Inteview: Jeff Stanford, Author of Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching

Jeff Stanford is the author of Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching, a recipe book for creating language activities using Moodle 1.9.

Jeff Stanford is a free-lance educational technologist. He discovered Moodle five years ago and has remained an ardent fan ever since. Now, he does regular consultancy work helping teachers make the most of online learning possibilities. To get away from the computer he also does training consultancy work for organizations like Anglia Assessment, FINTRA, Pearson, and the British Council now and then. He is an Associate tutor in Applied Linguistics for the University of Leicester and a trainer of Cambridge ESOL courses. He also runs a web hosting service and advises on setting up and running Drupal and Moodle websites. You can reach him via http://moodleflair.com and http://moodleforlanguages.co.uk.

Packt: You published your book with Packt in Oct-09. What benefits has it brought so far?
Jeff: It’s getting my name known. So it’s like a whopping great business card. It’s certainly bringing in some interesting work relating to Moodle now. It providesa ready-made base for talking at conferences.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?
Jeff: I was very flattered to be asked in the first place. It certainly gave me a buzz to be writing and was a great opportunity to totally review the focus of my book – moodle. The most interesting thing was that before I’d even finished writing the book, I got an offer to go to Colombia’s first MoodleMoot to speak about it. That was a wonderful experience.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?
Jeff:

1. Start with the big ideas, then fill in the gaps.
2. Make sure there’s a total agreement and understanding about the tone, composition and structure of the chapters. It’s too easy to waste time because of misunderstandings.
3. Make sure you try out everything you write about.
4. Get as much feedback from testers as possible and make sure you include it in your book. It’s too easy to make assumptions about what readers might know or understand.
5. Write in a down-to-earth style.
6. Make it as practical as possible.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?
Jeff:

1. Make sure there’s a real need for your book.
2. Look at similar books: is there something you have to say that is different and helpful? May be a new approach?
3. Are you really happy to give up personal time? The rewards are well worth it, but you might find yourself cursing a lot while you write!

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?
Jeff: Yes, I was very busy with other work. Combining work and writing was one of the hardest things to do. I would plan deadlines for chapters then usually fail to meet them! Packt was generous and supportive when this happened. My second editor Swapna was very good at helping me reorganize the book. By the end, I had written far too much and she did a great job at helping me cut down the book.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome them?
Jeff: Yes, I got very sore eyes and a trapped nerve in my back! I took eye drops and tried to limit my time in front of the computer to ten hours per day for the first problem. I got some physiotherapy done for the second problem. As soon as the book was finished, I was feeling great again! I have no regrets at all, but if I were to write again, I’d make sure I combined the writing work with a better fitness regime. The problem in this case was, I was trying to write the book on top of my regular work, so there wasn’t much time for anything else.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?
Jeff: Yes! I had to cancel quite a few important trips to friends; that was sad. My incredibly patient and supportive girlfriend, Conny, helped me a lot with this by being understanding, rubbing my shoulders and not making an issue out of it.

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you during the writing process?
Jeff: David Barnes helped a lot at the beginning. He was upbeat, happy to explore new ideas and good at giving general feedback on the shape and direction of the book. I was sad when he stopped being around.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?
Jeff: Exciting, daunting, motivating, exhausting, perplexing and ultimately very gratifying!
It took a while to get used to Packt’s way of working. I’d expected to have an editor who discussed the shape and content of the book, and stayed with me throughout the journey, but that didn’t really happen. My acquisitions editor was great at helping me with initial ideas, but after that I was alone, which was a bit scary as this was my first book. My solution was to find like-minded professionals and teachers who might want to use a book like this and get as much feedback as possible from them on my ideas. A wonderful small group of friends helped me with feedback and suggestions. Packt provided other useful help along the way like regular reminders of how I was behind my deadlines.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?
Jeff: No writing at the moment, but I’m using Moodle in a number of projects with Pearson Education, Norwich Institute of Language Education and Europartnerships.

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