Flow of Activities
Activity Identify an issue
What issues matter to me?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP039)
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP040)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP043)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP044)
What's this about?
This project-based task taps into what students are passionate about and aims to integrate the use of ‘new media’ to gather supporters and enact change through the development of a thoughtful plan and specifically created media.
The first step is to identify the issue, decompose the problem and identify how they will validate data from different sources. Give consideration to these questions:
- What do we know about the issue and how can we find out more?
- What are the project goals?
- How will the media we create help teams achieve the project goal?
- What are the functional and non-functional requirements of the campaign?
| Requirements | Examples |
| Functional requirements | These may include:
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| Non-functional requirements | These may include:
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Learning tasks
- Provide students with an opportunity to brainstorm a list of issues that they feel passionate about. It may help to provide some issues of interest to start the process. The website iSideWith.com provides a useful starting point for you to select an issue that matters or at least spark an idea about what is actually of interest.
- Note: Be wary of topics that may create difficulties for any of your students. Set up guidelines for respectful discussion before proceeding. You may want to provide a curated list.
- Introduce and have students discuss what they think this statement means: When you use your voice, you can change the world.
- Provide a scaffold to enable students to describe an issue and their stance or point of view. Give some guidance to help them gather data that supports their view and also list opposing views. What persuasive arguments can they use to support their view? What data can they locate that can be used in their messaging?
- Invite students in collaborative teams to plan a form of media campaign and create associated media to get their message out to an identified audience. Media examples may include blogging (Blogger), microblogging (Twitter), social media (Facebook), photo sharing (Instagram) and websites. Students research what mediums best suit particular target audiences so functional requirements could be relevant (secure, accessible, multi-platform, etc).
- A completed media plan that includes:
- Issue and goal stated clearly (what the issue is and what it is you are proposing to do about it)
- Media creation (how you will achieve the goals through the use of media)
- Topic research (background to the issue and current events)
- Audience/stakeholders (who are you going to target in this campaign:
- demographics
- location/s
- attitudes
- media habits
- culture/s.
- Call to action: What do you want people to do?
- Note that the campaign plan can be adjusted as students progress through the project. Ask students to keep evidence of the iterations.
- For an ‘audience’ it may be possible to have a 'real' audience, such as school community, a proactive organisation (maybe an environmental group or gender-equality group), or perhaps another year level at the school.
Supporting Resources
iSideWith.com
This site provides a useful tool for educating students about using data and technologies. It provides a list of issues organised by social issues, immigration, health care, environment and many more. Note: Review the comments section of any topics that students might access, and carefully consider the impact that certain topics might have on students in your class. Consider using this resource for ideas or to create a curated list.
Environmental issues
The man known as the "Godfather of Coral" has called on the Turnbull Government to revoke its environmental approval for Adani's controversial $16-billion Carmichael coal mine proposal.
Kangaroo culling red tape relaxed in NSW
NSW Minister for Industry and Primary Industries Niall Blair said many areas of NSW were facing an animal welfare crisis as big mobs of kangaroos eat themselves, and farmers, out of house and home.
Sports-related issue
The AFL red card debate has been re-ignited in recent weeks after a couple of high profile incidents have left players, coaches and fans wondering what the recourse is for players who commit foul play that rubs out an opponent for the remainder of the game.
Digital citizenship resources
Issues related to digital citizenship: cyberbullying, sexting and online reputation
Tips on creating a media campaign
Assessment
Suggested approaches may include
- A draft media plan that includes relevant information organised against agreed headings.
- A list of functional and non-functional requirements of the project.
Activity Traditional vs New media
What media can we use to reach our audience?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP039)
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP040)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP043)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP044)
What's this about?
Traditional media include:
- printed materials (books, magazines, and newspapers), broadcast communications (TV and radio), film, and music.
New media include:
- all forms of communication in the digital world, including online news, YouTube, the Internet, and social media.
