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Introduction

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“CTRL+Ad: Who’s Shaping Your Choices?” is a Year 9/10 Media Arts unit aligning with the Victorian Curriculum. It explores how advertisements influence consumer choices and empowers students to create their own persuasive media. Spanning six lessons – (1) Decoding Persuasion, (2) ACMI Gallery Visit, (3) Planning an Ad Campaign, (4) Production Workshop, (5) Screening & Reflection, and (6) Showcase & Celebration – the unit integrates diverse media resources, teacher support materials, and assessment strategies. Throughout the unit, students engage with authentic advertisements, utilize creative technologies (e.g.  iMovie, Adobe Express), and receive scaffolded guidance (handouts, templates, reflection prompts) to develop critical media literacy and production skills. Formative assessments (like storyboards, peer feedback and reflections) and summative assessments (the final ad campaign product and a written reflection) are woven in to monitor progress and evaluate outcomes. The following sections detail the resources and supports used in each lesson, as well as the assessment approaches employed, all with professional alignment to curriculum standards and teaching best practices.

Lesson 1: Decoding Persuasion

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Resources and Materials: In the introductory lesson, students decode how persuasion works in advertising. The teacher provides a “language of persuasion” handout outlining common techniques (e.g. pathos, logos, ethos)readwritethink.orgreadwritethink.org. This resource helps students recognize emotional appeals, logical claims, and credibility tactics in ads. Students view curated advertisements (visual and audio) – for example, a TV commercial or YouTube ad relevant to teens – and use an analysis worksheet to identify persuasive techniques used. A ReadWriteThink lesson plan for Grades 9–12 on advertising provides a model: students learn about persuasive strategies (appeals to emotion, logic, and credibility) and analyse ads across print, TV, and web, before eventually creating their own ads for a target demographicreadwritethink.org. Such examples help illustrate the breadth of media forms and marketing concepts (like target audience and demographics) that students consider from the outsetreadwritethink.org. The teacher might show a short explainer video (e.g. The Art of Rhetoric in Advertising) to reinforce these concepts. Additionally, print ad examples or campaign posters are displayed in class for a gallery walk, enabling students to visually deconstruct slogans, imagery, and branding. These visual resources are often tied to curriculum content about how media elements convey meaning and influence audiencesvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au. By the end of Lesson 1, students practice annotating an ad’s features and discussing how text, images, and sounds are carefully crafted to persuade consumersreadwritethink.org. This decoding activity builds critical media literacy, fulfilling Victorian Curriculum aims for students to “analyse the way in which audiences make meaning and how audiences interact with and share media artworks”victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.auvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au.

Teacher Support: To scaffold learning, the teacher uses guided discussion questions and analysis handouts. A handout may list common advertising techniques (e.g. bandwagon, celebrity endorsement, emotional appeal) along with definitions and examples, so students can reference them during analysis. The teacher might also show a slide deck with labeled examples – e.g. dissecting a famous Superbowl commercial – modeling how to identify persuasive elements. Throughout the lesson, the teacher facilitates think-pair-share activities where students decode ads in pairs and then share insights, ensuring everyone engages with the content. This interactive support helps students articulate their observations using media terminology (for instance, identifying “weasel words” or “snob appeal” in an adreadwritethink.org). By providing clear criteria and examples, the teacher sets the stage for deeper analysis in subsequent lessons.

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Assessment (Lesson 1): The focus here is on formative assessment. The teacher circulates during activities, observing and noting students’ ability to recognize persuasive strategies (informal observational assessment). Students complete a short written reflection or exit slip where they list 2–3 techniques found in an ad and reflect on how those influenced them – an activity building towards self-reflection skills. This informal reflection is collected as a diagnostic tool to gauge understanding and to plan needed review. By decoding real advertisements, students establish a foundation for the creative tasks to come, and the teacher identifies who might need additional support with media literacy concepts.

