Tag Archives: digital narrative

Reviewing Digital Literature – White Australia Policy [Sway].

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This resources was assessed using the guidelines set out by this RUBRIC

Citation: 

Templeton, T. (2020). White Australia Policy [Sway]. 

 
General Selection Criteria: Digital Literature Selection Criteria:
Teaching and Learning Needs 50/50 Learning, literacy and language development: 45/50
Curriculum Needs 20/20 Format enhances the learning: 15/20
School Needs: 20/20 Features enhance the learning: 20/20
C/W School Ethos. 8/10 Price: Free  10/10

Summary: 

The White Australia Policy [sway] is an internally created teacher resource for use in conjunction with a flipped classroom setting. Designed as the pre-lesson task for the Year 9/10 History – “From Federation to Bicentennial”, this digital narrative contains a variety of primary sources, news clippings, videos, radio interviews and infographics about the different local and global perspectives surrounding the White Australia Policy.  The resource is a valuable teaching tool but needs to be accompanied by a teacher facilitated class discussion in order to gain optimum values. 

Curriculum links:
9/10 History –

 (ACDSEH092)

 (ACDSEE 145)

 Senior History –

ACHMH123 & ACHMH125 (Senior Modern History – Unit 3)

 ACHMH194 & ACHMH195 (Senior Modern History – Unit 4)

 

Learning, Literacy and Language:

The White Australia Policy [Sway] is a linear interactive digital narrative that has two main purposes.  The overt purpose is to assist students through the various perspectives of Australian and world history to understand the reasoning behind the legislation and implementation of this Policy.   The variance in viewpoints allow the students to develop their own conclusion about this historical event using the range of primary and secondary sources (Lamb, 2011).  The covert purpose of this narrative is to facilitate literacy development by promoting literacy, academic writing and critical thinking. 

The narrative facilitates literacy development by the use of complementing images, audio and textual elements, and the integration of the teacher as narrator is a direct attempt to use prior rapport to connect the students to the content (Ibrahim, 2012; Mangen et al., 2013).  This congruence of information is more effective at promoting knowledge and comprehension as the complementing audio and textual elements allow the student to experience the benefits of a read aloud in the privacy of their own home (Rhodes, 2019; Ibrahim, 2012).   Whilst the language used within the resource is diverse and subject specific, it may be difficult for students with learning or developmental needs to process, and thus it would have been beneficial to have hyperlinks available to assist with comprehension (Fitzsimmons, Weal & Drieghe, 2019). 

 The Sway’s textual elements with its formal tone, in text citations and use of subject specific vocabulary were designed to provide an archetype of academic writing (Cutler, 2019).   Literacy Toolkit (2019) recommends the use of modelled writing as an explicit teaching strategy to address elements of writing such as sequence, linking ideas and vocabulary choice.  It allows students who lack confidence in their writing to learn strategies and techniques that they can use in their own writing (Literacy Toolkit, 2019).  It also allows those students who lack familiarity with in text citations to experience how citations are intext and referenced.  

 Digital narratives like this Sway combines emerging technology and literary works in a manner that improves critical thinking and 21st century literacies (Moran et al., 2020; Ciccorico, 2012).  As students navigate through the various modalities, they experience a variety of primary sources that would be viewed as discriminatory in modern Australia.  The blatant racial stereotyping evident in some of the primary sources may cause some students distress.  This transmedia resource will challenge student’s perceptions of Australian history, as well as develop their critical thinking and digital literacies (Kopka, 2014). 

Technology trends.

Ross Johnston (2014) and Leu et al., (2015) point out that the inclusion of interactive digital literature into educational practices meets the modern societal paradigm and allows students to develop valuable 21st century skills.  The use of transmedia sources such as this Sway would benefit students by developing their critical thinking, experiential learning and their digital literacy (Cullen, 2015; Pietschmann, Volker & Ohler, 2014; Kopka, 2014; Leu et al., 2015).

