Lesson Plans

The two Business-Oriented Lesson Plans for Assessment #2:

Business Lesson 1:
Applying Selling Techniques

Business Lesson 2:
Monitoring and Evaluating Selling Techniques

Alternately, if you have trouble accessing those links I have uploaded the lessons as PDF files in the "Lesson Plans" folder, under the Commerce group on our edmodo site.
Access using the login:
Email: kimberley.saberton@hotmail.com
Password: philosophie

Rationale for Assessment # 2: Digital artefact, Web 2.0 tools and PBL

The purpose of these business-oriented lessons is to develop the theoretical business element to the Promotional Campaign which the students will be developing for their Group Project throughout the unit. Prior to these lessons, students will have been introduced to the more traditional classroom pedagogy style of teaching and learning, to understand the theory behind the selling process and product/service promotion strategies. The two lessons developed for this unit are more involved with the practical development of skills through the application of Web 2.0 tools to the group projects.

The idea behind the creation of an edmodo for our lessons is to create a virtual classroom, which allows students 24/7 access to course information, collaboration with fellow students, and teacher feedback potentially outside of classroom hours. This 24/7 access to information and resources lends itself to the idea of ‘flipping the classroom’, which enables students to access and learn course content outside of the classroom. This potentially allows teachers more time to teach the practical application of the lesson, as opposed to majority of time spent on comprehending a topic. Also, flipping the classroom enables students to have access to all classroom notes and other important information at any time of day, which is very convenient and removes a potential barrier to study, and therefore provides a greater chance of academic success. 

The lesson structure used provides students with direct-instruction and demonstration of selected Web 2.0 tools. Through the SmartBoard or projected image, teachers are enabled to demonstrate skills and processes with the tools simultaneously to the whole class, with visual aid. Students are then able to explore the tools, with the teacher present for questioning and feedback where wanted/necessary.  

The idea of project-based learning is brought into the classroom, with students given an assessment task at the beginning of the unit, which they will work toward both within and outside of classroom time in groups, applying knowledge and skills obtained from the course, to the project to satisfy a final set of criteria. This method of learning and teaching is based highly on enquiry based methods, with students learning effectively by doing. The entire assessment is scaffolded by being broken into smaller tasks, all of which are touched on in class, providing students with a framework surrounding activities and tasks. 

The developed lessons bridge the gap between theory and practice. For example, the Monitoring and Feedback activity in Business lesson 2 requires students to first understand the purpose of monitoring, and then analyse different surveys to determine the best way to go about it based on theory elements such as survey bias and formatting. This knowledge is then applied in a practical way, with students developing their own individual survey, using what they determine to be the best techniques found in their analysis. Further analysis of surveys is then required with group collaboration to incorporate the best of all their members’ surveys into one group survey for feedback on their project campaign. All aspects of the promotional campaign are considered during the lessons, with students adapting their knowledge and new skills to suit the needs of the campaign which they have chosen to promote. 

This integration of teaching and assessment with the project-based learning element is designed to engage students on a higher level and allow them more control and creative freedom over the unit, while staying within the specified guidelines of the assessment task.  

Web 2.0 Tools

An integral element of any promotional campaign is the monitoring and evaluation stages, which allow businesses/organisations to measure the effectiveness of their promotional strategies on the intended audience.

The student's project includes an element of monitoring and evaluation, which must be included in the timeline developed. The second business-oriented lesson will be teaching students how to develop a survey using the online tool "Free Online Surveys" (http://freeonlinesurveys.com/). Each student will be required to develop a survey consisting of a minimum of 12 and maximum of 16 questions, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the promotional campaign while it is in operation.

Free Online Surveys is an online tool which allows for the quick and easy development of surveys, which can be conducted online.

 

This tool allows students to develop suitable questions, and appropriate multiple choice answers, as well as the option to allow consumer responses other than the allocated options.
This tool allows for a printed version of the survey, with the upgrade, however the free version provides students with a link to their survey, which students will be required to upload to edmodo or email to the teacher to demonstrate completion for marking as part of the assessment.

The survey tool has the options for different visual settings and options, providing output similar to the following:

 

 This tool allows students to create a survey, and understand the process of consumer feedback from the intended audience. The development of questions is perhaps the most important aspect of this lesson as feedback questions must be sure to be free from bais, and allow for consumer opinion in a manner which allows for statistical analysis to determine results and thus effectivenesss of the campaign.

Tutorial Week 10 -14/10

Lessons:

Scope and sequence shows the bulk of theory having been taught in previous lessons, allowing for these lessons to be dedicated to the practical application and use of Web 2.0 tools integrated into the lessons. 

Web Tools Used:

·         Edmodo – the main tool used. Online learning environment, providing students with course materials, links to Web 2.0 tools and other helpful site, provides a platform for communication and feedback.

·         TimeToast – timeline creator. Simple and easy to navigate and create. Platform for students to create promotion schedules.

·         Glogster – Poster/blog. Designed to document the students ideas and progress through the assessment. Teacher able to see student’s progress and thought process, and provide help and feedback where necessary. Students provided with a list of things which must be documented (date of lessons, what they achieved, ideas and problems encountered/solutions found)

Lesson 1:

• Students guided to edmodo at the beginning of each lesson.

• This lesson is designed to create a timeline for the promotional campaign
  - Students must decide which of the promotional tools they wish to use, when they will be implemented, monitored and controlled.

• The last 10 minutes of each lesson is dedicated to students updating their Glogster poster. 

