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EDFD454 Curriculum Literacies

Assignment 2: New Media Literacies

Curriculum Redesign
ORIGINAL UNIT OF WORK
The original unit of work was divided into five lessons, focusing on the Civil Rights movement that
occurred in the United States and Australia. Lesson one, an introduction to the unit, focused on defining
equality and discussing students prior knowledge. The main activity of the class was reading the United
Nations Declaration of Human Rights, followed by students providing examples of when these rights have
been abused and if they are still abused today. Lesson two focused on the US civil rights movement,
including key figures and movements. The main activity of this class included a jigsaw activity where
students discussed and compared the notes taken after having watched a power point presentation.
During lesson two, the formative assessment for this unit, a hardcopy profile booklet was introduced.
Lesson three introduced the civil rights movement occurring in Australia at the time, primarily the 1938
day of mourning and the stolen generation. The main activity for this class was the continuation of their
profile booklet, which students needed to individually complete. Lesson four centred on the key
movements and figures of the Indigenous Australian civil rights movement. The main activity for this
lesson was an image analysis, which students completed individually using a worksheet with no
collaboration included. Lesson five focused on the final assessment of the depth study. Students wrote a
500 word report on a key figure, movement or event using the information gathered in their profile
booklet. Students had 50 minutes to complete this task.

THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEDIA LITERACIES

The introduction of new media literacies is intended to enhance the content and reception
of the redesigned unit. The original unit of work was built upon using various print based activities
and resources. The redesigned unit does not eliminate all of these activities, however it further
enhances the learning opportunities by incorporating multimodal activities. The two main
assessment tasks for this unit were a print-based profile booklet and a five hundred word hand
written essay. Although the profile-booklet teaches students how to collect and summarise
information, students were not given the opportunity to critically reflect on this data. Similarly, the
essay conducted within a 50 minute period did not allow the teacher to witness students complete
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understanding of the unit. According to Natalie Cooper (2013), educational programs underpinned by
multiliteracy pedagogy supported by technology can provide meaningful learning experiences for
students whilst achieving multiliteracies focused learning outcomes (p.93). These assessment tasks will

be replaced by a summative assessment task, where in groups of two, students will be required to
create their own mini movie about a key person, movement or event from the Indigenous Australian
Civil Rights Movement using iMovie. This task is influenced by the iPed pedagogy, providing teachers
with the opportunity to engage students with print using new media technologies, scaffolding
learning in a way that supports collaboration among peers (Mills & Levido, 2011, p.85). The
implementation of this task is designed to foster students critical and higher ordering thinking skills
using multiliteracies.

THE REDESIGNED UNIT

Lesson one of the redesigned unit Rights and Freedoms (1945 Present) will focus on discussing
students definition of equality as well as their prior knowledge and understanding of the topic. As an
introduction to the depth study, students will view a video of Martin Luther King Juniors I have a dream
speech. It is intended that this video will immediately engage students with the topic using a different
form of technology other than print text. The inclusion of a video as a primary source attempts to expose
students to different forms of sources. It also enables students to develop critical thinking skills by
interpreting sources and considering contexts, skills which can be further applied to all multimodal texts
(acara, 2015). Anita Jetnikoff identifies that across Australia there is an increasing curriculum initiative to
implement new media and technologies within the classroom (Jetnikoff, 2009, p.55). Jetnikoffs statement
supports the decision to begin the unit with a video as well as the overall aim of the redesigned unit; to
incorporate new media technologies in every lesson. After the conclusion of the video, students will
undertake a think, pair, share activity. Firstly, students will individually write a brief statement regarding
their own knowledge about Rights and Freedoms, as well as the intention of the speech and its significance.
Forming into pairs, students will discuss their answers and submit their responses onto a google document.
The class will re-join, and using the google doc responses discuss the topic. The activities included in this
lesson are influenced by the Link aspect of the iPed pedagogy. The teacher has attempted to introduce
students to critical analysis by forming connections between the multimodal text and text to self, text to
culture, and text to world (Mills & Levido, 2011, p.82). Furthermore, as students are beginning a new
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EDFD454 Curriculum Literacies
Assignment 2: New Media Literacies
topic with possible limited knowledge the teacher is encouraging students to link to new experiences of
the world and unfamiliar textual practices (Mills & Levido, 2011, p.83).
Lesson two of the redesigned unit will centre on the civil rights struggles of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people before 1965, including the 1938 day of mourning and the stolen generation
(ACDSEH104). The lesson will begin with a presentation on the topic, focusing on fostering students
understanding of the social, political, and cultural context of the era. Students will then be instructed to
watch the personal testimonies of Bill Simon, Frank Byrne, and Eileen Moseley from the stolen generation
testimony website. The creation of this activity is greatly influenced by the challenge and link aspects of
the iPed pedagogy. This activity will be followed by a group task where students will make a poster with
the headings: Connect, Extend, Challenger. The intention is for students to use the information gathered
to develop connections between prior learnt knowledge and new ideas. The objective is for students to
be able to link these personal testimonies to their own understanding of the historical period whilst
comparing the testimonies to their own upbringing. Furthermore, the aim is to emphasise the importance
of cultural inclusiveness (Mills & Levido, 2011, p.83) and an understanding of how our society is globally
connected. Once students have developed an understanding of this new knowledge, they will be able to
continue forming links with new content. It is important to foster students ability to critically review
multimodal texts by identifying, challenging and comparing personal testimonies with other sources and
their own knowledge. These aspects allow for the development of students historical thinking skills, as
well as their ability to link and challenge new ideas.
Lesson three of the redesigned unit will focus on the key figures and movements (ACDSEH205)
of the Indigenous Australian civil rights movement. Introduction to the topic will begin with an interactive
discussion off the topic in order to assess students understanding of the content. Originally students were
given an image to analyse individually with corresponding questions. This proved ineffective as students
struggled to understand the purpose of the image. For the redesigned lesson, students will analyse a
photograph of the Student Action for Aborigines freedom rides collaboratively as a class. The intention
is to continue scaffolding students ability to link and challenge new ideas with pre-existing knowledge.
Through the concept of linking, students are able to make connections between text to culture, and text
to the world (Mills & Levido, 2011, p.82). They will discuss the image in context to the period it was taken,
and how the use of visual images furthers our understanding. Students will also learn how to analyse the
image in relation to the world outside of Australia at the time, for example the United States, as well as

