Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

ICT Resources Statement

QR Codes
Quick Response (QR) codes are a flexible tool that can be used in a number of educational contexts.
Not only can teachers use QR codes to link students to a variety of websites, videos, images and
virtual locations, but they can also be used to cater for different learning styles and abilities. As QR
codes can enhance teaching and learning in these ways, they have been embedded as one of the ICT
tools in this project. In Lesson One, students are immersed in a QR code activity, involving students
researching their assigned animals using QR codes that link to a variety of instructional materials. As
one of the key emphases in the Australian Curriculum is critical thinking, this activity has been
designed to enhance students skills in filtering through pieces of information to access what is
relevant.

Socrative
Socrative is a versatile website and app resource that allows teachers to pose questions to students
quickly, and allowing for responses to be stored in ways that traditional discussions cannot be.
Consequently, in addition to allowing the teacher to receive (and store) instant feedback at the end
of the lesson about students attitudes and/or understandings, it can also be used at the start of
learning as part of a teachers diagnostic assessment. Vitally, Socrative also allows teachers to save
and download students responses, which is a crucial element of teachers professional
accountability.
Our project uses Socrative in two ways. In Lesson One, it is used to develop students metacognitive
skills through self-reflection, allowing them to share what areas of content that they are and are not
confident in. Used formatively, the teacher can then use the data to inform future planning in ways
that are focused upon students learning needs.

Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

In Lesson Four, Socrative is used as a peer-assessment tool, allowing students to gain awareness of
how to be an effective group member.

Google Slides
Google Slides is an online platform for creating collaborative presentations, which has a number of
applications within the classroom. Google Slides is a useful tool for several reasons; it allows learners
to collaborate and share information in real time (whether in the same physical classroom or not), it
encourages all students to actively contribute, it saves documents automatically, and they can be
accessed via a range of devices.
Google Slides has been integrated into Lesson One of this project, as a way for students to organise
information and maintain accountability for each of their research roles. Not only does Google Slides
enable students to seamlessly organise all of their learning into a single document, but it also allows
group members to monitor each other, and allows the teacher to remotely monitor how students
are progressing. As such, Google Slides presents teachers and students with a number of advantages
for enhancing the teaching and learning process.

Padlet
Padlet is an online board where students can post ideas and comments. With the ability to be
embedded and linked, students can easily access a particular Padlet that the teacher has created, to
post quick answers, ideas and questions.
For this ICT integration project, Padlet is used at the beginning of Lesson Two to prompt students to
remember what they learnt in the previous lesson. As such, it is used as a scaffolding tool, whereby
students not only post something that they remember, but can then also read others comments
about what they thought was significant too. Underpinned by a constructivist approach, students
are then better positioned to build new understandings upon their elicited prior knowledge.

Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

Glogster
When used as part of an innovative approach to teaching and learning, Glogster allows students to
become active content creators. With a number of templates available to guide them, students are
able to create multimedia posters that can be linked and embedded. Glogster is extremely flexible as
a learning tool, allowing students to create biographies, interactive posters, infographics, virtual
journeys (for example, as part of a geography project), class bulletins, and digital campaigns.
Glogster has been selected for use in this ICT integration project for several reasons. Featuring in
Lesson Two, each group is required to collaborate on a Glogster poster, which they will then link to
an (English-speaking) class in Beijing.
Firstly, creating such posters enables students to better develop their multiple literacies, enhancing
their fluency in using image, text, video and audio to create meaning. Secondly, it also fosters critical
thinking, as students are required to present their understandings using relevant digital components.
As a result, Glogster can be used to teach a variety of 21st century skills and general capabilities.

Skype
Skype has a number of applications for enhancing modern learning, by opening up new educational
opportunities for global connection and collaboration. Students are able to use Skype to work on
international or interstate group projects, conduct interviews with key people around the world or in
the community, and use it to go on virtual excursions.
In Lesson Two, students use Skype to connect with other groups (working on a similar project) to
teach each other what they are learning. Each group is provided with a username to connect to their
pre-assigned groups, and a URL link to the other groups poster. This allows groups to interact with
their matched groups posters, facilitating peer tutoring in real time.
Such an activity adds a global dimension to learning, in which students can experience a new angle
to how the environments in other parts of the world influence different animals. It also allows

Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

students to consolidate digital citizenship, as they learn how to ethically engage in online
behaviours.