Resource Integration:

The White Australia Policy [sway] is a teacher created digital narrative and is freely available on the school intranet with no licensing limitations making it a very thrifty resource.  It can be integrated into the library management system, class intranet pages and into any of the Microsoft office suite. It is also accessible from all personal devices and can be exported to Word and printed out for students who are disadvantaged by the digital divide (DIIS, 2016).  

 

Recommendation:

The White Australia Policy [sway] would be a valuable addition to the school collection. 

References:

Cullen, M. (2015, December 21). How is interactive media changing the way children learn. In EducationTechnology. Retrieved from https://educationtechnologysolutions.com.au/2015/12/how-is-interactive-media-changing-the-way-children-learn/

Cutler, D. (2019). Modeling writing and revising for students. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/modeling-writing-and-revising-students

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. (2016). Australia’s digital economy update. Retrieved from https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2016/05/apo-nid66202-1210631.pdf

Fitzsimmons, G., Weal, M., & Drieghe, D. (2019). The impact of hyperlinks on reading text. PLOS ONE. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210900

Ibrahim, M. (2012). Implications of designing instructional video using cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Critical Questions in Education 3(2), p.83-104. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1047003

Kopka, S. & Hobbs, R., (2014). Transmedia & Education: Using Transmedia in the Classroom with a Focus on Interactive Literature [Blog]. SeKopka. Retrieved from https://sekopka.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/transmedia-education-using-transmedia-in-the-classroom-with-a-focus-on-interactive-literature/

Lamb, A. (2011). Reading re-defined for a transmedia universe. Learning & Leading with Technology 39(3), p.12-17. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ954320

Leu, D.J, Forzani, E., Timbrell, N., & Maykel., C. (2015) . Seeing the forest, not the trees: Essential technologies for literacy in primary grade and upper elementary grade classroom. Reading Teacher 69: (2), p.139-145. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1073399. 

Literacy Teaching Toolkit. (2019). Modelled writing. Victorian Department of Education. Retrieved from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/writing/Pages/teachingpracmodelled.aspx

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R. & Bronnick, K.A. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, 61-68.doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002 

Pietschmann, D., Volkel, S., & Ohler, P. (2014). Limitations of transmedia storytelling for children: A cognitive development analysis. International Journal of Communication 8, p.2259-2282. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279323387_Limitations_of_Transmedia_Storytelling_for_Children_A_Cognitive_Developmental_Analysis

Rhodes, G. (2019). Why I read aloud to my teenagers. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/09/why-i-read-aloud-to-my-teenagers

Ross Johnston, R. (2014a). Chapter 23 – Literature, the curriculum and 21st-century literacy. In G. Winch, R. Ross Johnston, P. March, L. Ljungdahl & M. Holliday (Eds.), Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature (5th ed., pp. 472-489). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 

 

 

Creating a digital narrative – The good, the bad and the ugly.

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Creating a digital narrative requires planning. 

Creating a digital narrative for classroom practice requires extensive planning.  

Creating a digital narrative for a university assignment that can also be used for classroom practice turns a teetotaler into a wino. 

The creation of a digital narrative (DN) for education practice requires the teacher to consider the curriculum content, the needs of the student, the digital technologies available and their own individual ICT acuity. 


It requires:

  1. A clear understanding of which parts of the curriculum need to be addressed, content or skills (or both)
  2. The cognitive, behavioural and developmental needs of the students.
  3. The technological capabilities of the school such as BYOD policies and wifi capabilities.
  4.   It also requires the educator to acknowledge their own capability and find ways to work within their capacity.  This last fact is often crucial as many teachers feel that creation of interactive media is beyond their capability and therefore abstain from using DST in classroom practice (Hyndman, 2018). 

Part 1: Curriculum 

Whilst there are many pedagogical strategies in which an educator can introduce DN or DST into classroom practice, the most effective method for teacher librarians to use is the Backwards Design Process (BPD), or otherwise known as backwards by design.  BPD can be utilised across all areas of the curriculum and is often used by teacher librarians as a method of developing information literacy lessons  (Gooudzward, 2019).  Therefore it seemed like the sensible way to create this DN due to my familiarity with the process. 

