Hayden Broadbent

S00134606
EDFD454 Curriculum Literacies
Assignment Two: New Media Literacies
PART A
During my third professional experience placement in 2014, I created and taught a two week
unit on Information and Communications Technology in Small Business in Year 11
Business Management, referenced here as Appendix One. Throughout this unit, students
participated in a range of classroom activities including class discussions and brainstorms,
note-taking from a PowerPoint presentation and an ICT application task designed to engage
them with content and achieve desired learning outcomes. Students were summatively
assessed by a topic test conducted at the end of the unit.
PART B
Despite the majority of students achieving great results in their assessment of the original
unit, demonstrating an understanding of the content taught throughout, in hindsight, it
appears that this unit could have been significantly enhanced had the approaches to teaching
and learning been modified. Though the ICT application task encouraged students to create
and apply content to real-life scenarios, no attempts were made to introduce elements of
Design (The New London Group, 1996, p.73) into the coursework, providing little
understanding of how meaning is constructed and used in a business sense. Similarly,
opportunities were not presented for students to engage with new media literacies, that is,
multiliteracies (The New London Group, 1996, p.63) a pedagogy [that] focuses on
modes of representation much broader than language alone (The New London Group, 1996,
p.64) during this unit, depriving their learning of a more contemporary and multimodal
(Kress, 2005, p.1) approach. In this same sense, ICT applications also appear to be somewhat
ineffective for learning: classroom technologies are ultimately used here to enhance the
general approaches to teaching that educators have always implemented (Hennessy et al.,
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2007, p. 157), rather than being integrated fully into the learning process. Thus, with respect
to Kathy Ann Mills, Amanda Levido (2011) and the iPed (p.80) framework , the original
unit has been completely redesigned, centring focus on new media literacy applications that
encourage critical thinking whilst also retaining some of the elements of the previous course.
In response to changes made, a new assessment task has also been developed to reflect a
more formative approach: now, students are encouraged to Link, Challenge, Co-create and
Share (Mills and Levido, 2011, p.82) their ideas and knowledge about content in pairs,
designing and producing their own website for a fictitious small business. In this sense, new
teaching and learning activities such as interpreting business data, conducting online
research and external website analysis combine with modifications to original approaches
to encourage students to engage with meaning-making and Design (The New London
Group, 1996, p.73) on a whole new level, providing students with a more well-rounded
approach to education in Business Management.

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PART C

YEAR 11 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Unit 1: Area of Study 3 Day-to-day Operations
Outcome 3: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Small Business
On completion of this unit the student should be able to discuss one or more of the day-to-day
operations associated with an ethical and a socially responsible small business, and apply the
operation/s to a business situation.
Key Knowledge
Key Skills
KK1: Strategies to select appropriate hardware
KS1: Accurately use relevant management
and software to meet small business needs;
terms;
KK2: Possible use of available technology such
KS2: Research the selected day-to-day
as databases, spreadsheet, presentation
operation/s of a small business using print and
software, Internet, podcasts, SMS, blogs or
online sources;
emerging technologies;
KS3: Acquire and exchange business
KK3: Uses of e-commerce;
information and ideas;
KK4: Implications of the use of available
KS4: Apply the selected day-to-day operation/s
technology and e-commerce such as benefits
to a practical and/or simulated business
and costs to the small business;
situation;
KK5: Reasons for, and methods of, ensuring the KS5: Discuss the ethical and socially responsible
security of technology and information;
management of the selected day-to-day
KK6: Ethical and socially responsible
operation/s.
management of ICT in small business.
Assessment
Description: Computer applications: website creation.
In pairs, students are to create a website for a fictitious small business of their own development,
demonstrating the required Key Knowledge and Skills at various points throughout the unit.
Duration:
Mark Allocation:
Key Knowledge: KK1, KK2, KK3, KK4, KK5, KK6.
Key Skills: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5.
Lesson No.
Key Knowledge Key Skills
Lesson Overview
Lesson 1
KK2, KK4.
KS1, KS2.
ICT in Small Business: An Introduction
Class discussions and brainstorms as to:
- What is ICT?
- How is ICT currently being used in
small business?
Cost-Benefit Analysis on the use of ICT in
small business.
Assessment Task:
Pairs allocated for assessment.
Plan fictitious business (i.e. name, product/
service offered, target market, image).
Research into website design of related
real-life companies for inspiration.
Lesson 2
KK1, KK2, KK4.
KS1, KS4.
Hardware, Software and Information
Systems:
Class discussions and brainstorms to
understand hardware, software and

