EDUC1751

Analysis of Technological Artefacts

Two Technological Artifacts

Top: This etymology unit is an example of what I consider to be a relatively good digital artifact.

Bottom: A fairly rudimentary unit on letter writing which lacks any real depth of learning opportunities.

Etymology Unit

Etymology Unit

The unit starts with a simple warm up exercise in the form of a memory game that introduces the students to some words that they may be

unfamiliar with and which will crop up again later in the lesson.

Etymology Unit

Main room with as yet inacessable objects marked with red padlocks.

Information Screen 1 Information Screen 2.

The students direct the action by clicking on one of the available options.

Most of the possible exercises are unavailable at the beginning and have to be unlocked by the user. However there

is no indication of what the activities behind each button will be so the student

direction is to that extent more or less ostensible.

Etymology Unit

The TV is unlocked first.Students must have prior knowledge of the words'

current meaning, most of them being fairly common, but with one or two exceptions. Help is offered if and when students

make mistakes.

Etymology Unit

Etymology Unit

It uses examples from the text to talk about language techniques students have

learned about in previous classes, i.e. alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor, once again reminding the students what the terms mean if they get them wrong.

Etymology Unit

Etymology Unit

The changing attitudes towards indigenous people are hilighted eg. language that was acceptable back

then, may now be considered offensive.

Etymology Unit

The changing attitudes towards indigenous people are hilighted eg. language that was acceptable back

then, may now be considered offensive.

As well as how the language of newspapers has changed over the last century from more to less

formal and how it has changed as technology has

evolved.

Etymology Unit

Etymology Unit

Juxstaposition

Etymology Unit

Juxstaposition

Abbreviation

Etymology Unit

Juxstaposition

Abbreviation

Rebus

Etymology Unit

Juxstaposition

Abbreviation

Rebus

Tone

Etymology Unit

Here the unit steps the difficulty level up a notch, with this activity on the Canterbury Tales. Most adults wouldn't understand many of the words on this

page, so the unit is obviously providing an extra challenge for the students who may have flown through the other activities.

Audio support.

Letter Writing Unit

Letter Writing Unit

Audio symbol.There is no audio support for the visually impaired etc.

Letter Writing Unit

Letter Writing Unit

Letter Writing Unit

Letter Writing Unit

Letter Writing Unit

Conclusion:

The first artefact focused on the topic of etymology in a focused and succinct way linking grammatical terms from various contexts and making connections with

other disciplines such as History and Sport.

The second artefact was very simplistic, it basically does the work for the student without discussing any of the ideas it's attempting to demonstrate and with very

little opportunity to demonstrate understanding. The unit was very linear, prompting students to input specific information, with no feedback as to whether the information they were inputting was correct. The engagement with the use of

language was only very superficial and there was no prior modelling of what was required, meaning that the finished letter could easily turn out wrong

without the student, or even the program, knowing the difference. There were no links with prior knowledge or other disciplines and no alternative perspectives

were considered, eg. how letters might differ between cultures etc. There was no examples of real world applications for this type of letter and no effort was made

to make learning meaningful or accessible to students.

Analysis of a Technological Artifact

Jason Walls

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