Introduction

This paper will demonstrate how student learning can be enhanced by incorporating
digital technology into the classroom. To do this, a sample lesson plan has been designed,
along with a rubric and details on how to assess the students learning and the effectiveness
of the technology. Finally, an analysis of the results will be provided.

The technologies that have been selected are Smartphones, Google suite, Kahoot
and Youtube. The use of mobile devices when combined with social media and wireless
connections enables students and teachers to have more personalised learning
opportunities. (Blackboard, 2012). According to the ACMA,(2016) 80% of Australian
teenagers had/owned a Smartphone as of June 2015. One would assume that this figure
has since risen, thus it is reasonable to suggest that most students will have access to a
smartphone to complete this task.

A determining factor with personalised learning is the ability of students to choose the
right tools for the right tasks (Blackboard, 2012). Using a device with which the students
have familiarity provides them with the autonomy to select the apps for with which to
complete the task. Some other benefits of using a Smartphone are increased engagement,
motivation and enthusiasm for learning, differentiation, greater independence, and it also
increases peer interaction and collaboration. (Attewell, 2009)

Google suite was selected as it allows the students create, share and edit files, in
real time. The students can work on the same page at the same time, which is excellent for
collaboration. It allows the students to work anywhere at any time which means the learning
can extend beyond the classroom. Kahoot was used a means of formative assessment. The
students build their own questions and they then test their peers. Students demonstrate their
understanding by participating in the game but they also have the opportunity to build their
knowledge through the construction phase of the game.

YouTube was chosen as it is an ideal learning tool for education, it was ranked
number 1 in the Top 100 learning tools for learning (2016). YouTube provides the students
access to vast array of content on almost any topic they can think of. Videos can also be
used to deepen students understanding, they appeal to visual learners, and they can act as
a catalyst to generate ideas. (Qiao, 2016) The students will also be able to publish their
videos enabling them to assess their peers work and give and receive valuable feedback.

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 Lesson Plan
Industrial Revolution
Summary:
Subject(s): Business Studies, Science and History

Topic or Unit of Study: The Industrial Revolution

Grade/Level: Year 11

Objective: To teach students about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the disciplines
of Science, Business Studies and History using ICT based activities. Students will use a
combination of laptops and smartphones to access applications such as Youtube and
Google Suite to create a digital portfolio of their work. The success of this approach will be
measured through action research conducted by the teacher using student responses to
surveys and teacher observations to refine the approach.

Time Allotment: 2-3 lessons of 55 minutes each

Implementation

Context for Lessons:

Using ICT students are taught about the Industrial Revolution and how it shaped social,
political, scientific and economic thought. They are expected to create a digital portfolio of
their work in Google Sites which will be used as their final assessment task. Prior to
beginning the course students complete a brief survey in Google Forms so their teacher can
ascertain their knowledge of ICT and the Industrial Revolution.

Procedure:
1) Students are shown the following YouTube clip about the Industrial Revolution
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5DCizj5c) and create a summary of the main
points. Their summaries are then uploaded to Google Site along with a link to the
clip. Students are then divided into groups of three where they compare and contrast
their findings. Students then use this discussion to refine their summaries.

2) The teacher provides each group with a question related to the syllabus. Students are
required to answer the question in their groups and provide a link to at least one

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 YouTube video of no longer than ten minutes which supplements their findings.
Students will also create an annotated bibliography detailing where they obtained
their information and provide a link that they embed into their Google Slide.

3) Each group then presents their findings to the class using presentation software of
their choice with each presentation being filmed using a mobile phone and then
edited on a laptop and upload to Google Files.

4) Groups then pair with one other group and complete the hexagon activity
demonstrating how their questions are linked to one another and the Industrial
Revolution.

5) Using Kahoot students create a ten question quiz which the other groups have to
complete. The team with the highest score is declared the winner.

6) At the completion of the unit students fill out another survey in Google Forms
designed to ascertain how successful the inclusion of ICT was in engaging them in
the topic. This information is then used by the teacher to complement the action
research and adapt the lesson.

Resources:

1) Laptop or desktop computer (one per group of three)

2) Mobile phone (preferably one per student but at least one per group)

Assessment:

Students create a video and a digital portfolio in Google of their work which is presented for
marking

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 Marking Rubric for Digital Portfolio

5 4 3 2 1 US

Use and Demonstration

Detailed
Basic Basic Very little
of strong demonstration demonstration demonstration
understandin understanding
understanding
of concept of concept of
of concepts No information
g of key- of key concepts
with majority of
understanding understanding understanding
provided.
with correct with some of with incorrect of concepts
terms and usage of key-
key-terms used
key-terms usage of key- &/or key-terms
correctly.
concepts terms. used correctly. terms. used.