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Commented [H1]: In contrast to the original unit, the

assessment task of creating a website will be the driving
force of this unit. As a new media literacy itself, students will
be encouraged to treat all features of the graphically
presented text as meaningful (Kress, 2005, p.2) through
principles of Design (The New London Group, 1996, p.73).
Commented [H2]: As outlined by Mills and Levido (2011),
the first phase of the iPed framework Link (p.82)
encourages students to identify and develop connections
between texts utilised and the relationships they have with
ones self, culture and the world outside the classroom
(p.82-83). In linking texts to their personal lives, the
development of a fictitious small business website invites
students to establish a company relevant to their own
interests or future employment aspirations.
Commented [H3]: Similarly, links between text and world
can be made by students throughout this unit, particularly
given the real-life applications of the assessment task and
the Year 11 Business Management course itself. Here,
internet research tasks and website analyses enable students
to draw conclusions about how businesses operate in
different countries, using this information to then design and
produce their own websites.
Commented [H4]: Given the nature of the technologicallydriven society we live in, inferences between text and
culture can similarly be made by students: increased
accessibility of the internet has permitted the development
of new media literacies (including websites) and thus a new
avenue with which businesses can interact with consumers.
Undertaking research and analysis of company websites
encourages students to evaluate the applications and
viability of ICT for small business.
Commented [H5]: Class discussions and brainstorms, a
teaching approach proven useful in the original unit,
encourage the collaboration of students and teacher in
classroom learning, as well as the sharing of ideas and
knowledge related to the use of ICT in small business.

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Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

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KK2.

KK2.

KK1.

KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS2, KS4.

KS1, KS2, KS4.

KS1, KS2, KS3.

KS1, KS4, KS5.

information systems and their applications

for small business.
Assessment Task:
Outline and discuss ICT components
required for day-to-day operations of
fictitious small business and website
construction.
Applications of ICT in Small Business:
Information and Data Collection
Introduction to spreadsheets.
In pairs, interpreting and drawing
conclusions from data in spreadsheets from
a real-life small business.
In pairs, using spreadsheet data to produce
new meaning (e.g. graphing).
Applications of ICT in Small Business:
Advertising and Promotion
Class analysis of business advertisements
(written and audio-visual) through meaningmaking devices such as:
- Colour.
- Size.
- Text.
- Image.
- Position.
Assessment Task:
Create a flyer or poster to advertise
fictitious small business to be included on
website.
Website Analysis:
Class analysis of business websites through
meaning-making devices, deciphering what
the websites suggest about the product or
service offered, the organisation itself or the
target demographic.
Assessment Task:
Develop a plan for the website design of
their fictitious business, including features,
text and images to be included.
Ethical and Socially Responsible use of ICT:
Case study: real-life example of unethical
and socially irresponsible ICT use in
business.
Class discussions and brainstorms as to:
- Why do small businesses need to
use ICT ethically and in a socially
responsible manner?
- How do small businesses maintain
appropriate use of ICT?
Assessment Task:

Commented [H6]: A modification of the original ICT

application task, this activity requires students to think
critically and draw appropriate conclusions about business
operations from a series of data: in this sense, students
become actively engaged with the interpretation and
reproduction of meaning.
Commented [H7]: Described by Mills and Levido (2011) as
a practice stemming from critical literacy and applied to
multimedia-based texts in a digital age (p.83), the second
principle of iPed Challenge (p.83) has also been
integrated into this unit. Here, analysis of advertising asks
students to challenge why businesses are promoting their
brand, product or service in a particular way, and what
meaning-making devices are being utilised to inform or
persuade the consumer.
Commented [H8]: Use of advertising here as a resource
for learning engages students with a text type that is
multiliterate that is, it combines more than just written
elements to produce meaning (The New London Group,
1996, p.63) and multimodal: meaning is produced through
a variety of visual, written, audio and/or gestural forms
(Cope and Kalantzis, 2009, p.166).
Commented [H9]: Through analysis of advertisements in
this lesson, students become engaged with semiotics
(Bezemer and Kress, 2008, p.172), understanding how mode,
medium and design combine to produce meaning.
Commented [H10]: Existing company websites can also be
seen as challenged in this unit: students are required to
identify and interpret what meaning-making devices are
saying or not saying about a businesss product or
service, target market, beliefs, values and aims,
understandings useful for planning their own fictitious small
business websites.
Commented [H11]: In the analysis of business websites
(as well as that of business advertisements), students would
ultimately benefit from applications of Luke and Freebodys
(1999) Four Resources Model, allowing students to engage
with such multimodal new media literacies in one of four
roles: code breaker, text participant, text user and text
analyst.