Lesson 2: ACMI Gallery Visit

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Resources and Materials: In Lesson 2, students venture to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) to connect their learning with real-world media history and practice. ACMI’s Story of the Moving Image exhibition offers “rich learning opportunities for students of all ages,” letting them explore how screen culture and technologies have evolvedacmi.net.au. During the gallery visit, students engage with interactive displays on film, television, and advertising. Notably, the exhibition’s “Moving Minds” section features a special exhibit on 50 years of anti-tobacco advertising, a collaboration with Cancer Council Victoriacancervic.org.au. This exhibit showcases creative public health campaigns over decades, from satirical early ads to the famous modern commercials that dramatically reduced smoking ratescancervic.org.aucancervic.org.au. For instance, students might watch the iconic “Bubble Wrap Lung” anti-smoking ad – a memorable public health commercial – as an example of persuasive media targeting behavior changecancervic.org.au. Such historical and socially significant advertisements are curriculum-aligned resources that illustrate how media can shape choices and reflect societal values. The ACMI visit thus reinforces key content: students see firsthand “how social and ethical issues influence the making and use of media artworks,” as the Victorian Curriculum expects by Year 10victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au.

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To maximize learning, ACMI Education provides teacher resources for before, during, and after the visitacmi.net.au. Prior to the excursion, the teacher reviews museum etiquette and learning objectives, perhaps sharing a preview video or ACMI’s online materials about relevant exhibits. At the museum, students might use an ACMI Gallery Worksheet – a handout of guiding questions and a scavenger hunt for specific displays. For example, prompts could include: “Find an advertisement in the exhibit. What is its key message and what techniques does it use to attract attention?” or “Identify how older advertising technologies differ from modern digital advertising.” Students record observations and answers as they move through the galleries, keeping them focused and engaged. The use of the ACMI Lens (a tool that lets students collect digital artifacts from exhibits) is encouraged so students can “save what they have made and collect information about what most interests them” during the visitacmi.net.au. This multimedia record will be valuable back in the classroom.

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Teacher Support: The teacher’s role is active in this lesson – facilitating the excursion and connecting it to curriculum goals. Teacher support materials include pre-visit briefings, group discussion at the exhibit, and post-visit debriefing. For example, at ACMI the teacher might gather students around a particular installation (such as the anti-tobacco ad display) and lead a brief talk linking it to persuasion: “What emotions do these anti-smoking ads appeal to? How do they use shock or humor to influence the audience?” Students are encouraged to answer on the spot, applying concepts from Lesson 1 in a new context. This guided inquiry at the museum helps students process the exhibition content more deeply. After returning to school, the teacher uses a post-visit reflection session to consolidate learning – students share one surprising thing they learned and how it relates to advertising’s influence. The teacher might also provide a visual mind map template for the class to collaboratively map connections between historical advertisements and contemporary techniques (e.g., comparing a 1970s print ad to a 2020s Instagram ad). By tying museum insights back to classroom learning, the teacher ensures the gallery visit isn’t an isolated experience but a core resource that enriches the unit.

Assessment (Lesson 2): Assessment remains formative. The completed ACMI worksheets serve as artifacts of learning – the teacher reviews them to check for understanding (e.g., did the student grasp how a specific exhibit piece demonstrates persuasive messaging?). Additionally, student contributions in discussions (at the museum and afterward) are noted. These observations allow the teacher to gauge engagement and identify any misconceptions to address. For example, if a student misunderstood an exhibit’s message, the teacher can clarify it in the debrief. This formative use of the gallery experience aligns with best practice: a “range and balance of assessment” techniques (observation, discussion, written notes) gives students multiple ways to demonstrate understandingqcaa.qld.edu.au while the unit is in progress.

Lesson 3: Planning an Ad Campaign

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Resources and Materials: Having analyzed professional examples, students now plan their own advertisement or mini campaign. The teacher provides several key resources to scaffold this creative planning phase. First, students receive a Creative Brief Template – a document prompting them to define the product/service or social message for their ad, the target audience, the key message (“advertising slogan” or persuasive appeal), and the intended media format. This mirrors industry practice (a campaign brief outlines objectives, audience, and message) but is simplified for student use. Next, students use Storyboards to visualize their ad concepts. A storyboard template (with panels for sketches and lines for dialogue or voiceover) is supplied, either in print or via an online tool. “A storyboard is a graphic layout that sequences images to tell a story, used for planning motion pictures, commercials, etc.”studiobinder.com. By sketching their shots frame by frame, students plan out how their advertisement will unfold. For instance, a group creating a 30-second video ad will draw 6–8 panels showing the opening scene, key product shots or text, and the closing call-to-action. This process helps them ensure their narrative and persuasive elements are logically ordered. Some students might alternatively plan a series of social media posts or a poster if the unit allows multi-modal campaign outputs – in such cases, they could use Canva templates to design a mock-up of an Instagram ad or a billboard.