Lesson 2:

• This lesson will be dedicated to the development of a promotional tool
  - Students will have the option of getting assistance with the tool of their choice.

LESSON PLAN DRAFTS:

LESSON PLAN 1:

COURSE: Commerce STAGE: 5       TOPIC: Promoting and Selling           
DOT POINT: Applying Selling Techniques
PLACE IN SCOPE & SEQUENCE - Term:             Week:

Focus: Students are implementing theoretical knowledge of Promoting and Selling, into the practical assessment, using Web 2.0 tools to develop and document their Promotional Campaign and progress. Time Allocation: 1 lesson – 60 minutes		Resources: ·          Desktop computers – 1 per student ·          Whiteboard markers
Outcomes: 5.1 applies consumer and financial, business, legal and employment concepts and terminology in a variety of contexts 5.4 analyses key factors affecting commercial and legal decisions 5.6 monitors and modifies the implementation of plans designed to solve commercial and legal problems and issues 5.8 explains commercial and legal information using a variety of forms 5.9 works independently and collaboratively to meet individual and collective goals within specified timelines
Students learn about:	Students learn to:	Integrated teaching, learning and assessment:	Evidence of learning and feedback:
Applying Selling Techniques ·       Processes associated with the development and implementation of selling techniques for a product or service	·      Analyse the selling techniques used to market a product or service to maximise profit ·      Investigate a number of these selling techniques for a product	TEACHER: Directs student to edmodo for the materials and resources necessary for the lesson. - Resources for this lesson include examples of each of the promotional tools for students to see and understand before choosing for their assessment. TEACHER: Leads class discussion through the different tools and potential options STUDENT: Participates in discussion, looking at the tools and examples provided, evaluating each and decising which they prefer for their assessment piece. TEACHER:  On monitor/smartboard out the front, runs students through a demonstration of TimeToast. Instructing students to complete their own for their group.  Each student is to create a timeline, then the group is responsible for collaborating and creating a group timeline in their own time.  STUDENTS: Use TimeToast to create an individual timeline as they wish. Group collaboration can result in using a nominated students timeline, combining them, or creating a new one all together.

Proformas - Lesson Plan & Scope & Sequence

Here are the options for proformas - both for lesson plans and scope and sequence.

We will be providing a basic scope and sequence to allow for understanding of where our 4 chosen lessons fit into the greater scheme of the planned unit.

The first lesson plan proforma allows for more specific information to be put into the lessons, with specifc spots allocated for outcomes, assessment strategies, lesson flow, risk assessment/management, reflection and evaluation. It allows for everything to be placed into the one plan, providing a conprehensive overview of the strategies, activities and tools chosen. I have however not used this lesson plan format before.

The second pro-forma is a simpler version. It provides space for basic information at the top, and leson outcomes, resources, syllabus points addressed, and assessment strategies/indicators. This proforma is the one I have used previously, setting out lessons in the format of teacher direction/pedagogy choices & what students do in response. This can include detailed information about the web 2/0 tools chosen.

Scope and sequence can have a fairly basic layout. The first one allows for more information to be included in each topic, which is more what we need. We won't need to include more than the one unit we are covering (Promotion & Selling/Commercial Art), and can go into more detail than the sample does.

The second scope & sequence is perhaps too broad for what we need. It will show the unit in the scheme of the year however its not very detailed. An adaptation of this plan, including elements from both could proide more of what we need.

Tutorial Week 9 - 23/9

Exploring Web 2.0 Tools for business lessons:

Timeline:

The ideal timeline web2 tool will be an interactive, simple and effective timeline generator that is free, easy and accessible online. 

·         ‘ReadWriteThink’, basic timeline generator. Printable and very easy to use:
- http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline/

·         ‘Timetoast’ – Requires sign up (potential problem).  (http://www.timetoast.com)
- Easy to use
- Timespan available
- Great  tool!

Of all the timeline tools availble on the web which I have seen, Timetoast appears to be the most suitable for the lessons we are planning. It allows students to set a timeframe (how long the whole campaign will run), and add each event within that time frame, including title, date, image and description. The timeline can be viewed as a whole, as is shown in the first image above, and then each event individually in greater detail (image 2).

These timelines aren't publicly available, which is ideal for student privacy and any issues that may have been raised with that. 

The issue that potentially arises with this web tool, is the need to create an account and validate email before use. A possible way around this problem, is to give the students my login, as each account can have multiple timelines created within it. This also creates the opportunity for all timelines to be in the one place for monitoring and marking purposes. 

Glogster provides students with a creative medium to document their ideas and progress throughout the assessment process. They will be given a list of things that MUST be blogged (glogged) as it is done, and the option to include extras if they wish. 

Potential Web 2.0 Tools for lessons

Timeline tool: Student could propose a timeline for their promotional schedule. Including the elements of the schedule, when promotions will be released, evaluated, feedback provided, etc.

Possible medium:

·         xTimeline (http://www.xtimeline.com/index.aspx)
- Web-based tool, does not require email validation to use. (For privacy reasons, this is a good feature – does not require students to submit their personal or student email to any third party websites)
- Allows authors to choose who can see, edit, comment on and access the timeline
- Timeline is simple and clear to follow, and relatively easy to make with some guided instruction

·        

Reflective blog: To track students progress through their project. Allows for teacher to see where students are with the project, and monitor progress, providing feedback where helpful and necessary.

·         Glogster (http://www.glogster.com/)
- Creates blog in poster form
-  Each student can choose design and content elements for individuality
- Allows teacher to follow student progress and provide feedback