The Internet (for many people) is used every day; it enables us to receive news, do business, conduct research, contact friends and relatives, apply for jobs, and even watch TV.
New media often outperform traditional media for three main reasons:
- It is more immediate.
- It is often free.
- It can reach a wider number of people.
Learning tasks
- Provide students with access to a suitable technical solution for effective collaboration using relevant online tools (for example, OneNote, Google Drive) to share and edit documents, or a Cloud-based solution.
- As a class, compare and contrast ‘traditional media’ with ‘new media’ as forms of communication. Create a table to record ideas online in a shared space. Summarise ideas from the completed table. What are the differences, similarities, benefits, challenges, concerns and any potential risks?
- Students collaboratively, in teams, investigate different types of media in detail. They:
- provide examples of where one type of media can be used to greater effect than the other form of media
- describe the format and conventions of various types of media
- identify those types of media that can be used as part of their campaign.
- Dealing with different media
Give consideration to:- management/moderation of YouTube comments and other forms of media where there are opportunities for comment
- different formats and conventions
- audience reach and access
- security and ethics.
- Ask students to identify and consider any associated constraints of their project, when following and reviewing their media plan and campaign. Some of these may include:
- challenges/inability to effectively reach the intended audience due to restrictions around access to personal information
- not able to use platforms due to school restrictions.
- An essential part of the project is to clarify the task with each group and develop agreed criteria that can be used to assess the final solution.
Supporting Resources
6 Ways Social Media Changed the Way We Communicate
From the Higher Ed Marketing Journal.
The Yellow Social Media report
Up-to-date statistics based on an annual survey of customers and small, medium and large businesses. Relates to social networking sites; for example, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Assessment
Suggested approaches may include
- A collaboratively developed list of the new media used in their campaign, with a description of how the technologies are used to perform a particular service.
- A timeline for the project with dates for deliverables.
- Evidence of the iterations to the media campaign as the project has progressed.
Activity Manage the project
How will we manage the project and effectively utilise our skills?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP039)
- Generating and designing (ACTDIP040)
- Producing and implementing (ACTDIP041)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP043)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP044)
What's this about?
Multi-pronged media
When completing a multi-pronged media campaign, students need to consider the most suitable media to deliver the goals of the project. Each media type has specific formats and conventions that need to be considered. For example, a tweet has a set amount of characters in a message; a webpage contains information organised under headings with consideration of readability; a video clip provides a moving image, but audience attention span and the amount of information being conveyed need consideration.
Project management
Project based tasks typically utilise a range of skills. For the team to work effectively and efficiently, roles and responsibilities need to be identified and assigned.
Tasks need to be clearly defined and a timeline for completion set and agreed to by the team members responsible. These tasks need to be monitored by the project manager to ensure the final project is completed by the agreed deadline.
Learning tasks
- Provide teams with an example of roles and responsibilities they can edit and customise for their project. Each team member self-identifies the role they feel best meets their skill set. The team then assigns and agrees on roles and timelines.
- The project manager takes responsibility for managing the deliverables. Be mindful of gender and cultural equity and consider a ‘buddy’ who can provide the project manager with feedback as required.
- Encourage students to set up processes that enable team members to critique and comment on each other’s work.
- The content manager should advise the team of file management processes including file naming.
Role Example responsibilities Technical helper Assist teacher and students to: - install apps on devices (including iOS and Android phones and tablets and Windows and Mac computers)
- demonstrate the use of relevant applications including collaborative online tools and software to create infographics or manage projects.
Content manager These may include: - Track content development.
- Lead content choice discussions.
- Oversee file management
Content creators - Create video clips.
- Create PowerPoint content and export to video.
- Take photographs/source images.
- Create draft social media posts.
- Create blog articles.
- Create infographic/s.
New media expert - Provide guidelines on privacy and responsible use.
- Provide guidelines on content creation.
Topic research expert - Provide key knowledge and information on the issue.
- Provide relevant data to be used in the campaign.