To inspire quality work, the teacher shares exemplars and visual aids. This could include a sample storyboard from a previous year or an example campaign plan. There may also be curriculum-linked media resources like YouTube clips of ad “behind the scenes” or interviews with advertisers, illustrating how much planning goes into professional ads. Additionally, students recall the ACMI visit insights (e.g., how campaigns were crafted for specific audiences) and integrate those ideas – perhaps a group decides to emulate a humorous tone after seeing the satirical anti-tobacco ads at ACMIcancervic.org.au. The planning lesson encourages research too: students might look up existing advertisements in their product’s sector (e.g. how are soft drinks typically advertised to teens?) to inform their approach, aligning with content descriptors about experimenting with media conventions and “manipulating media representations to examine social values”victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.auvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au.

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Teacher Support: Throughout the planning process, teacher support is crucial. The teacher might begin with a brainstorming session using a whiteboard or digital mind-mapping tool: collectively listing products or social issues students care about (e.g. sustainable fashion, mental health awareness, a new gadget) that could be the focus of their ads. This primes the students’ creativity. Next, the teacher explicitly teaches how to use the storyboard – possibly by drawing a quick example on the board and thinking aloud about shot composition (“We start with a close-up of the product to grab attention…”). The teacher also distributes a storyboard checklist outlining what elements to include (scene descriptions, camera angles, dialogue, sound or music notes) to guide student work. As students write their creative briefs and sketch storyboards, the teacher circulates and holds consultation mini-meetings with each group to provide feedback and guidance. For example, if a group’s concept isn’t clearly targeting a specific audience, the teacher might ask, “Who are you trying to persuade, and what appeal will work for them?” This coaching helps students align their plans with persuasive techniques suitable for their demographic. The teacher might also encourage use of technology in planning: students can use Canva’s free storyboard templates or even collaborate in Google Slides to create a storyboard digitally, which some may find more accessible than hand-drawingcanva.com. These tools (available through Canva for Education, which is free for K-12 schoolsadobe.com) make the planning process more engaging and shareable.

Additionally, a peer review of storyboards is incorporated. The teacher provides a simple peer feedback sheet where students exchange storyboards with another group and give written feedback on strengths and suggestions (“Glow and Grow”). Peer feedback protocols like Glow and Grow encourage students to “respectfully critique work by highlighting what glows (works well) and what could grow (be improved)”theartofeducation.edu. This not only improves the plans but builds students’ ability to analyze media critically from a creator’s perspective. Teacher-provided sentence starters (“One thing I really like is…”, “One question I have is…”) scaffold this peer critique.

Assessment (Lesson 3): This lesson features formative assessment of planning artifacts. The creative brief and storyboard each team produces are collected (or reviewed in real-time) by the teacher. These serve as assessment for learning , the teacher checks that each group has a viable concept and that required elements (target audience, intended persuasive appeal, planned beginning-middle-end, etc.) are addressed. In fact, aligning with Australian Curriculum exemplars, the teacher may formally assess the storyboard before production as a safety and feasibility checkpointaustraliancurriculum.edu.au. In a similar Year 9/10 unit, students’ pre-production planning was assessed with a focus on criteria like creative intent and safety considerationsaustraliancurriculum.edu.au. The teacher provides formative feedback (either written or via a quick conference), praising effective ideas and posing questions where plans need refinement. This feedback loop ensures that by the end of Lesson 3, each group has a clear, well-thought-out plan and is ready to move into production. Students also self-assess their preparedness using a short checklist (e.g., “We have identified our key message,” “Our storyboard shows how we will use at least one emotional appeal,” etc.), fostering responsibility for their learning. No summative grades are given yet, but this checkpoint is critical – it’s an “assessment for learning” step that improves the final outcomesaustraliancurriculum.edu.au and is documented by the teacher for reference.