Hayden Broadbent
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Implications of being unethical and socially
irresponsible when creating website.
Lesson 7

KK1, KK2, KK5,

KK6.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

Lesson 8

KK1, KK2, KK5,

KK6.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

Lesson 9

KK1, KK2, KK3,

KK4.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

Lesson 10

KK1, KK2, KK3,

KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

Lesson 11

KK1, KK2, KK3,

KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

Lesson 12

KK1, KK2, KK3,

KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS3, KS4.

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Website Construction Part One: Assessment

Task
Direct instruction of whole class by teacher
in how to use website-creating software
(e.g. Weebly).
Establish features to be assessed (and thus
included) on websites.
Website Construction Part Two: Assessment
Task
Create website based on approved design
plans.
e-Commerce:
Class discussions and brainstorms as to:
- What is e-Commerce?
- Examples of e-Commerce in small
business.
Online research into how businesses are
engaging with e-Commerce today.
Assessment Task:
Pairs of fictitious small businesses team up
to engage in a new e-Commerce venture,
combining both of their businesses in some
way.
Create an outline, as well as a link on each
website, describing how this e-Commerce
venture will operate.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of new e-Commerce
venture.
Website Construction Part Two: Assessment
Task
Create website based on approved design
plans.
Website Construction Part Three:
Assessment Task
Opportunity provided for students to share
their websites with each other, providing
constructive feedback on how the design,
functionality, etc. could be improved prior
to submission.
Website Construction Part Three:
Assessment Task
Finalise website design based on student
feedback.
Submission of assessment task.

Commented [H12]: Co-create (Mills and Levido, 2011,

p.84) the third principle of the iPed pedagogy devised by
Mills and Levido (2011), draws attention to co-producing
media for real audiences (p.84), and is thus featured
predominantly throughout this unit. Here, the teachers
direct instruction about using website software would follow
the Co-create phase of instruction: predict demonstrate
and do (Mills and Levido, 2011, p.84-85).

Commented [H13]: The e-Commerce task also embodies

notions of Co-create (Mills and Levido, 2011, p.84), the
group work conducted linking activities of creation to the
real-world in the same way that companies would engage in
business partnerships.

Commented [H14]: The assessment task undertaken by

students also embodies the idea of Co-create (Mills and
Levido, 2011, p.84) as pairs of students work together to
create and design their own fictitious small business website.

Commented [H15]: In co-producing and publishing their

websites for assessment, students are provided with the
opportunity to present their text to an online community, an
action that ultimately engages them with iPeds fourth
principle: Share (Mills and Levido, 2011, p.87). However,
students are also encouraged to share their work with their
classroom learning community, seeking constructive
feedback from peers about potential improvements to their
websites prior to submission for grading.

Hayden Broadbent
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PART D
Through the incorporation of a range of multiliterate and multimodal new media literacies (as
well as the complete restructuring of the original course based on the framework set out by
Mills and Levidos (2011) iPed (p.80)), students of this revised Year 11 Business
Management unit are ultimately provided with greater opportunities to achieve desired
learning outcomes, the new unit establishing the senses of cohesion, direction and purpose in
classroom learning lacking previously. Unlike the former outline, all Key Knowledge and
Skills required of the unit are demonstrated (and on multiple occasions), giving students the
ability to learn and reinforce these understandings. In this sense, scaffolding (Davis and
Miyake, 2004, p.266) students to achieve success in a relevant assessment task throughout the
unit places greater emphasis on learning as a process, showing how incorporated teachings
combine to help students fulfil the learning objectives at the conclusion of the unit. In
speaking of this process, The New London Groups (1996) concept of Design (p.73)
becomes particularly integral to the structure of the revised unit: through initial guided
research of real-life examples of business websites, students are able to combine use of an
Available Design (p.74) with their developing Key Knowledge and Skills to co-create (i.e.
Designing (p.75)) a new text for the consumption of others, known as the Re-designed
(p.76). Additionally, integration of Luke and Freebodys (1999) established Four Resources
Model framework into website analysis would prove beneficial for students own website
development: as code breakers, students would be required to think critically about the design
choices made by website authors; as participants of the text, inferences about the purposes of
design decisions would need to be considered by students; as text analysts, students would
attempt to understand how the text correlates to the society at large before, as text users,
using this understanding to co-create their own fictitious small business website. Thus, the
use of new media literacies (as a facilitator of this overall learning process), as well as the
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Hayden Broadbent
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theories of Multiliteracies (The New London Group, 1996, p.63), multimodality (Kress,
2005, p.1) seek, through their co-creation of fictitious small business websites, to instil a
belief in students that meaning should not be attributed to just textual elements: images,
sound, gestures and spatial relationships are just as effective in communicating meaning
(Cope and Kalantzis, 2009, p.166), a particularly important lesson for students as future
business men and women, effecting the ways in which they may interact with consumers in
future day-to-day operations.

