Years 7 and 8: Campaign!


Introduction

Students use digital technologies to create and communicate a campaign. The campaign might be local, regional or even broader. It should aim to inform or develop an audience’s awareness about a cause and encourage them to act.   

Students explore the formats and characteristics of effective campaigns. They analyse how these campaigns:

  • engage audiences
  • communicate messages such as problems, issues, aims, solutions or actions

Learning activities are provided for two sample campaigns:

  • in Sample 1 students choose an issue for their campaign
  • in Sample 2 students campaign to protect an area of environmental significance

The learning activities require students to combine their ICT capabilities with specific knowledge, skills, techniques and processes from Digital Technologies, Media Arts and English, to create a multimedia campaign. This cross-curriculum approach allows students to develop an understanding of a complex problem from different perspectives.

                 

                                                                       Campaign idea – solve a litter problem                                               Campaign idea – technology recycle / reuse / repurpose program

Learning activities

Students learn about campaigns and then plan, run and evaluate a campaign. They present their work u a multimedia format. Options include:

  • animation, documentary, film, mockumentary, music video, video, visual essay, including as appropriate AR, MR, VR or XR, or
  • slide presentations that incorporate oral and written texts, still or moving images, sound or animation
  • multimedia report on criteria for success, designs, options, project plans.

To begin:

Introduce/review the concept of a campaign.

Classroom activities may include:

  • using dictionaries to source definitions of the term ‘campaign’
  • discussing different types of campaigns, such as military, social, political
  • evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a recent campaign
  • researching an effective campaign from a range of perspectives
  • exploring what makes an effective message, slogan or catch-cry.

Next:

Plan, run and evaluate a campaign.

Aim:

To motivate the school community to make a change, adopt a behaviour/habit or understand an issue.

Task:

Students choose a ‘cause in need of a campaign’ and work collaboratively in pairs, small groups or as a class to plan, design, develop, run, and then evaluate the effectiveness of a campaign to achieve its aims.  Some topics for consideration and inspiration include:

  • recognition of people, places or events 
  • environment, ecology and habitat 
  • transport safety
  • online safety 
  • health promotion 
  • cultural and community engagement 
  • social justice 

Students use:

  • ICT to research, plan and design a campaign
  • digital technologies and multimedia to develop, run and evaluate the campaign.

Learning activities

Provocation

A wetland of environmental significance and importance to the school community is under threat. What can students do to ensure it is protected?

Task

Students design a multimedia campaign to highlight the plight of the local wetland, taking into account competing factors and considerations. In pairs, groups or as a class, students work collaboratively to plan, design, develop, run and evaluate a campaign to encourage community action. 

Students can use a range of:

  • digital technologies to research, plan and design a campaign
  • multimedia to develop, run and evaluate the campaign.

The activities have been organised around three key headings:

  • campaign
  • create and collaborate

*substitute other relevant spaces or environmental issues as appropriate, for example open-space, creek, park, threatened species