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Lesson 4: Production Workshop

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Resources and Materials: In this hands-on session, students bring their ad concepts to life. The classroom transforms into a mini production studio. Technology resources are at the forefront: students use digital cameras or iPads/smartphones for filming video footage, and school-provided laptops or tablets for editing. Software tools recommended include iMovie (for those on Mac/iPad) and Adobe Express (a free online video editor) for assembling their advertisement. These user-friendly tools enable adding music, text overlays, voice-overs, and other effects with no cost, aligning with accessible tech integration in media arts (Adobe Express is “free for K-12 schools” and designed for easy video and graphics creationadobe.com). Some students creating print or social media ads might use Canva or Adobe Express to design posters, banners, or social media graphics, leveraging templates for professional-looking layouts. All these tools are chosen for their educational availability and alignment with industry-standard practices (e.g., learning basic timeline editing in iMovie mirrors techniques used in pro software like Final Cut Pro). Indeed, an ACMI workshop for Year 9/10 called “Marketing Magic” had students “produce and edit their own” promotional media using professional software (Final Cut Pro X, Dragonframe) after planningacmi.net.au. Our classroom mirrors this on a scale appropriate for students: using simplified tools to achieve similar outcomes – shooting, editing, and refining a persuasive media piece.

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Teacher Support: The teacher provides substantial support in this production phase, both technical and organizational. At the start, a brief production meeting is held: each group quickly states what they aim to accomplish (filming scenes, recording voice, editing, etc.) so the teacher knows who might need help and to ensure all have a realistic plan for the period. The teacher has prepared equipment (cameras, tripods, microphones if available) and ensures they are in working order. Safety and responsible media practice are emphasized – e.g., if filming around the school, students must follow guidelines (as aligned with “responsible media practice” in the curriculumvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au). A short tutorial or refresher on the chosen editing tool is given: for example, the teacher might demonstrate on a projector how to import clips into iMovie, cut a clip, add a title, and insert background music. This mini-lesson, possibly using a simple example footage, gives students confidence to start editing.

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During work time, the teacher circulates like a film director/mentor: one moment helping a group frame a camera shot, the next troubleshooting an editing question for another group. For instance, if a group struggles with audio levels in iMovie, the teacher can guide them to the volume adjustment tools. The teacher also keeps an eye on time management and teamwork – ensuring students stick to roles (camera operator, editor, actor, etc.) and collaborate effectively. In collaborative media arts, the process is as important as the final product, so the teacher’s monitoring of teamwork and problem-solving is key. Students are encouraged to solve issues creatively; the teacher prompts rather than directly fixes whenever possible (e.g., “How else might you convey that scene if that camera angle isn’t working?”). This echoes a co-learning stance, where teachers and students explore new tools together, building creative confidence (as seen when teachers introduced iMovie storyboards by “playing and exploring” the new features alongside studentseducation.apple.comeducation.apple.com).

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The teacher also provides a resource table – e.g., art supplies for making quick props, extra printouts of storyboards if plans change and need re-sketching, and a reference sheet of “Technical Tips” (covering common issues like shaky footage or readable text design). If any group finishes early or is waiting (e.g., for their turn to use a quiet space to record audio), the teacher might have an extension task: viewing an example ad on the side to analyze its editing techniques, thus continuously learning. By the end of the workshop, each group should have either a first cut of their ad or substantial raw footage and design assets ready to assemble.

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Assessment (Lesson 4): During production, assessment is formative and observational. The teacher uses an observation checklist or journal to note each group’s progress, technical skill development, and collaboration. Criteria observed might include: effective use of equipment, application of planned storyboard, teamwork and problem-solving, and creative decision-making. These observations inform immediate feedback – for instance, the teacher might intervene to suggest simplifying an over-ambitious idea if a group is struggling (to ensure they can complete the product). Students are also encouraged to keep a process log (short journal entries or vlog snippets) describing challenges faced and how they solved them. This not only helps them later write their reflection but also serves as a self-assessment of their production skills. By tracking who needed extra help or what common difficulties arose (say, many students had trouble with audio syncing), the teacher can address those in the next lesson’s reflection session. No formal marks are given yet, but the groundwork is laid for the summative assessment: the footage and drafts produced will be edited into final form before screening. Notably, any mid-production peer feedback is also gathered – for example, partway through editing, groups might pair up to preview each other’s rough cuts and give a quick “audience perspective” reaction. This peer assessment encourages a continuous improvement mindset and ensures that students think about audience impact (a core element: making media for an audience and getting feedback on its effectiveness). Overall, Lesson 4’s assessments feed forward into improving the final products, embodying the idea that “ongoing feedback supports learner growth” in arts educationarteducators.org.

