Many modern day classrooms now have technology readily available for students, with teachers encouraging students

to utilise
this technology. It is obvious that education is moving towards a future dependant on technology and ICT resources in the
classroom. Schuler (2009b) puts forth a statement in Teaching Exceptional Children that 35% of applications were targeted at
pre-schoolers, 12% elementary aged children and 4% middle school ages, which solidifies this idea, that students need to be
technologically aware and knowledgeable. When considering these percentages and the learning environments which
students are being exposed to, it is clear that student learning in the area of ICT needs to be catered for, otherwise teachers
are underpreparing them for their future endeavours. With this in mind our group have decided to incorporate a number of ICT
resources in addition to the internet, to cater for students technological awareness.
Although we have intertwined a number of ICT resources, this statement will only discuss the learning implications which Dipity,
Gold Rush 2 and Padlet have on student learning. Throughout this statement, reasoning will be given as to the resourcefulness
of these tool for all three previously stated ICT resources (Dipity, Gold Rush 2 and Book Creator 2).
Dipity
Dipity is a digital timeline creator instigated with the sole purpose of being quick and easy for both students and teachers. This
ICT tool allows students to collaborate a number of different computer files such as videos, audio and texts to be uploaded and
visible on the timeline, creating a more interactive feel, apposed to the traditional printed time lines lacking space. Dipity also
allows users to integrate Youtube videos, links, Google map locations, time stamps and many more options, this allows
research to become more visibly appealing while still allowing students to synthesise a number of resources.
Our group selected Dipity for a number of reasons, a few of them are as follows:

allows for map locations to be apart of the timeline entry, giving students a deeper insight into the event or situation
taking place.

gives a lot of areas to add detail.

very interactive and engaging.

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allows teachers to see the progress of each timeline by the viewing of time stamps. Time stamps are issued any time
a student makes an entry or updates an entry; this allows teachers to be more aware of student progress.

students are able to comment on other students work, which can help build a good classroom atmosphere on the
conditions its constructive feedback.
Student who partake in our lessons will see Dipity used as the primary ICT tool. This will see each student contribute
information to the time line consecutively each lesson, allowing the students to see the time line progress.
Gold Rush 2
Gold Rush 2 is an interactive learning game, giving students insight into Australian history, particularly the Gold Rush period.
This particular ICT tool is very deliberate in making learning engaging and stimulating. It takes them on a journey of discovery,
through different tasks and environments, getting them to look intentionally for specific items at times. This ICT tool also gives
context of the gold rush period through short documentaries and copies of the original documents. For these reasons we have
selected Gold Rush 2 to be the main learning component for our third Lesson: Gold Rush. It delivers very rich content in a way
that engages and stimulates student learning.
Padlet
Padlet is a very versatile ICT learning tool that can be used in a number of different ways to stimulate student thinking and
involvement. Padlet has the ability to be set up in a number of different ways: Freeform, Stream and Grid. This ICT tool is great
for student input as it can be set either on private or public, allowing students to comment without fear of being called out (if set
on private). Our group incorporated Padlet because of this ability. We used Padlet as a discussion forum, allowing students to
not only answer the pre-organised questions but also build on other students thoughts and remind students that having a
different opinion doesnt mean your wrong it just means you see a different perspective (on the conditions its an open ended
task).
Although we used Padlet as a discussion forum it can also be used in a number of different ways, a few are listed below:

digital wall
bulletin board
portfolio
notes
reflections
messages
concept maps.

As you can see from the brief discussion of ICT integration in the lessons above, it is critical to incorporate ICT tools not only in
technology based classrooms but in all Cirriculum strands. Through this integration, students are stimulated and learning at the
required capacity but are more engaged and switched on, promoting intrinsic learners which is the goal of all learning
environments.