionality was designed to build 'courseware'-> software based learning objects for use in courses.
Funny, we are building a project in lesson (branching multimedia presentation with integrated questions, external links, video, audio, etc.) of the sort we used to build in Macromedia Director or Authorware.
And in another project are replicating an old supercard biology project in Lesson.
As to the apparent contradiction between such 'programmed lessons', mazes, or learning games, and Moodle philosophy, I'd recomment folks check out James Paul Gee's "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy", (which I'd highly recommend to anyone wondering what cognitive research has to say about why video games seem so much more popular than textbooks->).
One of the things Gee points out is that 'programmed learning objects' like video games generate their own communities, where 'students' of the game collaborate on techniques, strategies, and even construct their own learning objects in the form of mods and machinima.
On this note, one thing that has been requested of us by a faculty member (who happens to be a social constructivist) regarding our work with Lesson is to add a student authoring mode similar to Glossary, where students could create their own lessons on a topic and share them with a class.
Funny, we are building a project in lesson (branching multimedia presentation with integrated questions, external links, video, audio, etc.) of the sort we used to build in Macromedia Director or Authorware.
And in another project are replicating an old supercard biology project in Lesson.
As to the apparent contradiction between such 'programmed lessons', mazes, or learning games, and Moodle philosophy, I'd recomment folks check out James Paul Gee's "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy", (which I'd highly recommend to anyone wondering what cognitive research has to say about why video games seem so much more popular than textbooks->)
One of the things Gee points out is that 'programmed learning objects' like video games generate their own communities, where 'students' of the game collaborate on techniques, strategies, and even construct their own learning objects in the form of mods and machinima.
On this note, one thing that has been requested of us by a faculty member (who happens to be a social constructivist)
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by Wen Hao Chuang -
I have been using Moodle for the past few weeks and I have to say that at the very beginning I too was confused with what "Lesson" module is really about.
Then I started to played with it. First I was offered to design a "multiple choice" question, and I thought, wait a minute, this is "Quiz," isn't it? Then I started to realized that the Lesson module can have "branches" which is more like "programmed instruction" (that use the concept similar to Flash card or Hypercard to implement). So for its current implementation, maybe "programmed instruction" or "Hypercard-like programmed instruction" would be a better name?
Another similar problem is the "Choice" module. I think maybe "Poll" would be a better name too? It seems that the "Choice" module also overlap with the "Survey" module a little bit?? But when teachers want to do a after-course student evealuation, the "Survey" module might not be a good choice, and the "Questionaire" would be a better choice?? All these sometimes are a bit confusing.. just my 2 cents.
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Lesson module - should it be called "Comprehension"?
by luciano biondo -
I let other people find a good name (even i like "Learning Adventures" a lot). I want only to advice that there is a "very classical" (and excellent) book about writing something that fits very well in Ray's module. The title is "Good frames and bad" (by Susan Meyer Markle). So the word "Frames" could fit.
Another question: "Programmed Instruction" is not a sentence that referees to paper material. The term bears with the teaching machines in the sixties, only about ten years after people found that the machine might be substituted by a book in the very most of cases (at that time, teaching machines were very rough indeed).
Luciano
Another question: "Programmed Instruction" is not a sentence that referees to paper material. The term bears with the teaching machines in the sixties, only about ten years after people found that the machine might be substituted by a book in the very most of cases (at that time, teaching machines were very rough indeed).
Luciano
For me, the problem is not so much in what these various modules are actually called, but the fact that it is often difficult to get a good idea what they actual can be used for. Even if we were to come up with appropriate names in English, somewhere down the line there would be troubles in translating the terms into other languages because Moodle is translated into so many languages and there often is not a one-to-one correspondence in meaning of terms. Also, how people use a specific module may require they rename it anyway in their own Moodle because they used it in an unconventional way. If I use the glossary module as a way for students to post book reviews, I might want to rename it "book reviews." I think therefore while the underlying name of the module needs to be fixed, there should be more flexibility for teachers to rename the modules in terms of what students see.
While everyone here at Moodle is incredibly helpful, I'm a bit of a strange kind of person who actually sits down and reads software manuals cover-to-cover before using software and I kind of wish there was a more centralized source of information on these modules. It would be nice if one could get a short summary explaining the way in which the module works (perhaps drawing from Matt Riordan's teacher manual), along with some real contributed examples of how teachers used that module. I could actually see the glossary module being suitable for this purpose. Each glossary entry could be for a single module, and then teachers could post comments about their own uses of the module. This would allow everyone to get new ideas how they might use the module, and the real examples would help developers to understand their users needs more and be able to tweak the modules to better suit those needs.
While everyone here at Moodle is incredibly helpful, I'm a bit of a strange kind of person who actually sits down and reads software manuals cover-to-cover before using software and I kind of wish there was a more centralized source of information on these modules. It would be nice if one could get a short summary explaining the way in which the module works (perhaps drawing from Matt Riordan's teacher manual), along with some real contributed examples of how teachers used that module. I could actually see the glossary module being suitable for this purpose. Each glossary entry could be for a single module, and then teachers could post comments about their own uses of the module. This would allow everyone to get new ideas how they might use the module, and the real examples would help developers to understand their users needs more and be able to tweak the modules to better suit those needs.
I call it Actionmatrix, so the teacher knows what he/she has to design.
Book is more the simple idea of a lesson. I call it Book I,
The modified book of Chardelle I call Book II
Wiki I call Wiki Book a start metaphot fora teacher
First I feel kinda responsible for this thread - sorry guys.
I would (a) caution against changing names unless there's a major change to the functionality and (b) find the ability to rename modules at a course (or site) level very useful.
I must put my hand up and say that I talk about "quizzes" to my students which are actually implemented in the Lesson module. So I have to tell them that what are called Lessons (in headings and in the left hand box of the courses) are really the quizzes I want them to do. All a bit embarrassing. Changing the labels to Comprehensions won't get me out of that one
.
I also agree the Hansen's second point. But again I would caution that we'll still developing and that makes documenting troublesome. Sometimes it helps to document certain things before the event, it helps make what is implemented "explainable". But other times it easier to implement something that works well on the screen and then document after the event. Sometimes the chicken comes first, sometimes the egg. We must remember that at the moment, quite rightly, Moodle is a moveable feast.
I would (a) caution against changing names unless there's a major change to the functionality and (b) find the ability to rename modules at a course (or site) level very useful.
I must put my hand up and say that I talk about "quizzes" to my students which are actually implemented in the Lesson module. So I have to tell them that what are called Lessons (in headings and in the left hand box of the courses) are really the quizzes I want them to do. All a bit embarrassing. Changing the labels to Comprehensions won't get me out of that one
.I also agree the Hansen's second point. But again I would caution that we'll still developing and that makes documenting troublesome. Sometimes it helps to document certain things before the event, it helps make what is implemented "explainable". But other times it easier to implement something that works well on the screen and then document after the event. Sometimes the chicken comes first, sometimes the egg
. We must remember that at the moment, quite rightly, Moodle is a moveable feast.