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Lesson 5: Screening & Reflection

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Resources and Materials: With production mostly completed, Lesson 5 is dedicated to sharing the work and reflecting on outcomes. The class turns into a mini film festival where each group’s advertisement is screened for peers. The teacher prepares the necessary equipment: a projector or large display, speakers for audio, and a computer loaded with all student videos or digital projects. If some campaigns include print or static ads, those are either printed large or shown on slides. To set a reflective tone, the teacher provides a Reflection Worksheet or Prompt Guide. This handout contains scaffolded reflection questions aligned to both the process and the final product. Example prompts: “What persuasive techniques did you use in your ad, and why?”, “How effective do you think your advertisement is for the intended audience?”, “Describe one challenge you encountered during production and how you overcame it.”, “What would you do differently next time?”. These questions map to curriculum goals of students evaluating how “technical and symbolic elements are manipulated to make meaning” and considering “their role as media artists and audiences”victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.auvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au. They also prompt use of media arts vocabulary in explanations (e.g., using terms like camera angle, editing, appeal, target audience).

During the screenings, peer feedback forms are utilized. Each student receives a simple peer review sheet to fill for each ad they watch (or for a selection, if many). This form is structured with prompts to “describe, analyse, interpret, and evaluate” the peer’s adteacherspayteachers.com. For instance, it might have sections like: Describe: “What happened in the advertisement? What was the product or message?”; Analyse: “What persuasive techniques or media elements did you notice (e.g., sound, color, slogans) and how were they used?”; Interpret: “What do you think was the intended message or feeling? Who is the target audience?”; Evaluate: “What did you like best? What could be improved or clarified?”teacherspayteachers.com. This aligns with art education practices where peer feedback is guided to be constructive and focused on specific criteria. One proven approach is again the Glow and Grow method: peers write one “glow” (something that worked well) and one “grow” (suggestion for improvement) for each ad, ensuring balanced feedbacktheartofeducation.edu. The teacher might simplify this for efficiency, e.g., ask each student to verbally share one glow or grow comment after each screening, while one student volunteers note them on the board.

After all projects are viewed, the teacher leads a class discussion reflecting on common themes and effective strategies observed. This is supplemented by referring back to earlier lessons: “Remember how we saw in Lesson 1 that certain words trigger emotions? Which ad today did that effectively?” or “At ACMI we saw historical ads aimed at social change – did any of our ads also try to change viewers’ behavior or beliefs?”. Such questions connect students’ work to broader media arts contexts and reinforce learning outcomes about social and ethical dimensions of advertisingvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.auvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au.

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Teacher Support: The teacher’s role is facilitator and coach during reflection. To support students who might be shy or overly critical of their own work, the teacher establishes a positive, respectful atmosphere for critiques, reminding everyone of class norms (focus on the work, be kind and specific). The teacher might model feedback first: for example, after the first screening, offer a glow (“The music you chose really set an exciting tone and will appeal to your audience”) and a gentle grow (“One thing that could make it even stronger is a clearer text overlay at the end with your slogan, so it sticks in viewers’ minds”). This sets the expectation and tone for peer comments. The teacher also uses the reflection prompts to spark oral sharing: asking a group to briefly explain their concept and what they felt went well, then inviting others to respond. If needed, the teacher probes deeper (“You mentioned using humor – why did you think humor would persuade your audience? Did it work as expected?”) to push students to analytical depth, aligning with higher-order thinking in the Arts curriculum (analysing and evaluating their creative work).

Additionally, the teacher ensures every group receives sufficient feedback. If any project doesn’t get many comments from peers, the teacher adds more observations so that each team leaves with a rich set of notes. The reflection worksheets that students fill out are supported by allowing time and quiet space for writing. Some students may prefer discussing first then writing; the teacher can accommodate different reflection styles (small reflection groups vs. individual writing time). Since reflecting on both process and product is crucial in arts education, the teacher might share an artist’s statement template as well – guiding students in writing a brief statement about their piece’s intention and what they learned. This practice, similar to writing an artist statement or a curatorial rationale, helps crystallize their insights and is a professional practice in media arts.

