B-Greek as a platform for teachers

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Jonathan Robie
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B-Greek as a platform for teachers

Post by Jonathan Robie »

This is a response to some things that Louis said, and also to some posts by people who teach Greek online.

I think there's an obvious need for people to be able to get online Greek instruction, and there are people who can teach. We regularly have newcomers ask how to learn Greek if they can't take a class, and I don't have great answers for them. Louis brought this up in this post:
Louis L Sorenson wrote: January 25th, 2018, 11:29 pm I received Dickey's book yesterday. I'll try to participate, though some weeks may be hard.

The GreekStudy group had an email collation software for this type of class participation. I ran a couple of groups there. I also ran a group on Greek composition, using Moodle, where we used assignment submission forms to manage turning assignments. Perhaps there could be a Moodle module on B-Greek for those wishing to lead classes?
I could probably set something like that up. I haven't used Moodle, can you tell me how you use it? In general, I would be very happy to provide space for teachers, I want to limit the number of systems that I have to support. Canvas is the main competitor to Moodle that I hear about, and it looks like it might be easier for teachers to use - do you have thoughts on that? I assume you already have courses in Moodle, and rewriting them would require effort. I would be willing to investigate supporting either Moodle or Canvas.

I also have a Slack channel for B-Greek, and it allows group chat and 1:1 calls or video and screen sharing, you can also add other apps for group screen sharing (https://florilegia.slack.com/apps/categ ... oice-video).
Louis L Sorenson wrote: January 25th, 2018, 11:29 pm I still want to lead an Epictetus Enchiridion II class, along with a favorite Psalms II class. It would be good, I think, for B-Greek to provide some sort of platform for those who desire to lead such classes. Most classes on Textkit.com seem to fail (at least in the distant past) - people just lost interest. The newest platform should be mobile friendly, and perhaps allow an hour for video conversations, which could be recorded. There was a great desire for the GreekStudy composition course -- I think we had about 12 people participate in the Greek composition group I led.
I would love that.

Any thoughts on why classes have failed and how we can do better?
Louis L Sorenson wrote: January 25th, 2018, 11:29 pm Any more ideas? The idea of partners is good. But do you match skilled with skilled and newbies with newbies, or perhaps let the skilled alternate between newbies and other skilled participants? Those in the NT Greek community who use Buth or Rico may be more skilled in composition (though non-written) than those who have had no oral/aural exposure. Perhaps both having a mentor and a buddy would be the best sort of arrangement. You go to your mentor for issues you and your buddy cannot figure out.
I like the buddy system idea. And if B-Greek can help people find buddy's, that would be a good thing too. Maybe a thread or forum called "Study Buddys", where someone can say what kind of things they want to study and ask if anyone wants to join them?
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Seumas Macdonald
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Joined: June 17th, 2013, 3:14 am
Location: Sydney, Aus

Re: B-Greek as a platform for teachers

Post by Seumas Macdonald »

I tend to read B-Greek a lot more than I post, but I thought I'd jump in and say that I did try and run an online group through Dickey's composition book. We got to about ch 6/7 before things fizzled.

Two main factors, I suspect.
1) It's a considerable time investment, more than I think most participants were able to maintain.
2) Dickey's assumption that you'll memorise the vocab in advance and then be able to perfectly inflect it is, hmm, not an assumption I'd make even of most advanced classical students. That slows the process considerably.

As for Moodle v Canvas, I've experienced both in different contexts. I'd think the main tipping factor would simply be that Moodle is free and open-source.
Seumas Macdonald, Ph.D.
Sydney, Australia
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: B-Greek as a platform for teachers

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Studying together online works for some people. I've observed numerous attempts to read classical works in groups. There are some who read as rapidly as possible just to get through. Others do close readings which take forever. If your primary goal is to observe syntax from a "generative-functional" perspective and all the responses you get are from meterologists, you quickly drop out and just proceed on your own.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
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