Design Rationale

This e-learning unit was designed for year 9 Home Economics. The unit will be delivered over 10 weeks. The unit involves students using and interacting with a variety of Information, communication technologies (ICTs) and aiming towards developing a information rich process journal blog. Throughout the unit students will use a variety of ICT tools including bubbl.us, exploratree.org.uk, powerpoint, blog, multiple websites and most of all the class website created by the learning manager. The unit tasks incorporate individual, group and teacher orientated learning experiences through a range of methods. The combination of ICTs included in the unit is important to the learning and scaffolding of the students journey.

Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) (2007) states that students of today, live in a technological world where information and communication technologies (ICTs) are integral to everyday situations. ICTs include the hardware, software, peripheral devices and digital systems that enable data and information to be managed, stored, processed and communicated. This statement indicates that to engage students we must as learning managers provide students with ICT rich learning experiences. As learning managers we must provide students with the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and capacity to select and use ICTs to inquire, develop new understandings, transform information and construct new knowledge for a specific purpose or context (QSA, 2007). Smart Classrooms state that Implementing the ICT plan will assist Queensland state schools to implement the Australian Curriculum General Capability, ICT competence, recognizing that to be successful learners at school and beyond, students need to become creative and productive users of technology (The Department of Education and Training, 2009). The unit was developed with this in mind whilst also offering students learning experiences that develop higher order thinking. Through careful planning the unit was developed using problem based learning. This learning theory helps students explore the issue, list what they know, develop an analysis of the problem, possible solutions, actions to be taken, what we need to know, develop their own solution and review their performance (Fasso, 2013). This problem based learning is scaffolded throughout the unit to help students develop their practical piece of assessment. The students must first identify the problem and then develop ideas with what they know about the problem to be able to solve the problem. This is done through the students being presented with two design briefs. They must decide whether they would like to design a bag or soft furnishing. From this they then must decided and inquire about what they know about their design brief. Students will then develop ideas about the types of fabric, the uses for the item, fabric properties. Students will develop these ideas through using exploratree.org.au. This helps students compare products and find a possible solution to the correct fabrics needed for their item. Students throughout this process will be developing a process journal which will be in the form of a blog. Here students will discuss ideas, resources, research and reflections on the process of developing their chosen design brief. All of these ICT tools and learning experiences help students to develop higher order

thinking. This is evident throughout the unit as higher-order thinking requires students to manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications. This transformation occurs when students combine facts and ideas in order to synthesise, generalise, explain, hypothesise or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation (The Department of Education and Training, 2004). Throughout the unit students are given the opportunity to work as individuals or collaboratively either in pairs or whole class. Collaborative learning aligns closely with Vygotskys (1978, as cited in Brady, 2006) social constructivist approach, a way of learning where students achieve goals and encounter problems together. Vygotsky suggests that this is an integral part of learning as he views learning as a social occurrence. Overall this unit provides students with multiple opportunities to interact with ICT in and out of the classroom. This interaction will make learning engaging and meaningful for students.