Student report on remote collaboration [Jianbin Li, MAEnglish Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics]

This group presentation is the first remote collaborative task I have ever participated in. What was so special about it is the fact that we had the opportunity to work in a team which consisted of peers from different cultural backgrounds. We had to discuss, negotiate and make necessary compromises. Everything was carried out on the Internet, and this included discussion forums and the sharing of ideas. Furthermore, Open Moodle offered us a great chance to develop our ability to create learning objects. It included enough options and tools for teachers to choose from, which could be a time-saver for teachers who have to work hard to integrate different elements.

We utilised several functions on Open Moodle in order to make our learning objects more engaging and interactive. We also used Open Moodle as a platform to initiate and conduct group activities. After the module teaching finished, we used Open Moodle as a tool to evaluate ourselves and discuss issues. Considering that we started from scratch and did not know any of these tools before we came to Coventry University, our work is something that we are pleased with and that gives us a sense of achievement.

Our presentation was delivered through Big Blue Button, which is an online conferencing application integrated into Moodle. We found it helpful because it allowed us to share the screens during the presentation and interact with the two tutors involved and our peers. Overall, everything ran smoothly as if we were presenting in the classroom. Before taking part in this assessed group presentation we used to believe that it would be impossible to present online. However, BBB made us realise that we could have a class-like experience even in a remote online environment.