John Lancett

UBD Technology Lesson Rationale

Lesson Title Rise of Authoritarian States
EDCI 890
The integration of technology into History classrooms has been a passion of mine for the
past few years. The History curriculum itself lends to the use of various technological tools and
concepts that can extend the content and the visibility of work to a level never before achievable.
Being able to create scenarios where students can relate to information, research the content and
then create meaningful real-world products in relation to the concepts being studied is priceless
in a solid social sciences education. There are a lot of ways to achieve this type of learning in the
classroom but this particular lesson will utilize the use of social media and interactive time-lining
tools. Many teachers today think that these tools are simply there for publication; much like
writing a paper or reading a book but these tools can be much more than that. As stated in
Richardson (2010) A growing majority of students are immersed in social networks and
technologies outside of school, and most have no adults in their lives that are teaching them how
to use those connections to learn (Kindle Locations 40-42). My lessons for this unit will include
a two fold approach to accomplishing not only the goal of learning about history and society, but
to also expand on the concepts of using the Internet for true collaborative learning and research
and in the process teaching students to use social media platforms for learning purposes.
With this project my aim is to help students learn about the process of Historical
Documentation, which a timeless concept that will continue as long as there are people on the
planet and to have them learn how to use social media and timeline technology to document that
change in a linear fashion. Fist, students are meant to create two products using technology and
the Internet. The first is a series of informational blog posts that deal with the Unit titled,
Authoritarian States. The students are encouraged in the each of their posts to have material

they have researched such as facts figures and even first hand accounts or interviews. Each of the
posts will also include a factual timeline representation that the students have created using the
site TikiToki.com. This can be done through a variety of creative ways, which do not have to
always encompassing simply the written word. They are also encouraged to have the objective to
include at least two different types of digital storytelling tool (i.e. Video, GIF, JPEG or other
format) to help them explain the relationship between all Authoritarian states rise to power. This
type of activity helps them to access all of the various levels of Blooms taxonomy from basic
knowledge they gain in research all the way through the evaluation stage and beyond by
inferring what the best ways to solve the social concern might be. The lesson allows for students
to practice several skills including organization and planning, creativity, synthesis of
information, writing, and speaking. The final post for all students will be a editorial style written
work that summarizes what they have learned and allows them to make a connection to any
country in the world today in which they feel there is an authoritarian regime rising to power or
already in power. There is also a collaboration aspect to the lesson because they will be expected
to comment on their peers blogs a minimum of three different times through the course of the 4week unit. All of these features make this lesson a truly 21st century test in citizenship, critical
thinking and design and will encourages them to develop skills for later in life.
I would have to say that this style of lesson fits the constructivism model very well and it
is a concept that I wholeheartedly believe can help prepare students for the future no matter the
task. By building a personal understanding of topics and then applying them to real world
situations students are then able to facilitate their own outcomes. This puts the teacher in the
appropriate role of facilitator and guide instead of the traditional sage on the stage
perpetuation. This model allows for students to use the technological tools at their disposal to

plan, create and evaluate their own work based on the already provided models. It also puts them
through the gamut of experiences that are present in Dales cone taking them from simple visual
interactions all the way through physical interaction to concept driven philosophy. Lastly, by
having students create all of their planning via the Internet and O365 the teacher has access to
their material and can give feedback at any point along the way. This allows students to work at
different rates and complete check points at various times thus differentiation is possible at every
step of the lesson.