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<div>Which could all be solved if VCAA shared there understanding of the three Normal Forms.</div>
<div><font size="2" face="tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="tahoma">yours in frustration</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="tahoma">Mark Scott</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="tahoma">Luther College</font></div>
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<font size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au [itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark KELLY [kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, April 01, 2011 6:40 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Sample exam questions andentity-relationship diagrams<br>
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<div>By the looks of the <a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf" target="_blank">
<font color="#000000">sample exam questions</font></a> my ITA kids are going to be seriously troubled. I'm guessing a question like 3c is going to score about 0.01 marks out of 2 on average across the state. I wonder what the success rate would be amongst ITA
teachers for that question... To get my kids to answer it well, I'd need to spend at least two periods (more like a week) just on normalisation theory - and frankly, it's not worth it.<br>
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Sorry for being grumpy about this, but this level of complexity really does not suit ITA. I don't mind normalisation being a bit of key knowledge, but how it might be examined seems excessive.<br>
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Woof!<br>
Grumpy Mark K<br>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On 1 April 2011 17:08, Timmer-Arends <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:timmer@melbpc.org.au">timmer@melbpc.org.au</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Hello Mark</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">I'm curious to know what these conflicting sources are.</font></div>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">I've followed Robert H's link and the page one gets to doesn't actually define them but does describe a (simplified) process to get to each NF - and what one gets from the process does conform with NF defs. The links from this
page do go to definitions and they are in agreement with other sources I have looked at.
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Mark K's quote is a definition of 2NF that conforms to other definitions.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">The only difference I can see between various versions I have read is the degree of mathematical/academic gobbledy-gook involved.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">1NF, 2NF and 3NF were defined way back in the seventies and because they were formed from a theoretical basis I don't think they are going to have changed all that much.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">About the only thing that seems to have changed greatly is the addition of another three NFs.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">I think the issue is a problem with the question, not with the consistency of the definitions. Decoding the definitions for consumption by students is of course another matter...</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Regards</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Robert T-A</font></div>
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<div style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4"><b>From:</b> <a title="msc@luther.vic.edu.au" href="mailto:msc@luther.vic.edu.au">
Mark Scott</a> </div>
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="itapps@edulists.com.au" href="mailto:itapps@edulists.com.au">
Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List</a> </div>
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<div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Sent:</b> Friday, April 01, 2011 2:45 PM</div>
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Sample exam questions andentity-relationship diagrams</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Paula</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">This is good stuff but we are still struggling with Question 3c</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Any chance of a VCAA definition of what actually goes in 1NF, 2NF and 3NF.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The definitions are different depending on which “source” you use.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">thanks<br>
Mark Scott<br>
Luther College</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">PS I suppose we could all wait for the guru (Mark Kelly) to provide an answer.
</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">J</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><br>
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<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">
<a href="mailto:itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au">itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au">itapps-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Christophersen, Paula P<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, 1 April 2011 1:32 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Year 12 IT Apps] Sample exam questions and entity-relationship diagrams</span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Dear colleagues</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">The examination specifications and some sample questions focusing on new content in the study design are now on the VCAA website:</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf</a></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Structurally the examination remains the same – two sections: Section A multiple choice; Section B short and extended responses.
</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">I draw your attention to a couple of matters in the sample questions:</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 93pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; FONT-SIZE: 9pt" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Question 4 focuses on an entity relationship diagram – this hopefully clarifies recent concerns that have been raised.</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 93pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; FONT-SIZE: 9pt" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Question 7 illustrates one way in which the examination can deal with the choice of different software in Unit 4, Area of Study 1. Here a common question is presented, and students select the software
tool to explain their answer.</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 93pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; FONT-SIZE: 9pt" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Question 9 is an example of an extended response (worth 8 marks) with prompts to guide answers</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 93pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; FONT-SIZE: 9pt" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Question 12 is an example of the scope of a question on RDBMS – the focus can only extent to what is covered in Unit 3. Again it illustrates an extended response with prompts</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Regards</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Paula</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">Paula Christophersen</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">ICT Curriculum Manager</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">VCAA</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">41 St Andrews Place</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">EAST MELBOURNE 3002</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang="EN-US">(03) 9651 4378</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
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-- <br>
Mark Kelly<br>
Manager of ICT, Reporting, IT Learning Area<br>
McKinnon Secondary College<br>
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia<br>
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085, Fax +613 9578 9253<br>
<a href="mailto:kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au">kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au</a><br>
VCE IT Lecture Notes: <a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a><br>
Moderator: IT Applications Edulist<br>
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<font size="+0">All generalisations are false, except this one.</font><br>
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