Google Forms
Google Forms is a tool that allows students and teachers to easily create online surveys. Students
can use them to submit information about their learning styles and interests at the beginning of a
year, to create feedback sheets for other students during their own peer-assessments (becoming
explicitly aware of assessment criteria), or to survey other people within and beyond the classroom.
Teachers can also use Forms to enhance learning, by using them as a formative assessment tool
(gauging understanding during learning and making adjustments for future learning), and to get
students to reflect on their learning.
Google Forms was used throughout this ICT Integration Project. In Lesson Two, students use a
Google Form to answer an exit ticket question about what they learnt about animals and their
physical environments from their matched Beijing group. In Lesson Three, students answer a quick
question about why internet sources may or may not be reliable, and in Lesson Four, students
answer a question about why animals hibernate. As such, Google Forms is highly flexible, allowing
students to demonstrate their understandings, reflect on their learning, and become more selfdirected by providing open-ended feedback to the teacher.

Blabberize
Blabberize is a free web 2.0 resource that is used to create speaking photos. Students are able to
upload pictures into Blabberize, before adding audio dialogue to make the picture speak. Blabbers
can be saved, shared and embedded, using them to add an interactive component to a number of
different learning activities.
In Lesson Two, Blabberize is used as an extension activity, in which groups who finish their Glogster
poster early can add animated pictures to their project. This allows students to transform their

Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

learning further, by using their own voice and interpretations to represent their animal saying
information about itself.

Skitch
Skitch is a (free) app that is used for annotating images. Simple to use, Skitch can be an effective tool
of visual communication within the classroom, for both teachers and students. For example, it can
be used to edit screenshotted work, make notes on visual texts, label diagrams, or as a blank
whiteboard that can be emailed and shared online.
Within this project, Skitch has been used in Lesson Three to assess students critical thinking. After
students load a prepared image of a habitat into the app (from the photo album), they are required
to annotate the image to identify how humans can have an impact on the environment, and
therefore on different animals. Whilst a similar activity could be done using paper, using Skitch
provides opportunities to share work onto class blogs and online newsletters, to use in digital
portfolios, and to allow for more interactive engagement from students.

Voice Record Pro

This app is a high quality voice recording tool, which students can use in a variety of ways. This app
was chosen because not only is it simple to use, but it also allows for fast exporting via email, Google
Drive, OneDrive, website upload, and sharing to platforms such as YouTube (among others). In
Lesson Three, groups will be using this app to record a podcast of them debating the question
should Australia have a national plastic bag ban? Voice recording and podcasting apps such as
Voice Record Pro have a number of advantages for enhancing learning. Firstly, they are a powerful
way of enhancing students speaking and listening skills, allowing students to listen to themselves
and make adjustments where necessary. This can also be a particular advantage for allowing English
as a Second Language students to practice their English. Secondly, students can share their podcasts
with other classes and schools, whether through QR codes, on a blog, or on social media.

Ashlee Bendeich, Jones Millichamp-Parry, Samantha Gamble, & Kerry-Lee Jacobsen

Dropr
Dropr is a creative website tool for students to create (free) digital portfolios. Once students have
created their account, they are able to add multiple pages through a simple drag and drop process
of the different files that they want to include. Students are able to add images, interactive files,
text, video, audio files, and even 3D files, allowing for a multidimensional presentation of learning
which would not be possible without digital technologies. Once published, each project can also be
embedded into a class blog, allowing parents and other students to see students work with ease.
For these reasons, Dropr has been selected as a tool in this ICT Integration Project for students to
create their final digital portfolios in Lesson Four. Students are required to use different media to
present four required content pieces, but following that, groups are able to select what other items
of their learning that they think are valuable. As such, students are required to become more selfdirected in their learning, exercising critical judgement and creativity when making their portfolios.

Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is a simple web platform allowing students to create visual mind maps. In addition to
enabling students to collaborate on a document, when finished, mind maps can be printed, emailed,
downloaded or embedded. Bubbl.us is a flexible resource that has many uses in the classroom; mind
maps can be used to allow students to present what knowledge they have at the beginning of a unit
(diagnostic assessment), brainstorm ideas, organise notes during learning, and create flow charts.
In Lesson Four, one student in each group will create a Bubbl.us mind map for one of their required
portfolio items. Whilst it is one students role to create the brainstorm that presents ways of caring
for habitats, the student is able to share the mind map for other group members to collaborate on.
Once finished, the mind map can then be saved and shared in a number of ways, transforming the
traditional brainstorming process.