Rationale:

The significance of integrating ICT into curriculum and lesson planning has
never been more significant than what it is now. Technology and the way we
communicate is moving forward at a breakneck pace, it is critical that teachers
help to better prepare their students in any way possible, as in this digital age,
young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT (MYCEETA, 2008, pg 5).
My approach is aimed toward better integrating the use of ICT in Business and
Economics Studies for year levels 5-6, by allowing students the opportunity to
utilise personal computers and laptops within lessons wherever possible.
Reports such as the Horizon Report K-12 by NMC state that technological
tools are successfully helping to connect curriculum with real life applications
(NMC, 2015, pg 10) and students that are involved in curriculum that is based
around real life application. Students who are able take control of how they
engage with a subject outperformed students just using the traditional textbook
approach (NMC, 2015, pg 10). So it is with this in mind, that I have tried to
utilise the ICT artefacts in laptops and PCs, giving students the ability to access
the many features of Web 2.0 such as YouTube videos, interactive digital
educational games and allowing students the opportunity to utilise search
engines to explore the vast array of resources available on the internet in a
format which mirrors a real-life scenario of investigating costs to determine the
cheapest, most efficient way to travel to a destination.
In addition to the importance of ICT skills in all aspects of life, I believe
that the integration of ICT into the curriculum of Business and Economics Studies
is essential. Primary school Business Studies obviously leads onto students
completing Business Studies at secondary level - it is assumed that students
involved in the subject at that level have a strong interested of being involved in
the business world in some capacity after they have completed their schooling.
With this in mind, it is critical that students of Business Studies have an excellent
understanding of ICT, its application and importance that it has in the business
world as ICT has become the foundation of every sector, of every economy,
everywhere (Kramer et al, 2007, pg 7).
The ICT artefact that I plan to integrated into my teaching of Business
Studies are laptops or personal computers. There are a myriad of benefits
associated with the use of laptops in schools and classrooms, as identified by the
federal government in 2007 when they rolled out of laptops for students to
utilise as part of the Digital Education Revolution (Arlington, 2015). Laptops
have the advantage over a tablet of being a tool that can be used both
individually and especially for small group work and other collaborative
exercises (Mann, 2012). The utilisation of laptops in a business studies
classroom can allow for different and potentially more effective in-class learning
activities and provide students the opportunity to engage differently in the
material (Mann, 2012). Research has shown however that just simply giving
students access to new technology will not guarantee better results for
students, instead laptops should be tools for the understanding of skills, the

Blake Watherston

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EST204 Assignment 2

inquiry and the concepts within the discipline and it is up to the teacher to
determine where and how the use of computers will add value (Arlington, 2015).
My plan is to achieve this by allowing students to access laptops to
complete activities and tasks that have been devised or access other content
that has been created, relevant to the Business Studies Australian curriculum.
The devised lessons will ensure that students have the chance to take advantage
of their laptops to explore the world of Web 2.0, play interactive online games,
create spreadsheets and view media content, all of which will enrich and develop
their business and economic studies knowledge and skills. Studies carried out on
the use of laptops in classrooms over a period of four years found that laptops
were more regularirly used in lessons by ICT/Computer, Science and Economic
teachers (Moses et al, 2013, pg 294), provided excellent rationale for my
adaption of laptops in the business and economics curriculum area.
An ICT tool that has become extremely useful in the classroom during the
advent of Web 2.0 is YouTube. My lesson plans have numerous YouTube videos
included as a teaching resource. My goal in incorporating YouTube videos is not
to use them as a substitute for classroom discussions or lecture, but utilise the
YouTube video to keep students more interested and engaged (Cleveland,
2011). A similar goal is to help to use YouTube videos as a tool to re-enforce and
help students to gain better understanding of less content, as studies have
shown that student attitudes toward YouTube videos being incorporated into their
lessons as very positive, with 94% believed in improved their overall learning
experience, along with 89% who believed YouTube increased their ability to recall
the material that was being presented (Cleveland, 2011). However with all the
learning benefits of YouTube, there are some associated pitfalls that I have
personally experienced with YouTube videos that will need to be taken into
account. Problems I have encountered include the time it takes to wade through
the vast array of videos to find content that is relevant to what students need to
learn, the fact that the source and information contained in the video may not be
completely reliable and the problem of videos being removed by owners which
could be particularly frustrating if a lesson plan is highly dependent on the
YouTube video.
Introducing Web 2.0 in an activity-based way is a strategy to implement
ICT into my teaching approach for business and economic studies lessons. My
approach will have students utilising internet searches and online information in
both individual and group based activities to solve business-related real-life
problems and accessing Web 2.0 technology to investigate a business issue. An
inquiry-based approach is an effective pedagogical approach to deeper
understanding of curriculum, having students constructs their own knowledge
based on exploration and personal experience (NMC, 2015, pg 10) and the
activities are designed on the basis of students trying to solve a problem that
they could easily encounter in real life. This will help them develop the essential
skill of online researching, as both universities and employers will expect young
people to know their way around the internet to access and sort through multiple
sources, to find relevant information to solve a problem (Muthler, 2015).

Blake Watherston

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EST204 Assignment 2

An additional strategy adopted to utilise the power of Web 2.0 at the same
time as integrating ICT into a lesson, is the use of online games. In this unit, one
of the particular online interactive games that I have chosen has been developed
especially for use for year levels 5 to 6 Business and Economic Studies and
completely aligned to relevant Australian curriculum (ASIC, 2015). This game
involves students working together in groups to help the characters in the game
resolve the problems they are experiencing with excessive mobile phone bills,
students are required to help point out to the characters why their bills are so
expensive, as well choose the best strategy that will help each character keep
their phone bill manageable. Not only does this task have students working
together to solve a real-life problem and develop useful life skills but they will
also be highly engaged in doing so as students become highly motivated when
playing online games (Power, 2010). Moreover, not only are students engaged
in activities that are computer-based that increase rates of in-class participation
and student motivation (Hembrooke et al, 2003), we are also told that computer
games are extremely useful in supporting critical thinking, problem solving,
discovery learning and decision-making (Mayer, 2005).
My personal teaching philosophy and goal is to create a successful
learning environment where students of all ability and background can learn in a
positive environment that is fun, engaging, hands on and relevant. I firmly
believe that the incorporation of ICT into lessons will go a long way to achieving
this goal.

Blake Watherston

s282796

EST204 Assignment 2