Teaching English in a virtual learning environment is exciting yet challenging. I am using Blackboard as a Learning Management System (LMS) which is pretty similar to Moodle. The exciting part of teaching in a virtual platform is when you get students to engage and collaborate actively. As teachers we act as facilitator and our students become the active agents as they interact with the activities the teacher have prepared prior to the virtual session. The challenges are how to motivate students especially the slow learners and shy ones to engage. To address this issue, the teacher should design activities that would allow collaboration among students such as pair work, or group work which can be easily done through the break out session. Synchronous or live activities become meaningful experience to students when they are fully engaged and participative in the interactive activities. You may use online apps to carry on these activities such as Kahoot, Nearpod, Quizlet, PowerPoint online, Form, videos with embedded quiz, etc. Incorporating online games and activities facilitates learning. Asynchronous tasks are also designed for independent learning such as assignments, discussion board, and projects. By completing the asynchronous tasks prior to the virtual session, students are preapared to engage and participate actively.

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Hello Analía M. Gandur , in my university I organized from a techno-pedagogical point of view distance life-long learning, practical English learning courses (EFL). We used a blended approach combining asynchronous activities in Moodle LMS and regular synchronous online meetings (WebEx). I agree with Maria Gregoria Robles Concepcion 's suggestions. In case of a large student audience, I recommend looking at gamification aspects and respective plugins. Best of luck in our efforts!

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Teaching using different online platforms are very useful nowadays however, it is very challenging. If you are only asking about Moodle, I have a hard time using Moodle app, maybe because I'm not yet get used to it and besides, I found out that there are limitations in using this App like, when I ask my students to open their cam, only less than 20 of them can open their cam for video conferencing. Another one, is the grading system. So, I used another platform which I think is more easy to explore and that is, the Google classroom.

Hi MariaTeresa Malicdem Rodriguez, I do agree with you that some Learning Management System like Moodle have limitations. As for our LMS which is Blackboard it comes with the Grade book where Assessments grades automatically appears the conduct of the exam. As for the camera sharing, it's a fact that not all students are willing to open their camera especially in our setting where female students are restricted. However, in an all male class I require them to share their cams during attendance otherwise they'll be marked absent. It's my strategy to motivate them to open their camera despite the fact that Collaborate Ultra ( VL) platform captures students' attendance automatically upon joining the sonline session. E- teacher is a challenging role however, there are a lot of online apps and softwares available which teachers can explore to make learning more engaging and meaningful.

Thank you all for your rich replies. I asked about Moodle because this is the LMS we use at the university I work for. During 2020-2021, the great challenge I set for me and my students was to keep them motivated, develop their autonomy, strengthen their collaborative skills, and develop the feeling of belonging to a learning community. Our classes were mostly asynchronous and for the synchronous, non-mandatory meetings, we used Google Meet. I think that exploited to its full, Moodle is a great tool for virtual learning. Anyway, in those two years, I also learned that one key aspect to consider for a successful virtual teaching-learning experience is the most human aspect of our students in terms of feelings, attitudes, behaviors, and values. Now we have left the virtual classes behind, but Moodle is still available for us as a complementary tool to our classes. Therefore, I would like to design some activities by using flipped classes with Moodle as a way to exploit the in-class time the most for collaborative oral and written productions in English.