Connected or distracted, informed or misinformed?
Unit Connected or distracted, informed or misinformed?
Year level: 7-8 Topic: Interactions and impacts Time: 6-8 hours
The internet facilitates fast and vast communication through a global network of connected devices. We can interact, gather data and information, do our banking, purchase items, view and listen to multimedia and even control devices remotely. Social media has enabled us to communicate and build our social networks as well as share our thoughts on such a mammoth scale. However, with access to this technology comes some pitfalls that users need to be aware of and negotiate their way through. We can collect data to find out trends in social media use in a small sample and compare that data with nationally collected data from a much larger sample size. Infographics combine images, text and numeric data to convey, in a compelling and succinct way, particular messages and information on a chosen topic. These can be published and shared online. Students can also create a basic webpage by modifying HTML and previewing the output.
This unit of work can be integrated with English and provide an opportunity to analyse and explain how language has evolved over time and how technology and the media have influenced language use and forms of communication (ACELY1729).
Flow of Activities
Social media
Define social media and describe some applications. Collaboratively as a group complete a task online.Informed or misinformed?
Define and show examples of ‘clickbait’ and ‘fake news’. Gather data about people’s experiences with these.Social media use
Gather and present data on social media use. Compare this data to national trends.Publishing our ideas
Present and publish ideas in the form of an infographic or basic webpage.Activity Social media
What is social media and how do your peers/classmates use it?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Collecting, managing and analysing data (ACTDIP025)
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP028)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP032)
What's this about?
Social media are digital tools that enable users to create and share content via the internet.
Social media typically have common features which may include: log-in, profile page, followers, personalisation, information updating/posting, like or comments, rating or voting. Information shared may be in the form of a still or moving image, a brief line of text (caption) or simply liking the post.
Collaborative tools enable students to complete a common task. Students work together using a collaborative tool via an internet connection. It can include accessing, modifying, storing and retrieving common data files. Students follow agreed protocols when collaborating online. Discuss a suitable and agreed process of contributing to, modifying or suggested deletion of another student’s piece of work.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used across many applications including social media sites. Automatic face tagging is carried out by an AI recognising images from its database. Natural Language Processing interprets text and speech. It is possible to have an AI application that alerts a user of potential cyber bullying.
Learning tasks
- As a learning hook, use an online quiz such as Kahoot.it to engage students in questions about social media such as its date of inception, evolution and history, platforms, benefits/issues and stats related to use. Students could generate their own quiz questions and run them in class.
- An alternative learning hook can be to use a game developed by The Office of the eSafety Commissioner where students take on a role in an educational video game The Lost Summer, in which players are confronted with a variety of challenges, including conflicts on social media, cyber-attacks and fake news. Students discuss the dilemmas they faced in the game.
- Students could conduct a short online survey to canvas how their peers use social media. Each group could survey the use of one social media platform, and record their information into a shared class document for example OneNote or Google docs.
- Ask students to draw the interface of a popular social media platform and label the parts of the site that they consider are common features of a social media platform. Consider the use of icons and emojis as forms of representation.
- Evaluate the usefulness of the platform. Invite students to draw an interface of their own social media application and describe its functionality and purpose.

Explore an Artificial Intelligence application that simulates checking text say for example those from a social media post.
Supporting Resources






Lesson Ideas
Assessment
Use appropriate protocols when communicating and collaborating online.
Explain how text, image and audio data can be represented, secured and presented in digital systems.
Suggested approaches may include
- Accuracy and number of terms completed by each group/team member.
Activity Informed or misinformed?
Is social media information credible? How do different platforms influence the way you communicate?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Collecting, managing and analysing data (ACTDIP025)
- Collecting, managing and analysing data (ACTDIP026)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP032)
What's this about?
As social media platforms evolve so too does the language and terminology that can become buzzwords and part of our everyday language. An example is the word ‘clickbait’.
Clickbait is a common term related to content shared via social media. ‘Clickbait’ is basically a sensational, exaggerated or melodramatic title for an online article with the express purpose of manipulating people into clicking the link and reading the content.
Fake news is deliberate disinformation spread via news media in particular via social media. Fake news is written with the intent of misleading the reader.
Learning tasks
- Brainstorm or provide a list of terminology that is evolving or becoming common place with the use of social media and being digitally connected. Relevant terminology may include: misinformation, clickbait, disinformation, false balance, manipulation, Pay-per-click (PPC), fake news, notifications, digital addiction, bots, trolling, viral, digital footprint, social media tools, trending, social interaction, immediacy, listicles and hyperconnectivity.
- Organise students in collaborative groups and use a collaborative tool such as OneNote, Office 365, collaborate, Google docs, Padlet or similar to share their ideas on selected terminology (listed above) focusing their responses to the following questions:
- What is it?
- What’s an example?
- How has it influenced or affected you?
- Discuss social protocols of managing the collaborative process to end up with a completed table of responses.
- Provide age-appropriate relevant examples of clickbait or have students share suitable examples.
- Discuss inappropriate content and expectations of students not referring to these types of examples.
- Discuss examples of fake news.
- Students provide some guidelines about what clickbait is and how to avoid it. They could categorise types of clickbait.
- Ask students to collect data about where people get their news. The survey may be focussed on news in general or be more focussed on an aspect of news online such as experiences related to whether they have been manipulated by ‘clickbait’ or impacted by fake news.
- Ask students:
- What are they trying to find out?
- What do they expect to find out?
- How will they ensure their survey questions will provide them with relevant data?
- Share collected data presented visually.
Integrating with English
- Investigate the ways in which English has evolved particularly new terminology associated with social media. What is the origin of these terms? Are they derivatives of another word? How have they come into existence?
- Students create clickbait to entice readers to read their student created texts.
Supporting Resources




