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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>I was a bit surprised to only get one response to the
question below a couple of weeks ago. Does that mean that nobody else finds this
difficult to judge?<BR>Imagine you were an experienced IT practioner and you
came in to teach this course with no prior knowledge of it and you were trying
to figure out what depth was required in programming. So you look at the
following :</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>1. Study design - very hard to know (see comments in
original message) </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>2. 2006 IS exam - nothing beyond nested IF's - nothing
involving arrays, records, files. One question with a loop was only concerned
with identifying variable types, but not control or data
structures.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>3. Previous exams - basic use of 1-dim array, basic
looping</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>3. VITTA practice exams - suggest you need to have a
solid understanding of arrays, records, file processing and parameter passing.
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>4. Text books - cover algorithms for stacks, queues,
linked lists etc</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>At the end of the day, past exams to me are the only
general indicator of the depth to cover. Is there a reason why the
study design can't spell this out more clearly?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=976521423-15112006>Frank</SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> is-bounces@edulists.com.au
[mailto:is-bounces@edulists.com.au] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Frank Van Den
Boom<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, 25 October 2006 12:41 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
is@edulists.com.au<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Year 12 Its] New IS study design
query<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Today I started
looking more closely at the revised study design to plan for next year. One of
the things that struck me is that it is difficult to know what the minimum
content requirements are in a number of areas. For example-data structures. I
don't think it specifically mentions any particular data structure. U4O1 key
knowledge includes "methods of organising files....serial, sequential, random"
which implies the need to cover records. Arrays are not specifically referred to
and while, it would be pretty dumb to omit them, are 1-dim arrays enough, or
might exams expect ability to work with multi-dim arrays? What about sets,
pointers....</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another KK point
--> 'Forms and uses of data structures to organise and manipulate data'.
Which data structures?? What types of uses?? - all the oldies like sorting,
linked lists, queues, binary searches etc are possible
here.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now I know we have
the flexibility to cover as much of this as we want to for the kids who are
really into it, particularly for those who already have a reasonable programming
foundation as they enter the course. But what I don't know is what the minimum
requirement is. This becomes more important when most of your group have
little to no programming experience.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial size=2>What do you think
about this?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=457302302-25102006><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Frank</FONT></SPAN></DIV>_______________________________________________
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