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References
Bezemer, J. and Kress, G. (2008). Writing in Multimodal Texts: A Social Semiotic Account
of Designs for Learning. Written Communication, 25(2), 166-195.
Cope, B. and Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New Literacies, New Learning.
Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), 164-195.
Davis, E. and Miyake, N. (2004). Explorations of Scaffolding in Complex Classroom
Systems. Journal of Learning Sciences, 13(3), 265-272.
Hennessy, S., Ruthven, K. and Brindley, S. (2007). Teacher perspectives on integrating ICT
into subject teaching: commitment, constraints, caution, and change. Journal of
Curriculum Studies, 37(2), 155-192.
Kress, G. (2005). Communication now and in the future. English 21. Qualifications and
Curriculum Authority.
Luke, A. and Freebody, P. (1999). A map of possible practices: Further notes on the four
resources model. Practically Primary 4(2), 5-8.

Mills, K. A., & Levido, A. (2011). iPed: Pedagogy for Digital Text Production. The Reading
Teacher, 65(1), 8091.

The New London Group. (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.
Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.

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Appendix One

YEAR 11 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Unit 1: Area of Study 3 Day-to-day Operations
Outcome 3: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Small Business
On completion of this unit the student should be able to discuss one or more of the day-today operations associated with an ethical and a socially responsible small business, and
apply the operation/s to a business situation.
Key Knowledge
Key Skills
KK1: Strategies to select appropriate
KS1: Accurately use relevant management
hardware and software to meet small
terms;
business needs;
KS2: Research the selected day-to-day
KK2: Possible use of available technology
operation/s of a small business using print
such as databases, spreadsheet,
and online sources;
presentation software, Internet, podcasts,
KS3: Acquire and exchange business
SMS, blogs or emerging technologies;
information and ideas;
KK3: Uses of e-commerce;
KS4: Apply the selected day-to-day
KK4: Implications of the use of available
operation/s to a practical and/or simulated
technology and e-commerce such as
business situation;
benefits and costs to the small business;
KS5: Discuss the ethical and socially
KK5: Reasons for, and methods of, ensuring responsible management of the selected
the security of technology and information; day-to-day operation/s.
KK6: Ethical and socially responsible
management of ICT in small business.
Assessment
Description: Topic test.
Duration: One period (50 minutes).
Mark Allocation:
Key Knowledge: KK1, KK2, KK3, KK4, KK5, KK6.
Key Skills: KS1, KS4, KS5.
Lesson No. Key
Key Skills
Lesson Overview
Knowledge
Lesson 1 &
KK1, KK2.
KS1, KS4.
Use of PowerPoint Presentation to
2
deliver content, structured so as to:
- Encourage note-taking.
- Prompt questions at indicated
intervals throughout presentation.
- Conduct class brainstorms.
- Facilitate class discussions.
- Apply ICT concepts to businesses of
the real world.
Lesson 3
KK4.
KS1, KS4.
Cost-Benefit Analysis:
Students to analyse the costs and
benefits of three real-life scenarios and
make a decision accordingly.
Lesson 4
KK2, KK3.
KS1, KS4.
Use of PowerPoint Presentation to
deliver content, structured so as to:
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Hayden Broadbent
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-

Lesson 5 &
6

KK1, KK2, KK4,

KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS4, KS5.

Encourage note-taking.
Prompt questions at indicated
intervals throughout presentation.
Conduct class brainstorms.
Facilitate class discussions.
Apply ICT concepts to businesses of
the real world.

ICT in Small Business: Application Task

Part A
Students to use ICT software to create:
- a spreadsheet;
- a set of business documents,
including a business card, business
letterhead, a business form and a fax
sheet for a specific small business
(real or fictitious);
- a poster/ flyer or a website (home
page with two linked pages) for a
selected small business (real or
fictitious)
- a multimedia presentation that
provides an overview of the chosen
small business (real or fictitious).
to either:
- Solve a small business problem.
- Streamline a small business (make it
run more efficiently).
- Improve the effectiveness of a small
business.
- Advertise a small business.
Part B
Students to then write a 1 page
minimum report that explains how the
ICT tool selected has been used to
achieve the objective for the small
business in Part A.

Lesson 7

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KK6.

KS1, KS5.

Ethics, Social Responsibility and

Stakeholders:
Students to participate in class
discussions and brainstorms in defining
ethics, social responsibility and
stakeholders and their respective
implications for the use of ICT in small
business.

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Lesson 8

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KK1, KK2, KK3,

KK4, KK5, KK6.

KS1, KS4, KS5.

Assessment: Topic Test