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<div>Mark,</div>
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<div>As a relatively new teacher, thanks for pointing this out. I showed my year 12 class the study design. They said that if "informatics" was the class they were currently taking, they'd have dropped out. </div>
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<div>I feel like this was turning IT into a statistics or business management class. That's a shame if this happens, as there's a lot of students who want to do IT, but might not have the ability for SD.</div>
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<div>I understand databases are important, but it could kill the subject for many students. </div>
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<div>Just my 2 cents. </div>
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<div>Sean Hawkins</div>
<div>Senior IT Teacher</div>
<div>Staughton College<br>
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<div><br>
On 12 May 2014, at 17:54, "Mark" <<a href="mailto:mark@vceit.com">mark@vceit.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Thanks, Stephen, but please elaborate. Thanks for - what?
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<div>All we have had so far is evanescent tumbleweeds on this issue... passing breezes of insubstantial comment that barely raise a millibar of atmospheric pressure in these turbulent times.</div>
<div><br>
<div>VCAA has proposed <b>seismic</b> changes to the philosophy and practice of VCE IT and these lists (which are probably the main non-VCAA fora of opinion) have so far largely sat mutely. </div>
<div>We sit like kittens stoically waving our paws in the air at tea time after we've been told that we will be fed only gherkins from now on.</div>
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<div>They (from VCAA) say "Oooh, OK then. No comment from the teaching community. Fine. Fine. Dat's OK. We must be right, then. Let's publish the draft then..." </div>
<div>VCAA will rubber-stamp the draft since noone has complained or commented. They will publish it and
<b>you</b> will have an OFFICIAL <b>2016-2020</b> IT STUDY DESIGN...</div>
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<div>And then the tornado of the new study design hits and the teachers go "But... but..." when it's too late. </div>
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<div>- And you know EXACTLY what the tornado is like. You can <b>see it coming. </b>You have been <b>told</b> by the friendly tornado that it is coming. </div>
<div>- It even tells you where and <b>when</b> it will land. <br>
</div>
<div>- You know that everything will be <b>canon</b>. <b>Immutable</b>. <b>Unarguable</b>. For
<b>years</b>.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- But people will still sit in their deckchairs watching it approach, and say "Well, let's see what happens... hell, just because we're sitting comfortably in deckchairs in a quiet street in Pamploma on July 14, what can go wrong?" </div>
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<div>This is the only metaphorical tornado that <b>can</b> be fought because it honestly tells you in draft form what it intends to do to you, your school, your classes, your career... This is the tornado that you
<b>can</b> and <b>need to</b> tackle.</div>
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<div><b>You have five days.</b></div>
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</b></div>
<div>Well, <b>four</b> now. It took me quite a few hours and glasses of Cab Merlot to draft this. I'll charge VCAA separately.</div>
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<div>Mark</div>
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<div>On 12 May 2014 16:29, Stephen Rosicka <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Stephen.Rosicka@galen.vic.edu.au" target="_blank">Stephen.Rosicka@galen.vic.edu.au</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>Mark,</div>
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<div>Thanks…</div>
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<div>Stephen</div>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span>Mark <<a href="mailto:mark@vceit.com" target="_blank">mark@vceit.com</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span>Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List <<a href="mailto:sofdev@edulists.com.au" target="_blank">sofdev@edulists.com.au</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Monday, May 12, 2014 at 4:20 PM<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List <<a href="mailto:yr11it@edulists.com.au" target="_blank">yr11it@edulists.com.au</a>>, Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List <<a href="mailto:sofdev@edulists.com.au" target="_blank">sofdev@edulists.com.au</a>>,
Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List <<a href="mailto:itapps@edulists.com.au" target="_blank">itapps@edulists.com.au</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>[Year 12 SofDev] Fwd: The draft study design is on the table!<br>
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<div>Psst. Hey, you. Yes, you. The IT teacher. </div>
<div>But mainly <i>you</i> - the <b>ITA</b> teacher.</div>
<div><br>
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<div><span style="background-color:rgb(243,243,243)">Remember that <b>feedback on the draft IT study design</b> stops on
<b><font color="#ff0000">17 May</font></b>. See below for quick links.<br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="background-color:rgb(243,243,243)">Five days to go. </span></div>
<div><span style="background-color:rgb(243,243,243)"><br>
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<div>If you teach <b><font color="#ff0000">ITA</font></b> and you love the idea of teaching
<b>databases</b> for most of the year in <i>Informatics</i>, you need do <b>nothing</b>.<br>
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<div><br>
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<div>But here's a hypothesis...</div>
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<div>- If you do nothing you <b>won't</b> end up teaching databases for most of the year. Yay! What?<br>
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<div>- This is because when students hear that 'Informatics' == 'Databases', <b>none</b> of them will enrol for it.</div>
<div>- You will be teaching <b>Woodwork</b>. Or two <b>Year 9 Health</b> classes instead.</div>
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<div>Of course, that's just a hypothesis. But sharpen your chisels and unwrap your condoms - just in case.</div>
