using Moodle for reading comprehension

using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Lev Abramov -
Number of replies: 10

hi colleagues.

I use Moodle for teaching EFL. As part of the game I need to deploy a number of reading comprehension passages - each one being a text (30-60 lines long) + a number of quizlike questions.

I find Quiz format inconvenient for this purpose - there is no room for the reading passage to be displayed. Setting it up as an Assignment is not so good either - I cannot set it up to work as a quiz then.

What I have finally come to is creating two items with the same title: an assignment and a quiz. The assignment contains the reading stuff and open-ended questions which require textual input and manual grading. The quiz contains true/false, multiple-choice and matching type quiestions which the machine can grade on its own. The student doing the assignment has to keep two windows open and navigate (Alt+Tab) between them (actually three windows - they are instructed to keep an online dictionary open too).

Has anyone found a more elegant solution?

Lev

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In reply to Lev Abramov

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Williams Castillo -

Are you sure that you can't model this behavior with just a quiz?

There's a new question type called Description which you could use to post the passages prior to each question... If you don't suffle the question, I think that you could have what you want.

Just a though... I'm not sure...

Will

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In reply to Williams Castillo

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Yes, spot on, that's exactly what the Description question type was made for.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Lev Abramov -

Martin,

there's something funny about the Description "pseudo-question":

1. it behaves like a normal quiz: the timer turns on, so if I set the timer to end the session too fast, then the resource becomes unavailable.

2. There's a "Save My Answers" (=Submit?) button which implies an edit option - but a user cannot edit the text. What's the point of including this button?

It would really be great to have the edit + save + submit option. Can this be solved? It would make the lives of many of us language teachers much easier.

3. A more general question: how do I disable certain options in the interface or change defaults? Suppose I want the default Quiz option to be True/False, not Multiple choice - how can I jump down into the weeds and do it? How can I interfere with these and similar defaults?

Hmmm. One thing: I'd hate to make an impression of someone who keeps asking questions which imply the program isn't good enough. I want to stress: Moodle is great. I'm just trying to make it better - please don't mistake it for criticism.

Best -

Lev

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In reply to Lev Abramov

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
A quiz needs more than just one description question ... you need other questions in there too ... otherwise it's not a quiz is it? wink
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Lev Abramov -

Martin, look. I'm not a programmer, so making improvements on my own is Mission Impossible for me. But I'm a good beta-tester and a decent task setter.

Let me define what 90+% of language teachers will be looking for in any CMS/LMS.

We need two different kinds of assessment items that would permit reading comprehension assessment: a reading passage followed by either

a) programmable-type questions (true/false, match, multiple-choice etc) that can be graded by the machine, and

b) open-ended questions that have to be submitted for grading by an instructor.

Ideally, the interface should probably combine both, but as a minimum it requires:

- a space for the reading passage to be placed;

- spaces for closed questions + a "Submit" button, or (the existing Quiz interface is almost ideal for it - the only thing missing is the additional space for the passage), OR

- a SEPARATE space for open-ended questions THAT CAN BE EDITED and submitted for manual grading.

For the time being, I have found some sort of a workaround I can live with (two files with the same title - one (Assignment) for the passage + for submitting the answers to open-ended questions, the other one (Quiz) for closed questions. Learners have to copy/paste the open-ended questions that are posted together with the reading passage into a Notepad file which they then submit via the Assignment interface.

It is not optimal. Ideally, it should be ONE item, not two.

What say you?

Best -

Lev

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In reply to Lev Abramov

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Eftihia Landrou -

A very late answer and probably you have figured it out for yourself; still wanted to share my experience as a new Moodler.

So, what worked best for me for reading comprehension activities are two tools: exelearning and HotPotatoes.

I've used exelearning tool (you can download it for free here: http://exelearning.org/wiki) for making reading comprehension activities with open-ended questions, which do not need to be scored automatically. Exelearning is an excellent tool for teachers because it helps you create activities and lessons in a webpage format, without requiring specialist knowledge on the part of the teacher.

For more closed-type reading activities (multiple choice, match, etc) that can be scored automatically by the system and do not need teacher correction I use the HotPotatoes tool (download for free here: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/). Again this is a tool which enables teachers to make online quizzes, with a lot of possibilities.

When you make your reading activiy, the above mentioned software allow you to create a SCORM package (SCORM is a system which, among other things, allows the Moodle site to communicate with your uploaded activities and report scores, etc; this is a very simplistic explanation for people who are not already familiar with this thing). Then, all you have to do is to upload your SCORM package in your Moodle site and you'll have incorporated your reading activity in an elegant way and student-friendly way into Moodle. (SCORM content is uploaded through the SCORM option in activities module).

Hope this will provide some quick help to new Moodlers who are also struggling with this issue smile As I said, I'm also new, so any more recent feedback is also welcome!

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In reply to Eftihia Landrou

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Eftihia,

2003 ... 2012. Whaoooooooh, you probably win the record for reviving a very old topic.wink

Actually, if you use the Hotpot activities, you have all the necessary plugins in Moodle and you certainly do not need to export your Hotpot exercices to SCORM.

Joseph

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In reply to Lev Abramov

Re: using Moodle for reading comprehension

by Rino Vincenti Hagn -

I use quiz format and integrate vocab, readìng and questions

Attachment lectura y respuestas.png
Attachment vocab.png
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In reply to Rino Vincenti Hagn

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