EDEC29001 - Meaning Making Through The Arts and Technology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Young children make and communicate meaning about their world in multiple ways, particularly through their engagement with the arts (visual arts, dance, drama, music, storytelling, media) and technology. Building from your developing knowledge of curriculum frameworks pertaining to The Arts and Technology and the general capabilities, you will research contemporary meaning making processes available to young children and explain how teachers support such meaning making in early childhood learning environments as they engage in curriculum decision making. Through the careful design of learning spaces, including natural spaces, you will demonstrate your understanding of children’s development, strengths, needs and interests and also ensure that all children can participate. Reflecting on early childhood pedagogies, you will identify potential issues with ICT use and propose strategies to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching. You will gain personal and practical experience in using the different symbol systems and ways of understanding and representing and making meaning of the world. The unit will equip you with dispositions for valuing the use of The Arts and Technologies for effective teaching and learning and with a working knowledge of some fundamental tools that can be applied across curriculum learning areas in early childhood contexts.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 37.5% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Self-reflection
Feedback
The hands-on nature of learning supported the development of student confidence in teaching through the Arts and with technologies.
Recommendation
Continue this approach with the established theoretical base for learning.
Action Taken
Theoretical connections to practical activities contributed to learning and growth in student confidence.
Source: Self-reflection
Feedback
The timing of tutorials during the day was prohibitive for full student engagement.
Recommendation
Consider scheduling online tutorials for after school hours.
Action Taken
Tutorials were scheduled for after school hours.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
A lot of content to be covered and while some of the activities were useful sometimes the amount was quite overwhelming.
Recommendation
Reflect on the relevance of activities to assessment and essential learning.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
A really valuable and enjoyable unit with lots of resources for my future teaching career.
Recommendation
Keep revising the unit as needed for best practice and continued relevance.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Personal reflection
Feedback
Many students did not attend tutorials, despite offering these after school hours as previously requested.
Recommendation
Consider offering split or alternating times for tutorials to enable all to attend at least half.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Research meaning making processes that children use to communicate about the world and explicate pedagogical implications for teachers
  2. Analyse curriculum documents to identify the guidance provided in relation to pedagogy and also to identify the implications for your ongoing learning about the meaning making process
  3. Design provocation spaces that invite children’s engagement and provide opportunities for them to respond in multiple ways and enable inclusive student participation and engagement
  4. Articulate how knowledge and understanding of children’s development, strengths, needs and interests are reflected in design spaces and the possibilities for learning afforded to children
  5. Synthesise how the web of possibilities, including pedagogical choices, contribute to addressing the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum and the learning outcomes in the Early Years Learning Framework particularly in relation to literacy and numeracy and ICTs
  6. Critically reflect on potential issues in relation to the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT to support the learning and teaching of young children.

Learning outcomes and assessment in this unit provide opportunities for students to engage with content and practices in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Stage) focus areas of:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students

1.2 Understand how students learn

1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

3.1 Establish challenging learning goals

3.3 Use teaching strategies

4.1 Support student participation

4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning




Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • •
2 - Communication •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • •
4 - Research • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8