Topic – a semi-biographical story about the notable Bushranger, Matthew Brady.
(Artist unknown, ca. 1826)
Platform – Canva Website
Rationale:
The digital story I am proposing is a semi-biography of the Australian bushranger, Matthew Brady, including factual information, as well as fictional diary entries that will provide an engaging experience for students. I have chosen Matthew Brady as the focus of my story because I have conducted extensive research into his life, as he is my ancestor, and I have a personal and deep interest in his story.
The digital story is aimed at a Stage 3 audience, with links to the History unit titled The Australian Colonies (NSW Education Standards Authority [NESA], n.d.). This unit explores colonial Australia in the 1800s, and though it does not specify bushrangers, students are required to investigate the lives of people in Australia’s colonial past. Australian bushrangers played an integral part in the development of colonial life and the significant events of the time. The idea is that students will engage with the example digital story and strive to create their own biography and journal for someone of the colonial era.
I have chosen to use Canva as my platform as I have some basic knowledge of the program already and would like to use this opportunity to solidify my application of this in a classroom setting. The platform is user-friendly with built in features which will make developing my digital story simple and provide students with an example of how they may use features in their own creation of digital stories. The NSW Department of Education has approved Canva as a platform, (2025), making it easy to integrate into the classroom with limited restrictions from administration.
References
Artist unknown. (ca. 1826). Sketch of James McCabe, Matthew Brady, and Patrick Bryant [Sketch]. State Library of Tasmania. https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/B/Matthew%20Brady.htm
NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). History K–10: Stage 3 – The Australian Colonies. NSW Government. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/hsie/hsie-curriculum-resources-k-12/hsie-k-6-curriculum-resources/the-australian-colonies
NSW Government: Education. (2025). Technology 4 learning: Canva in education. https://t4l.schools.nsw.gov.au/resources/professional-learning-resources/canva-for-education.html
Your personal link with Matthew Brady is so exciting and sharing that with your Stage 3 students will make this project so much more authentic. It would be amazing if some students could find similar ancestor stories. You link this task to the curriculum clearly, ensuring the task is relevant and that it supports teaching and learning (Robin, 2016). Using the combination of factual information and fictional diary entries gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their research skills whilst also developing empathy and creativity in the imaginary aspects (Dwyer & Martin‐Chang, 2023). Will the facts be presented first with hyperlinks to diary entries or vice versa? Are the diary entries written text only? I wondered if some could be presented as audio or video diaries because role playing as a historical figure is one way to help students develop empathy (Karn, 2024). With Canva, embedding multimedia such as video or audio is simple. You could even turn written text into audio using Canva’s Artificial Intelligence tools (Canva, n.d.). Canva is an excellent choice as all New South Wales public school students have free access and is it very user-friendly. Good luck with your project.
References
Canva. (n.d.). Canva AI Voice. Canva Help Center. https://www.canva.com/en_au/help/canva-ai-voice/
Dwyer, M., & Martin-Chang, S. (2023). Fact from fiction: The learning benefits of listening to historical fiction. The Reading Teacher, 76(6), 695–703. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2177
Karn, S. (2024). Designing historical empathy learning experiences: A pedagogical tool for history teachers. History Education Research Journal, 21(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.14324/HERJ.21.1.06
Robin, B. R. (2016). The power of digital storytelling to support teaching and learning. Digital Education Review, 30, 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2016.30.17-29
Whitlock, A. M., & Brugar, K. A. (2022). Historical fiction and its commonplace in classrooms. The History Teacher, 56(1), 77–102.