Justification

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This module of work has been created with the explicit intention of fostering student creativity and learning through the use of emerging technologies such as interactive tools, augmented reality, virtual reality and using a variety of digital tools and programs to create a multimedia historical documentary.

The module has been designed for a Stage 4, Year 8 History class studying Depth Study 2: The Mediterranean World focusing on the Ancient Roman Empire (BOSTE, 2012). The objective of this module is for the students to demonstrate the syllabus outcomes HT4-2 and HT4-10. These outcomes require the students to understand the events, people and society of Ancient Rome and communicate this effectively using appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms (Appendix A).

The module meets the requirements of the syllabus while also making use of emerging technologies that encourage and develop the creativity of the students. The module would ideally be implemented towards the end of the study of Ancient Rome so that the students can use their existing knowledge to their advantage and engage with the new content at a deeper level.

The excursion in lesson one contextualises this prior knowledge and allows the students to examine and interact with the historical items in a manner that is far more beneficial than reading a textbook (Anderson, 2019). Making use of the interactive tools and virtual reality simulations offered by the museum will also offer the students an important and unique learning experience (Harvey, 2014; Siegle, 2019).

Augmented reality was chosen as a key educational tool in this module. While this emerging technology has not been widely adopted by educators, the rapid advancements made in mobile devices has made it far easier for educators to integrate this technology into their pedagogical practices which produce an effective learning environment (Buchner & Zumbach, 2018). Another advantage of using augmented reality within this module is that it allows the learner to experience autonomous learning, a stronger feeling of competence and a higher level of achievement (Buchner & Zumbach, 2018; Sirakaya & Cakmak, 2018). These factors combined in a student-centred approach to teaching can affect the intrinsic motivation of the students and positively affect their learning (Buchner & Zumbach, 2018).

The final lesson in this module will consist of the students working in their groups to create a short documentary detailing the life and achievements of their chosen figure. This will involve the use of the program iMovie which the students have used previously and have access to on their computers. Working in a group to create these documentaries helps foster the student’s creativity while also developing cross-curricular skills such as reading, writing, analysis, questioning and narrative synthesis (Fehn & Heckart, 2013). The integration of multimedia creation in a history classroom is important as it allows students to engage with historical concepts from new perspectives leading to deeper understanding and knowledge of the content (Hechter & Guy, 2010). By using their creativity to produce short historical documentaries, the students are presented with the unique opportunity to directly access the past, which increases the enthusiasm of the students in the classroom (Fehn & Heckart, 2013). Utilising this technology also enables teacher to design inquiry based historical projects that are primarily led by the students. This grants the students more scope for their creativity which they can use while exploring their learning (Swan, Hofer & Levstik, 2007).

The effectiveness of the module will be assessed through the student’s assessment task of creating an iMovie documentary. While this is a low stakes formative assessment, by observing the creations that the students make and the results they receive, the teacher can infer whether the technology module has proven to be effective in terms of student learning. In addition, the Google Drives the students use to share their work between their class groups are moderated by the teacher. This provides the teacher with the opportunity to monitor the progress of the students to ensure that they are meeting the requirements of the task.  

Appendix A:

Syllabus Outcomes:

HT4-2: Describes major periods of historical time and sequences events, people and societies from the past

HT4-10: Selects and uses appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms to communicate about the past

References:

Board of Studies. (2012). NSW syllabus for the Australian curriculum: History K-10 syllabus. Sydney, NSW: Board of Studies NSW.

Anderson, S. (2019). The Interactive Museum: Video Games as History Lessons through Lore and Affective Design. E-Learning and Digital Media, 16(3), 177-195.

Buchner, J., & Zumbach, J. (2018). Promoting Instrinsic Motivation with a Mobile Augmented Reality Learning Environment. 14^th International Conference Mobile Learning.

Fehn, B., & Heckart, K. (2013). Producing a Documentary in the Third Grade: Reaching All Students through Movie Making. Social Studies and the Young Learner 25(3), 18-22.

Harvey, A. (2014). Creating Learning Experiences through Interactive Devices. Journal of Museum Education, 39(2), 207-215.

Hechter, R. P., Guy, M. D. (2010). Promoting creative thinking and expression of science concepts among elementary teacher candidates through science content movie creation and showcasing. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(4), 411-431.

Siegle, D. (2019). Seeing Is Believing: Using Virtual and Augmented Reality to Enhance Student Learning. Gifted Child Today, 42(1), 46-52.

Sirakaya, M., & Cakmak, E. (2018). The Effect of Augmented Reality Use on Achievement, Misconception and Course Engagement. Contemporary Educational Technology, 9(3), 297-314.

Swan, K., Hofer, M., & Levstik, L. S. (2007). Camera! Action! Collaborate with Digital Moviemaking. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 19(4), 17-20.