  • The identification of the learning outcomes in both content and skills strands of the 10 History curriculum (ACARA, 2014).  
  • Once the learning outcomes were identified, the method and process of evaluating these learning outcomes needed to be determined. 


  • Kurt (2018) and Gooudzward (2019) both point out the importance of ‘ranking’ the outcomes and then correlating them to the complexity of the assessment.  The use of Bloom’s taxonomy would be useful here to help differentiate the learning. 

  • Now the learning events can be planned.  Considerations should include the type of learning that would suit this unit such as blended learning, explicit instruction, inquiry learning or the use of flipped classroom.  

Part B – Student Needs – Pedagogy that works. 

When creating or using DST, acknowledging the needs of the students is a fundamental part of pedagogical practice.  The White Australia Policy was a very inflammatory legislation and requires finesse and discretion when addressing it in a classroom setting.  Students who are recent immigrants or those that were descendants of those restricted by the White Australia Policy may need time and space to process this information.  The use of a flipped classroom as a pedagogical strategy allows for the embedding of a DST for students to access prior to the lesson (Schmidt & Ralph, 2016, p.1).  This gives the student time and space to process the information privately and the integrated questions promote critical thinking.  This strategy also promotes analysis and evaluation of the policy as well as time for the teacher to facilitate class discussion and address the needs of a diverse classroom (Basal, 2015).

Part C: Technological capacities.  

The use of Microsoft Sway was based on expediency.  My school has a subscription to Microsoft and the students have already engaged with the program in other disciplines.  The format allows for the successful integration of images, videos, audio, hyperlinks and Thinglink.  It can be accessed from any personal device connected to the internet, is intuitive to use and can be successfully integrated into the school intranet, class pages and can be cataloged into the library management system.

The school has a BYOD policy and excellent wifi, so there should be minimal issues accessing this resource.

Part D:  Teacher Competence

Cantabrana et al., (2018) point out that the quality of education in the 21st century is directly linked to teacher education and training.  Teachers that have been supported in their professional learning and development to integrate DL into their practice are more likely to use it successfully (Cantabrana et al., 2018).   Competence in ICT involves positive attitudes to technology as well as combing conceptual and procedural knowledge (Cantabrana et al., 2018, p.77; McGarr & McDonagh, 2019, p.11).  This means that teachers that are reluctant to use ICT from either lack of knowledge or lack of interest are less likely to want to improve their capability and extremely unlikely to create and foster the use of DL and DST in their classroom practice.  

McGarr & McDonagh (2019)  point out that teacher competence should be framed around three main areas, technological, cognitive and ethical.  This makes sense as creating a digital narrative requires the teacher to be competent at combining curriculum with technology, whilst ensuring copyright is addressed appropriately (McGarr & McDonagh, 2019, p.13).  

References:

ACARA. (2014b). HASS – History Curriculum. F-10 Curriculum. Educational Services Australia. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/history/

Basal, A. (2015). The implementation of a flipped classroom in foreign language teaching. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education 16 (4). DOI:: 10.17718/tojde.72185

Cantabrana, JL., Rodriguez, M., & Cervera, M.G. (2018). Assessing teacher digital competence: the construction of an instrument for measuring the knowledge of pre-service teachers. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research. 8(1), p73-78. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1202957.pdf

Goudzwaard, M. (2019). Slides: Backward design for librarians. New England Library Instruction Group 2. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=nelig

Hyndman, B. (2018). Ten reasons teachers can struggle to use technology in the classroom. The Conversation [Blog]. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/ten-reasons-teachers-can-struggle-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom-101114

Kurt, S. (2018). What is backward design. Educational Technology. Teaching and Learning Resources.  Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/backward-design-understanding-by-design/

McGarr, O., & McDonagh, A. (2019). Digital competence in teacher education.  Output 1 of the Erasmus+ funded Developing Student Teachers’ Digital Competence (DICTE) project.  Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331487411_Digital_Competence_in_Teacher_Education

Schmidt, S. & Ralph, D. (2016). The flipped classroom: a twist on teaching. Contemporary Issues in Education Research. 9(1). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1087603.pdf