Using Moodle E-learning Platform in a Social Constructivist Curriculum for Consecutive Interpreting Course: The Function of

The present study was conducted to trace the progress of students discussions in Moodle forums and investigate the capacity of the forums in obviating the problems that students faced in doing their activities in the undergraduate course of Consecutive Interpreting. The problems that are discussed in this article were related to the process-oriented activities of listening comprehension, note-taking and role play whose proper fulfillment is of prime importance in social constructivism. To conduct the study, a blended learning environment was used in the sense that for a whole semester, the face-to-face class was complemented with an online class designed on the Moodle e-learning platform. The study revealed that although the forum which was designed for small groups in role play activity was not well-received, the other two public forums which were designed for listening comprehension and note-taking activities were welcomed and participated by all the students. In the two public forums, students got into interactions with one another and used the forums as a site for solving their problems and proposing suggestions. The study suggests that an online class which is designed, guided and supervised properly by the instructor and used as a complement to a face-to-face class would have the potential to facilitate constructive interactions among learners through which they can solve their problems. This, in turn, could promote the feeling of responsibility and autonomy among learners.