Assessment
Use appropriate protocols when communicating and collaborating online.
Explain how text, image and audio data can be represented, secured and presented in digital systems.
Suggested approaches may include
- Accuracy and relevance of data collected and presented.
Activity Social media use
How has social media changed the way society receives and express opinions?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Collecting, managing and analysing data (ACTDIP025)
- Collecting, managing and analysing data (ACTDIP026)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP032)
What's this about?
According to the 2017 Sensis Social Media Report, ‘Australia’s growing obsession with smartphones has driven more people onto social platforms than ever before. In fact, almost eight in 10 Australians (79%) are now on social media, which is up 10 points on last year.’
Research reports on social media use provide an insight into current trends of use of social media Australia-wide. These types of reports provide a useful resource for students to compare their data and findings from a small sample size to larger based surveys which have data from a significantly sized audience.
Learning tasks
- Invite students in collaborative groups to gather their own data about the use of social media. Ask students to consider the audience and sample size and how they intend to gather the data (online form or face-to-face survey).
- Some relevant areas of focus may include such things as:
- Device ownership
- Social networking site usage
- Social media usage by time of day
- Reasons for not using social media
- Social networking sites used
- Messaging services used
- Time spent on social networking sites
- Ask students:
- What are they trying to find out?
- What do they expect to find out?
- How will they ensure their survey questions will provide them with relevant data?
- Guide students in organising, sorting and managing the collected data. Look for patterns in the data for example, are there patterns of use in certain age groups?
- Provide guidance and support to help students choose a suitable format to visualise and/or present the data.
- Compare data to current research reports into social media use and trends. Look for similar trends or where data from students’ small sample size may be at odds with national data trends.
Supporting Resources


Assessment
Use appropriate protocols when communicating and collaborating online.
Explain how text, image and audio data can be represented, secured and presented in digital systems.
Suggested approaches may include
- Accuracy and relevance of data collected and presented.
Activity Publishing our ideas
What did we find out? How do we present our information? How well are they presented?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
What's this about?
Infographics combine images, text and data to convey particular messages and information on a chosen topic. These can be published and shared online.
Infographics combine images, text and data to convey particular messages and information on a chosen topic. These can be published and shared online.
Using an online HTML editor, enables a student to edit the HTML, and click on a run to view the result.
They can build a basic webpage by adding additional content.
The HTML based program can be saved as a HTML file in Notepad (for windows) or TextEdit (for iOS) and viewed in a browser.
Using a template enables students to modify an existing webpage by changing text for example and seeing the impact on the output screen.
Learning tasks
- Ask students to select an aspect of social media that is of interest.
- Ask students to brainstorm some alternative ideas for presenting their research. These don’t have to be detailed but students could initially consider two different types of information, namely an infographic or a webpage. Students select their preferred idea, based on at least two criteria, namely accuracy/validity of information and the appearance/aesthetics of the information. This information should be compelling and informative.
- Develop a list of agreed criteria on which they will undertake a self-assessment and be peer assessed.
Infographic
- Suitable applications to build an infographic include Canva or Pictochart.
- Students plan out their infographic collaboratively online using a shared space to document and record ideas. They can consider what data is most appropriate to support their key ideas and message. From their pooled information they can construct their draft infographic.
- When designing the infographic, they can allocate tasks and sections of the infographic to particular students within their group. Ask each student to keep a record of their roles and responsibilities and the elements on which they worked. Each group develops a process and timeline to efficiently enable students to input text and images into the infographic.
- They can publish in PDF or share via relevant social media platforms, via email or embedded into a blog or school’s shared online space.
Basic webpage
- Suitable applications to build a basic webpage include W3S website or Thimble Mozilla.
- Provide students with a HTML or JavaScript based template to modify and create a basic webpage focused on social media.
- Students can modify text including, body text, headings and buttons, images and backgrounds.
- In some templates students may easily modify the CSS to change font colour, size and type for example, or the background colour.
- Have students plan out their webpage and create a plan collaboratively in a shared space. Before planning their webpage provide students with an opportunity to explore and play with the html to familiarise themselves with the way it works.
Supporting Resources



Assessment
Use appropriate protocols when communicating and collaborating online.
Plan and manage digital projects to create interactive information.
Explain how text, image and audio data can be represented, secured and presented in digital systems.
Suggested approaches may include
- Accuracy and relevance of data collected and presented.
- Design of webpage or infographic.