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Moodle at the service of K-12 teachers and pupils

It is summer vacation (or summer break) time in Israel. We, teachers, are getting ready for the next school year, which will start in September 2022, and the Dig into Digital Moodle templates/courses are bound to have an impact on our teaching of English as a Foreign Language .

Dig into Digital is an English Department, Israel Ministry of Education national project that involves thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of K-12 pupils. “The [Israeli] education system consists of three tiers: primary education (grades 1–6, approximately ages 6–12), middle [or junior high] school (grades 7–9, approximately ages 12–15), and high school (grades 10–12, approximately ages 15–19) “ Read more.

Following is some relevant data for the school year 2021 – 2022 provided on the Ministry of Education website about the system: There are 5,350 schools, 209.000 education workers (teachers), and 2, 458,000 pupils (Source). There is a need to help teachers of English, who eventually teach all pupils starting Grade 5, work with the Moodle courses as smoothly as possible.

Much thought and hard work have been invested in creating the templates/courses. No less work and thought are being invested in helping teachers help their pupils learn with these Moodle courses. None of us was born knowing and understanding Moodle (and the Dig into Digital courses).

This July 2022 has seen English Department Officials, national counselors (whose job, among other duties, involves working directly with teachers of different schools), and volunteer teachers in the framework of The English Teachers Association of Israel (ETAI – a grassroots organization) take up the challenge of reaching “teachers in the field” so that they can engage their pupils using Moodle.

Two of the presentations at the ETAI Summer Conference in early July focused on Moodle. I made it a point to show that when teachers use Moodle, they are not alone as there is a worldwide community of Moodlers who can be reached for assistance. Those of us here in Israel who are more familiar with the Dig into Digital courses are, of course, members of that community of Moodlers. The following video can give you a glimpse into my presentation at ETAI:

Another example of the work done in July is a well-attended three-day Professional Development Workshop for councilors focused on both the different Dig into Digital templates/courses and how to engage teachers in the field so that they engage their pupils.  While the Moodle Courses are meant for independent and self-directed learning, we teachers need to engage and motivate our pupils to learn with them. This means that counselors also need to engage and motivate teachers so that they reach their pupils.

The workshop, developed and facilitated by colleagues who created the Moodle templates, was a hands-on one and covered topics such as “The independent learner”, ” Technology at the Service of the independent Learner”, “Where do you find everything? An Introduction to the Digital courses, the [Ministry of Education] Portal and the Moodle” and more. I attended the workshop as a counselor who is mainly involved with Moodle. I had the privilege of taking an active part.. It was my pleasure to interact with so many dedicated educators.

I guess I will be able to report more on this unique project here. I am sure there will be what to report. Time will tell.

Incidentally, two years ago I took the “MoodleBites for Teachers” and the Moodle Educator Certificate (MEC) with HRDNZ. These courses have helped me much when it comes to helping my colleagues.

Eduardo Lina
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Eduardo Lina

Born in Argentina, Eduardo has been living and working in Israel since 1979 - and he loves to use Moodle! Married to Susy, with two daughters: Gabriela and Maia, and three granddaughters (Sol, Dor, and Eliana), Eduardo is teaching English at school. Having completed with HRDNZ both MoodleBites for Teachers and the six MEC courses, Eduardo is a Moodle Certified Educator. He is a Certified Israel Ministry of Education Teachers’ teacher. He has developed and facilitated several Israel Ministry of Education's Spanish and English as a Foreign Language online workshops.

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