Activity 9: Using Assignment to submit and evaluate semi-authentic writing

Aim: Provide students with feedback on written assignments

Moodle modules: Assignment

Extra programs: None

Ease of setup: **

We usually write a text in response to some sort of stimulus. If we receive a letter, we reply to it. If we see a job ad, we send a letter of application and a resume. In fact, it's quite unnatural when a teacher tells students to write for the sake of it. So to help motivate students and to provide a more realistic, semi-authentic situation, we can use the Assignment module to provide a stimulus and set up a writing task. Here are just a few of the stimuli we could consider using together with suggestions for appropriate responses:

Stimulus	Response
Letter	Reply
Job ad	CV and letter of application
Invitation	Reply
New music track	Review
Film	Review
Agony aunt letter	Reply

Once we've decided on a stimulus, we need to find a good way to present it on Moodle. Here are some options for...