Innovation in Language Learning

In the University of Helsinki Language Centre, the Moodle Virtual Learning Environment is widely used (on ca 380 courses by ca 90 teachers). The Moodle Template Tool (later MTT) supports language teachers in creating and teaching their Moodle courses and helps students in their language learning. In addition, the template tool also provides a means for quality assurance for those of our courses that apply Moodle.

Previously, the language teachers at the Helsinki University Language Centre created and carried out their courses independently without a framework as an aid. Most of the courses on offer are blended learning courses, very few exclusively on-line.

The pedagogical basis behind the MTT is constructive alignment. According to this pedagogical framework, learners construct meaning from what they do to learn and the teacher makes a deliberate alignment between the planned learning activities and the learning outcomes. On a constructively aligned course, the student has clearly specified goals, activities that are appropriate to the task, and assessment criteria is well-designed for giving feedback to the learner.

The MTT also supports the Helsinki University Language Centre curriculum. The Language Centre curriculum contains the pedagogical guidelines, the course descriptions and practical instructions, as well as descriptions of procedures related to instruction. The pedagogical principles include features such as promoting student-centredeness and active life-long learning.

An important objective in developing MTT is to provide an e-learning environment accessible to the language learners. A virtual learning environment at its best provides a tool that makes the student’s learning process more focused and efficient through providing a consistent framework for all language courses. The Moodle page can of course each time be customised to fit the course’s purpose and level. In addition, the MTT also allows each individual teacher to tailor their Moodle page to suit their teaching style and preferred view of learning.

The goal of our presentation is to introduce the MTT Helsinki University Language Centre at present, its development and future prospects and discuss these from the perspectives of both language teachers and  IT-support. We believe that the MTT can also be applicable to the other organizations interested in using virtual learning environments to enhance constructive alignment.