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juxtaposing it to their knowledge of civil rights today. The use of images alongside text allows students to
visualise the context as well as develop a deeper understanding and connection to self. This activity is
designed to be an introduction to other forms of multimodal texts, with the use of image and video
analysis being a focus in consecutive lessons.
Lesson four of the redesigned unit will focus on students beginning their assessment task, an
iMovie. In pairs, students will co-create to produce a short film presentation on a notable figure,
movement or event from the Indigenous Australian Civil Rights Movement. The lesson will be used as an
introduction to the task and the skills needed to create a film; storyboarding, filming and editing. The
scaffolding of these skills will occur in consecutive lessons. The co-create aspect of the iPed theory
underpins the structure of this lesson and the assessment task. According to Mills and Levido (2011), it is
important at this stage in the process for teachers to allow students to become the experts (p.85) as they
learn to coproduce media for real audiences within and beyond the school (p.85). The pedagogical
strategy, predict, demonstrate, and do is developed to scaffold the print and digital dimensions of
learning within the co-create phase of instruction (p.85). Through prediction, the teacher aids students
to anticipate the purpose of iMovie whilst assimilating their existing knowledge with new knowledge.
Through demonstration, the teacher provides examples of how to create an iMovie and the key functions
used through guided participation (p.85). Lastly, pedagogy shifts to application, where the
responsibility for learning (p.86) was given to students supported by peer collaboration (p.86).
Furthermore, students collaboratively apply knowledge of how to construct a digital text in a supportive
classroom environment with hands-on access to the technology (p.86) without the teachers assistance.
Lesson five of the redesigned lesson is an inconsecutive lesson focusing on students
presentation of their assessment task. Firstly, an exhibition of students iMovies will be conducted during
a lesson allowing students to peer review each groups interpretation of their chosen topic. Following this,
students will take part in a presentation night, where parents and members of the school community can
view the films in an open exhibition. Drawing upon Bourdieus (1986) cultural capital theory, Mills and
Levido (2011) asserted that the sharing of multimedia products with the larger community allows students
to receive constructive and positive feedback from others while gaining credibility for their work (p. 87).

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NEW MEDIA LITERACIES ENHANCING LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The learning objectives of the redesigned unit have been enhanced by the inclusion of new media
literacies. In todays society, the traditional emphasis on print is expanding to include forms of
communication and expression that embrace multimodality (Clary, Kigotho & Barros-Torning, 2013,
p.50). The objective of the unit was to develop students ability to link, challenge, co-create and share
during all class activities. Furthermore, it is essential students develop their critical literacy and higher
order thinking skills when reading all multimodal texts. According to Maureen Walsh (2011), a teachers
ability to develop pedagogy that embeds digital communication technologies and texts to meet
curriculum outcomes and assessment requirements [whilst] maintaining students engagement with
print-based technologies (p.7) is essential to fostering multiliteracies and adhering to the learning
objectives. Providing students with the opportunity to read all different multimodal texts; film, image,
print and then create their own digital text, enhances their literacy skills and awareness of the world. This
is reiterated by the notion that it is important for learners to develop an understanding of the workings
of visual media, coupled with a heightened conscious awareness in relation to all other symbols which
constitute message (Campbell & Green, 2000, p. 165), and applying this knowledge to their own digital
text product. The inclusion of multimodal texts in the classroom has been further supported by theorists
such as Andrew Burn (2013) who has developed methods for implementing these skills into our lessons.
Burns Kineikonic theory is a multimodal theory focusing on the moving image. His theory focuses on the
interplay of all the modes which contribute to the moving image (p.4) as well as the grammar used. Burns
is an example of the many theorists who have contributed to the inclusion of new media literacies into
the classroom. Teachers, through support and encouragement, are now able to implement these new
media literacy methods into their pedagogy, enhancing the learning opportunities of students.

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REFERENCES
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015). History Curriculum. Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanitiesandsocialsciences/History/curriculum/F-10
Burn, A. (2013). The Kineikonic mode: towards a multimodal approach to moving image media. London:
UK
Campbell. R., & Green, D. (2000). Literacies and learners: current perspectives. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W:
Prentice Hall Australia
Clary, D., Kigotho, M., & Barros-Torning, M. (2013). Harnessing mobile technologies to enrich
adolescents multimodal literacy practices in middle years classrooms. Literacy Learning: The
Middle Years, 21(3), 4960.
Cooper, N. (2013). Developing multiliteracies in a technology mediated environment. Educational Media
International, 50 (2), 93-107.
Jetnikoff, A. (2009). Digital storytelling, podcasts, blogs and vlogs: exploring a range of new media texts
and forms in English. English in Australia, 44 (2), 55-62.
Mills, K.A. & Levido, A. (2011). iPed: Pedagogy for Digital Text Production. The Reading Teacher: A
Journal of Research-Based Classroom Practice, 65(1), 8091.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2015). History Curriculum. Retrieved from
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/The-Humanities-History/Curriculum/F-10
Walsh, M. (2011). Multimodal literacy: researching classroom practice. Sydney: elit

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