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<div>We know that <b>IT Applications</b> enrolments have been trending down for the past 5 years. </div>
<div>And I'd suggest this largely because databases have been mandated for the past 5 years in ITA.</div>
<div>And the new <b>Informatics</b> course wants to compound the injury by increasing the database component. </div>
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<div>Dammit, people. We've always had an <i>understanding:</i></div>
<div>- <b>Software Development</b> has always been for the unashamed IT lover who would watch "The Big Bang Theory" and laugh at the quantum physics jokes.I know I do.</div>
<div>- <b>ITA</b> (formerly IPM - Information Processing and Management) was for - let's be honest - the students who liked using computers but couldn't get into Media Studies. It was a fun, easy subject with low skill expectations on arrival, and a useful
skill set on graduation. It was marked down as a VCE study, but everyone knew that and accepted that. It was
<i>understood</i>.</div>
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<div>The draft study design seems to want to make ITA an ultrageeknerd study, chockablock with
<i>pure database science...</i>the sort of study that would not be "marked down" and would stand proudly against a "real science" like physics or chemistry.</div>
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<div>But is that what <i>Informatics</i> is supposed to be? A rigorous, intellectually-demanding, highly academic investigation of esoteric theory that tertiary graduates require for a career in a narrow corner of the IT industry? If so, it destroys the attraction
of a subject for general ICT skill development. </div>
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<div>VCE Maths has all sorts of streams for students who (1) want to get through year 12 and (2) want to become a maths/science professional.</div>
<div>Why can't VCE IT do the same, as it has always done? </div>
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<div>Let's retain a unit 3/4 IT subject for those who couldn't give a flying fuschia for fancy further specialist studies. How many students would choose VCE Biology units 3 and 4 if three of the four outcomes were on
<i>cellular slime mould</i>, and the other one was on <i>everything else</i>?</div>
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<div>These lists have been a whistling desert breeze, a lonely rolling tumbleweed of discussion on the crucial issue of this draft IT study design.<br>
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<div><br>
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<div>- Are people <font color="#4c1130">passionately in favour of increased database content in ITA and are silent in anticipation of its arrival</font>? (Yay! More databases!)</div>
<div>- Are people <font color="#4c1130">writing passionate feedback in defence or defiance of the draft to the
<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25" target="_blank">VCAA survey</a></font>, and are silent here?</div>
<div>- Are people just <font color="#4c1130">passively waiting to be fed whatever VCAA pushes into their cages</font>, and quietly grumble "I don't like that much" for the next 5 years?</div>
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<div>Your only chance is <b>now</b>. </div>
<div>And you have only <b>five</b> days.</div>
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<div>If you have an opinion <b>express it here on the Edulist forums</b> as well as on the
<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25" target="_blank">VCAA survey site</a>. </div>
<div>You might <b>inspire others</b> to think and respond.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But I don't have to worry. </div>
<div>- <b>I</b> have the beach, red wine, and a thousand fine (and bad) old movies to amuse me during periods 3 and 4 on a Tuesday. </div>
<div><b>- You </b>will have year 12 <i>Informatics</i> with yet <i>another</i> database outcome coming up, and the kids still don't really understand how 2NF differs from 3NF even after your eleven prior attempts to explain it, even with your hand puppets.</div>
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<div><font size="4" color="#741b47" style="background-color:rgb(0,255,0)">So, if you teach VCE IT...</font></div>
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<div>Read the draft - <a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/ComputingSD-consultation-draft.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/ComputingSD-consultation-draft.pdf</a><br>
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<div>Read the Summary of changes - <a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/VCE_InfoTech_summary_changes.doc" target="_blank">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/VCE_InfoTech_summary_changes.doc</a></div>
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<div><b>But for Dog's sake, <font color="#351c75">whether you agree with me or not</font>, go here and say
<font color="#ff0000">something</font> -</b> <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25" target="_blank">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25</a></div>
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<div>Otherwise, you know what the next 5 years will be like for you: <i>Countersinks</i>.
<i>Chlamydia</i>...</div>
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<div><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)">-- </span><br>
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<span><font color="#888888">
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<div>Mark Kelly (amateur troublemaker)<br>
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<div>mark AT vceit DOT com</div>
<div><a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a></div>
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<div>
<div><i>Everything new draft study design is a chance to make the VCE world a better place. -
</i>Mark Kelly</div>
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<div>-- <br>
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<div>Mark Kelly</div>
<div>mark AT vceit DOT com</div>
<div><a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a></div>
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<div>Mark Kelly</div>
<div>mark AT vceit DOT com</div>
<div><a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a></div>
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<div><i>Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease - Bill Maher </i></div>
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