Lesson is another module that can be used for testing and assessment in Moodle. It was created to be an adaptive tool that would allow teachers to deliver material to their students in an adaptive and interesting way. The Lesson module contains pages that allow you to add information, data, images, and other information. At the end of the pages, there are questions and, based on the student's response, he or she will be directed to a new or previous page. Using Moodle's Lesson module is something that takes some practice to get comfortable with. However,, once you understand how to use it, Lesson is a valuable tool for self-directed study, teaching, and testing. In this chapter, we will:
- Learn about Lesson options
- Build questions
- Look at branch tables and branches
- Work with clusters
- Create vocabulary drills
So, what is Lesson? Lesson is all about making choices. It was designed to be a self-directed, adaptive module where the students working on the Lesson module are able to move through the material based on the choices they make. Lesson is mainly used by teachers as an adaptive learning activity. However, it also has testing and assessment applications, which is why it is included here. With Lesson, we can create simple vocabulary or flash card tests, or we can create complex tests with multiple item types and paths for students to follow. The paths that students follow lead to one of the following two types of pages: Branching pages and question pages.
What are Branches and Branching pages? These pages are used to help deliver content, images, and navigation options in the Lesson. Each Branch page has a title, some content, and navigation buttons at the bottom of the page, which the students click on to choose their path through the Lesson. These pages also act as an index for the Lesson. These pages are not included in a student's score; they are simply there to provide information on the Lesson and navigation options for the students.
Question pages are exactly what you think they are—pages in the Lesson that contain the information being tested. In Lesson, we do not have access to the full range of questions we saw in Quiz, we only have access to: Multiple Choice, True/False, Short Answer, Numerical, Matching, and Essay.
Lesson was designed to be an adaptive learning activity. However, it also has strong testing applications, and we're going to look at these features next.