Rationale for use of digital resources
In this resource I have designed a series of activities that use multi literacies to engage students in relevant and real world experiences within the chosen topic of textiles 100 years of fashion. The target class is year 11/12 and the syllabus lessons meet criteria for the stage 6 textiles and design syllabus, outcome H6.1 analyses the influence of historical, cultural and contemporary developments on textiles.
The lessons for this topic incorporate a variety of digital resources to enhance student engagement and provide authenticity and relevance. Reeves, Herrington and Oliver (2002) describe the characteristics of authentic learning activities which guided the choice of digital resources for these lessons. The topic of fashion history allows for students to activate their own cultural experiences and background knowledge and share this knowledge with the class through a sharing activity on wix. This activity requires students to reflect on their personal fashion style and influences.
These lessons are high in background knowledge and cultural knowledge. The tasks allow students to make connections between their own experiences of fashion and what they learn during their investigation into societal influence on fashion. This activity also requires a response involving higher order thinking skills. This also provides students from multicultural backgrounds the opportunity to showcase their experiences of fashion from other cultures.
The lesson uses a variety of resources and web tools to build relevant knowledge and create their final product, a case study on a designer of choice. Students have the opportunity to research the information needed on designers and fashion.
Explicit quality criteria and high expectations are communicated to students through the examples that are modelled throughout the lessons. The model also serves as a scaffold that allows students to see the end product and also the quality of work that is expected.
In this unit of work students’ tasks are organized and scaffolder in an order so as to help students build toward their outcome. This is done by constructing layers of difficulty that give students the skills to produce the final task. The activities support less capable students by providing explicit quality criteria in the examples shown.
In these lessons I have incorporated teaching and learning activities using multi literacies mediated by technology to: explore concepts through the topic of fashion trends and their influence on society; make meaning of new skills in the use of digital tools that have a wide application; and provide opportunity for students to demonstrate these skills through their products.
Reference list
Killen, R. (2009). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning.
Burke, R. (2012). Language literacies and learning. Emerging literacies (pp. 15-35). Seven Hills: Boraga Academic.
Prensky, M. (2001). The games generations: How learners have changed. In Digital game based learning (pp. 1-26). McGraw Hill.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2009). Quality Teaching in NSW public schools: A classroom practice guide.
Brame, C., (2013). Flipping the classroom. Retrieved Wednesday, October 29, 2014 from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-
pages/flipping-the-classroom/
Brame, C., (2013). Flipping the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved Wednesday, October 29, 2014 from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/
Reeves, T., Herrington, J. & Oliver, R. (2002) Authentic activities and online learning, in
Quality Conversations, Proceedings of the 25th HERDSA Annual Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 7-10 July 2002: pp 562.