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Introduction

The strategic plan for this online learning experience was informed by the context of the class cohort. The Australian Christian College is a non-government private school located in regional Western Australia. The learning experience has been created for Year 8 History in Term 3 at which time students will be working through ‘Significant Development and/or cultural achievements, such as changing relations between Islam and the West (ACDSEH050)' with a focus on the Crusades.

The class is primarily made up of students from a middle to upper levels of the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage with three of the sixteen students are first generation Australians and speak a different language at home. Two students have been identified as gifted, two have been diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder and two students that experience a level of dysgraphia. Generally the students display good behaviours and, when interested in their topic, an inherent desire to engage with their learning. Finally, all students, as required by the school, have access to iPad’s and display confidence in online navigation.

Given the diverse nature of the class it has been decided to take a skills-based approach to this learning experience enabling all students opportunities to participate in activities that will lead to experiences of positive achievement. Becoming familiar with and making use of Historical Concepts will function as the foundation upon which content will be engaged with. Further, the class has been scaffolded so, as students progress through the learning experience they are experiencing, practicing, and consolidating skills and information.

Rationale

The exponential development of technology and its ability to be incorporated into and specifically employed as an educational tool allows for an exciting diversion from traditional passive modes of learning (Jai, 2010, p. 198). Students have an opportunities to be not only ‘learners’ but thinkers, explorers and creators. Newhouse (2017) articulates that in the 21^st Century technology must be an essential part of education, not only in regard to embracing the diverse learning opportunities and experiences, but also to ensure students develop digital literacy skills in order to protect themselves and others (Newhouse, 2017, p. 47).

Pedagogy

Constructivists argue that learning is greatly improved through students interaction with and experience of previous and new knowledge (Jai, 2020, p. 198). It was with the pedagogical approach that this learning experience has been developed with the intention of ensuring students have opportunities to engage with different resources to learn and consolidate both historical content and historical skills. The way in which the website has been developed functions as the teacher in guiding students through the learning stages, providing scaffolding to help with progression and finally consolidate understanding by way of culminative activities (Wilson, 2019, p. 5).

Further, each learning activity has embraced a multi-modal approach to encourage students to engage with the content and/or skill in different formats to further consolidate learning. This is in the way of worksheets, questions and thinking points.

Technology

Safety First

Given the age of students undergoing this learning experience and given that this will be in a flipped classroom, I have chosen to limit students access to searching and exploration, carefully selecting interactive and engaging resources that are also safe and ethical (Pangrazio & Gaibisso, 2020, p. 42). At the same time, ensuring I am not promoting or perpetuating a protectionist approach to using technology or the internet, I have included one external link, this going directly to a valid, educationally relevant and safe website ‘Brittanica.com’.

Technology Employed

Four different resources were employed for this learning experience in order to maintain student interest at they move through the sequence. Prior to engagement with said resources I have included an encouraging statement in first person, so as to ensure students still feel a personal connection to their educator, followed by simple but specific instructions. The purpose of this is to ensure students understand their responsibilities in engaging with the resource, ensure their personal safety as well as effective engagement with the content or experience.

Posters were selected as the first resource as well as encouragement to make notes to engage with multi-modal learning. This simple resource is something that they can refer back to when seeking to remind themselves of the historical concepts (that being the foundation knowledge for the entire learning sequence).

A video has been selected for the initial engagement with historical content, it is a fun, age appropriate video that provides a relevant but interesting overview of the essential historical knowledge. A Note Taker template has been included, again to provide students scaffolding in drawing out important information.

Crusading for Answers takes students out of the website and into Britannica where they can use their skimming and scanning skills to answer questions which then prepare them for the next activity, a Quizlet quiz. The Quizlet quiz is, in itself, a scaffolding resource which will prepare students for the formative assessment of a Kahoot Quiz.