Makes clear
connections Detailed Basic Basic Very little
understanding understanding understanding demonstration
between Demonstration of topic of topic of topic of
topics and of strong connections connections connections understanding
connection with minimal with some with major of topic No information
presents between topics logical logical logical connections provided.
them in a and concisely reasoning reasoning reasoning with little logical
presented. issues and issues and issues and reasoning and
clear and concise basic basic poor
logical presentation. presentation. presentation. presentation.
manner
Evidence of Evidence of
Evidence of little Evidence of no
Evidence of Evidence of productive some
collaboration, collaboration,
strong collaboration, collaboration,
collaboration collaboration, with a little with some
with majority with a strong
imbalance of imbalance of No evidence
between equity of work imbalance of imbalance of
equity towards equity towards provided.
produced and equity towards equity towards
students delegation of work produced work produced
work produced work produced
and delegation and delegation
tasks. and delegation and delegation
of tasks. of tasks.
of tasks. of tasks.

Evidence of
effective use More than two
digital
Two digital
Two digital
technologies
Two digital
One or more
digital
of at least technologies
technologies
utilised to
utilised to
technologies
utilised to
technologies No evidence
two digital clearly utilised
to produce high
produce high
produce
moderate
produce basic
utilised to
produce poor
provided.
quality task. quality task.
technologies quality task. quality task. quality task.

Student Name:___________________

Comments:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

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 Evaluation Method

The evaluation method to be implemented will be action research focused. The

benefit of action research in an educational environment is that teachers work collaboratively
to critically analyse their practices, and are then able to use their findings to improve the very
practices being evaluated (Anderman, 2009). The focus of the evaluation will be the
effectiveness of mobile learning technologies in delivering a deeper learning environment for
students while completing a SOLO hexagon learning activity.

Evaluation of the tools benefit for learning

The researchers will use concurrent validity criterion based on the MoLeNET initiative
(Attewell, 2009), a three-year action research project into the effectiveness of mobile
learning technologies on teaching and learning, to develop suitable evaluation criteria. The
evaluation will comprise of the following outcomes in comparison with paper-based activities:

Mobile learning will provide a more enjoyable assessment for learning (AfL) platform.
There will be an improvement in the quality of work and the speed of completion by students.
Peer and self-assessment will be adopted by all students.
All students will adopt both independent and collaborative learning.

It will be assumed that all students will have access to the mobile learning
technologies required i.e. smart phone for recording video, a computer with video editing
software and access to the Internet for the student videos to be uploaded to YouTube.

Data collection methods will include:

Teacher and student surveys/questionnaires.
Teacher observations.
Authentic performance-based assessment

Results

It had been found that the use of mobile learning technologies by students had
produced positive results when undertaking the assigned SOLO hexagon activity. Such an
activity was designed as a Divergent Knowledge Expression Activity Type (Harris, Mishra, &
Koehler, 2009) to extend students relational knowledge of different fields of knowledge such
as history, science and business studies. Initially, students were very eager to collaborate
and work in teams whereby assigned tasks were decided upon organically by each team
member. Students had also demonstrated differing abilities in familiarity of the technology
used. This had resulted in students asking their peers for assistance and being openly
engaged with the teaching staff, once a self-assessment process had been completed.
The use of technologies such as mobile phones, computers and web-based
interfaces had allowed for improved teacher feedback in real-time as teachers were found to
be increasingly available to assist students as facilitators in the development of their
respective skills in the use of such technologies. Students were also observed to share
knowledge gained from teacher assistance across all groups as the activity was non-
competitive.

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 The quality of the work produced also varied based on student technological ability,
but this in no way was found to deter other students from completing the task. Students had
used an exemplar provided by teachers of the quality of work possible and in response
students had demonstrated an enthusiasm to learn and produce equal or higher quality
samples of work.

References

Anderman, E. (2009) Research Methods: An Overview. Retrieved 14th March 2017 from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/research-methods-an-overview/

Antonio, A., & Tuffley, D. (2017, February 26). YouTube a valuable educational tool, not just
cat videos. Retrieved March 25,2017 from: http://theconversation.com/youtube-a-valuable-
educational-tool-not-just-cat-videos-34863

Attewell J., Savill-Smith C., Douch R. (2009) The impact of mobile learning on teaching and
learning. In The Impact of Mobile Learning: Examining What It Means for Teaching and Learning (pp.
39-49). LSN, London.

Harris, J., Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2009). Teachers Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge and Learning Activity Types. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(4), 393-
416. doi:10.1080/15391523.2009.10782536

Learning in the 21st century, Mobile Devices + Social Media = Personalised Learning. (2011,
Oct). Retrieved from Blackboard K-12: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B30YPPZdv0z-
fjVfSGMzQUpDOHRadUxqN2xZS3pSV1FmR2JBOHY0MnpWS19Nc2gyYWJXaE0

Qiao, J. (2016, October 25). Make Youtube a learning tool . Retrieved March 25,2017, from
https://wp.nyu.edu/urbanyouthnyu/2016/10/25/make-youtube-a-learning-tool/

The Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2016, February 05). Aussie teens and
kids online. Retrieved March 25, 2017, from: http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-
blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-and-kids-online

Top 200 Tools for Learning. (2017, March 9). Retrieved from Top Tools for Learning 2016:
http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/top-200-tools-for-learning/

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