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Assessment (Lesson 5): Reflection activities here serve both formative and summative assessment roles. Formatively, the peer feedback and class discussion allow students to immediately learn from each other and consider improvements (useful if they have an opportunity to tweak their project before final showcase). Summatively, the student reflection worksheets can be assessed as part of the final unit evaluation – they demonstrate the student’s ability to evaluate their own work and learning. According to art education standards, effective assessment in the arts often “includes learner reflection and evaluation on the creative process and the final product”arteducators.org. Thus, the written reflection (with its use of subject vocabulary and critical analysis) is a key piece of evidence of achievement. The teacher will later grade these reflections against criteria such as depth of insight, use of media terminology, and honest evaluation of successes and challenges. The peer feedback forms are not graded, but the teacher reviews them to ensure each student participated thoughtfully in critique (this can be a component of assessing collaboration and communication skills). Self-assessment also comes into play: students might rate their own ad’s effectiveness or their teamwork on a rubric, which the teacher collects. All these pieces contribute to a comprehensive picture of student learning. By comparing initial plans (storyboards) to final products and hearing students’ own critiques, the teacher can judge growth – an approach recommended by arts educators to measure how students have refined and completed artistic work from conception to presentationeducation.delaware.gov. In sum, Lesson 5’s assessments emphasize reflection, aligning with the idea that students should “describe how feedback and viewing the work of others helped them evaluate and refine their own work”education.delaware.gov – a metacognitive skill that is explicitly nurtured.

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Lesson 6: Showcase & Celebration

Resources and Materials: The final lesson is a celebratory culmination of the unit. Students showcase their finished advertisements to a wider audience, turning the classroom (or school hall) into an ad showcase. Resources for this event include any required presentation equipment (similar to Lesson 5’s setup). If feasible, the teacher may invite an audience beyond the class – for example, other classes, teachers, or even parents – to view the students’ work. Alternatively, the showcase could be virtual: uploading the ads to a school website or private YouTube channel, or setting up a gallery of print ads in a common area. The teacher might also create a program or digital slideshow that introduces each project (e.g., listing the title of the ad, the creators, and the product or campaign focus) to give the showcase a professional touch.

Additionally, this lesson often features certificates or awards. The teacher may prepare fun awards for each team (e.g., “Most Persuasive Visuals,” “Best Use of Humor,” “Audience Choice Award”) to recognize specific strengths – ensuring every project is celebrated for something. These can be simple printed certificates or even digital badges. Background music and snacks (if permitted) can add to the celebratory atmosphere, reinforcing that this is a positive recognition of students’ creative efforts.

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Teacher Support: In organizing the showcase, the teacher’s logistical and motivational support is key. The teacher ensures that all media files are working and queued in order, troubleshoot any last-minute technical issues, and coordinates with any guests. As an emcee, the teacher might introduce each ad campaign briefly, highlighting the context (e.g., “Next up, we have an ad by Group 3 promoting eco-friendly fashion – pay attention to how they use parody to get their message across.”). This frames the viewing for the audience and gives students pride in their work. After each screening or display, the teacher leads applause and might invite the creators to stand or say a few words about their project – a great confidence booster and a moment of ownership for students as young media artists.

The teacher also facilitates a closing reflection conversation with the class post-showcase (once guests have left, if applicable). Questions like “How did it feel to share your work with a larger audience?” or “What did you learn from seeing everyone else’s ads in a showcase setting?” prompt students to recognize the real-world aspect of media arts – media is meant to be distributed and seen by audiences. This connects back to the Victorian Curriculum expectation that students by Level 10 can “plan, produce and distribute media artworks for specific audiences and contexts”victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Indeed, having an actual audience, even if just peers from other classes, gives authenticity to the task of distribution.

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Finally, the teacher provides closure by summarizing achievements: recounting how far they’ve come since Lesson 1 (from deconstructing ads to producing them) and linking the experience to future learning or real life skills. For example, the teacher might note that the critical thinking and creativity shown are exactly the skills needed to navigate today’s media-saturated world – reinforcing the unit’s essential question of “who’s shaping your choices” and how now the students can be more in control and even shape messages themselves.

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Assessment (Lesson 6): The showcase itself is largely a platform for summative assessment of the final product. The teacher (and possibly invited staff as additional evaluators) assesses each group’s advertisement against a rubric. Criteria likely include concept and message clarity, use of persuasive techniques, creativity and originality, technical execution (audio/visual quality or design quality), and suitability for intended audience. Since this is the summative task, it is graded. For instance, the Australian Curriculum work sample for a Year 10 advertisement unit describes that students were graded on how well their ad communicated a message on a social issue and the technical/symbolic elements usedaustraliancurriculum.edu.auaustraliancurriculum.edu.au. Similarly, our unit’s summative assessment judges how effectively each student-made ad employs media conventions to persuade and communicate meaning, and how well it reflects the planning and effort invested.