- Keep a log of the information and data used, and correctly cite resource origin.
Project manage - Monitor timelines.
- Alert team members if they are falling behind in completing the task.
- Once the roles and responsibilities have been established, students can start to research and create content.
- Content might include:
- a blog article and same article repurposed for online newspaper/print news
- several Instagram posts/Facebook posts/Tweets
- an Infographic highlighting the key data and information
- a video clip
- a speech written to be delivered to a particular audience
- a community service announcement for print/online communication
- a web page.
- Provide links to relevant platforms to create content; for example, a Facebook Status generator that allows you to create imitation posts, a blogging platform such as Blogger or a web page template and text editor. Discuss responsible use of the internet and purpose of our use is to create a post based around their chosen the issue.
- This task can be integrated with English. The focus can be to:
- use comprehension strategies to compare and contrast information within and between texts, identifying and analysing embedded perspectives, and evaluating supporting evidence
- create texts that are purposeful and that inform, persuade and engage
- create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues.
Supporting Resources
One note
OneNote Class Notebooks have a personal workspace for every student, a content library for their handouts and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities.
“FakeBook” Google Slides template.
This Google slides template is a page for John F. Kennedy, but users can replace all pictures and text. Students could create an organisation Facebook page related to their issue.
Facebook Status Generator
Create imitation social media posts and Tweets. Review the site before use with your students. The site mentions to use the generator to prank your friends. Discuss responsible use of the internet and purpose of our use is to create a post based around their chosen the issue. Do not use the site if you feel it is not appropriate for your students.
Blogger
Create free blog articles.
w3schools.com (JavaScript)
Use this site to create a basic website. Follow tutorials and use the text editor to create code and test onscreen by running the program. The final code can be copied and pasted into Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) and saved as an HTML file. Students can then open the HTML file and view their website to see how it appears on screen.
Assessment
Suggested approaches may include
- As a part of formative assessment, ask students to explain how they are dealing with, or intend to deal with, or if they need to consider:
- output on different devices
- privacy or copyright issues
- design considerations
- particular audience needs
- format constraints of platforms being used.
- ensuring that the information is accurate and reliable
- different styles of writing to suit the purpose.
- The timeline for the project provided in an online space with dates for deliverables aligned directly with student roles and responsibilities.
- Evidence of the iterations to the media campaign as the project has progressed.
- Examples of completed content with reflections from students who were responsible for specific content.
Activity How well did we do?
How well did our media plan and campaign work and how did we work as a team?
Australian Curriculum Alignment
- Evaluating (ACTDIP042)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP043)
- Collaborating and managing (ACTDIP044)
What's this about?
Solution evaluation
In this case the solution is a media campaign together with associated media. These should be evaluated against criteria that described the essential features of particular components.
A relevant component of the evaluation is the team’s demonstration of how they considered and responded to sustainability requirements.
Student performance evaluation
Typically, teachers are required to report on students’ performance. As students progress through the project they collect and keep a variety of pieces of evidence of their input/work.
Learning tasks
- When students have completed their media for the media campaign, ask them to evaluate the final outcome against the agreed criteria.
- As a team, students complete and submit the table identifying the tasks to be completed, the dates for deliverables and the actual completion dates.
- Students provide evidence for the work for which they were responsible and provide any commentary about their progress and meeting the timelines as set out in the table.
- Students could record in the table any changes to their intentions: How did they make adjustments? What problems did they experience? Why did the project take more hours to complete than planned, etc.
Supporting Resources
Evaluation and assessment: Part 1
This is an overview of assessment ideas and methods for computational thinking.
Grading rubric for group project
This is an example rubric for a group project from Carnegie Mellon University.
Assessment
Suggested approaches may include
- The timeline for the project provided in an online space, with dates for deliverables aligned directly with student roles and responsibilities.
- Examples of completed content, with reflections from students who were responsible for specific content.
- Evaluation of the project and reflections from team members against agreed criteria.