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In addition to the product, the individual reflection (from Lesson 5) is typically collected as part of the summative assessment package. Students’ ability to articulate their learning and critique their work is assessed, as noted earlier. There may also be a self-assessment component: the teacher could ask each student to submit a short self-evaluation of their contribution to the project and what they learned. This encourages honesty and self-reflection and can be factored into an individual grade for collaboration or process.

Peer and 360-degree assessment at this stage can be valuable too. The results of any audience vote or peer-choice awards are not part of formal grading, but they provide another perspective on each ad’s impact. The teacher might include a very simple peer ranking or feedback form for the showcase (e.g., “Which ad would most make you want to buy the product? Why?”) to emphasize the idea of authentic audience reaction. In arts education, showcasing and celebrating work is recognized as a means to value student creativity and encourage further growthsites.google.com. By showcasing student media works, we “celebrate the creativity and technical prowess within our community while encouraging learning and growth in the industry”sites.google.com. In sum, the showcase lesson wraps up assessment by combining a formal evaluation of the final outputs with a communal appreciation of the learning journey, leaving students with a sense of accomplishment.

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Assessment Strategies Overview

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Formative Assessment: Across the unit, formative assessment is continuous and varied, enabling students to demonstrate learning in process. In early lessons, class discussions, decoding exercises, and worksheet responses allow the teacher to gauge understanding of persuasive techniques. Middle lessons use planning documents (briefs, storyboards) and teacher observations of production skills as formative checkpoints. The emphasis on formative feedback aligns with best practice: assessment is seen as an “ongoing process” linked directly to learning objectivesqcaa.qld.edu.au. The teacher uses these opportunities to give timely feedback that students use to improve their work before the final submission. For instance, feedback on storyboards (Lesson 3) and on rough cuts (Lesson 4) helps students refine their approach. Even the ACMI visit worksheet and discussions serve as formative assessments, checking students’ ability to connect theory with real-world examples. By employing a range and balance of assessment methods, from written reflections to observations to peer review, the unit gives every student multiple avenues to show their skills and understandingqcaa.qld.edu.au.

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Summative Assessment: The summative assessments for the unit consist of two main components: (1) the final advertisement product (or campaign materials) produced by each group, and (2) an individual reflection or evaluationby each student. The final ad is assessed using a rubric that covers both creative and technical criteria, as well as how well it fulfills the intended persuasive intent. This ties directly to curriculum standards – e.g., evaluating how well students “integrate and shape technical and symbolic elements for specific purposes and meaning”victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.auvictoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au, and how effectively they “communicate viewpoints to an audience”. The individual reflection is assessed for insight and understanding, demonstrating the student’s achievement in the Respond and Interpret strand (analysing their own and others’ media artworks)victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au. By including the reflection as summative, we ensure students are not just graded on the media artifact they made, but also on their critical thinking about the process and product. This dual approach aligns with arts education recommendations that performance assessment in the arts should include both creation and reflectionarteducators.org.

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Additionally, there is a component of self- and peer assessment integrated, though primarily for formative purposes. Students perform self-assessment through checklists and reflective prompts at multiple stages (planning, after production, after showcase), which helps develop their ability to critique their own work – a valuable skill and part of the assessment as learning. Peer assessment happens via feedback forms and discussions. While peer feedback itself isn’t used to assign grades, it enhances the reliability of students’ own evaluations and often motivates students to do their best knowing their peers are an audience. In some cases, the teacher might include a minor peer-/self-assessment component in the overall grade (for example, having students rate their teammates’ collaboration contributions, which the teacher considers in an individual process grade). This encourages accountability and mirrors real-world team project evaluations.

Throughout, the assessment design respects that in media arts, the process (ideation, planning, producing, reflecting) is as important as the final product. By the end of the unit, the teacher has compiled a rich body of evidence for each student: initial analyses, plans, the final ad, and reflections. This comprehensive approach ensures alignment with the Victorian Curriculum achievement standards, which require students to demonstrate both creative production and analytical evaluation skills by Year 10victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au. It also supports student learning by providing feedback loops and multiple milestones rather than a single high-stakes endpoint. In summary, the unit’s assessment strategy is multifaceted – blending formative check-ins with summative evaluations – to fully support student achievement and growth in media arts.