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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I agree with you Adrian, but it is about time that the group
making these decisions takes into account the skill set of the people actually
teaching the SD course and not just the skillset of the early adopters of new
technology. Use the advice that we give students when teaching about changes to
an Information System, and include the skills and knowledge of the teachers who
are implementing the new SD course. If this was the direction that we needed to
go, flag that VB would be out several years ago, or flag that it will be out in
the next revision of the study design so that teachers would know that they are
riding a dead horse and need to change if they want to continue working with SD.
This should give more impetus and hence time to learn how to program using the
ideas of OOP. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Teachers could easily have taught the flavour or OOP using VB6
even though it is not strictly an OOP and then moved on?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Anyway, bring on the PD for teachers as I suspect there will be
a big need for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>As people say, “my 2 cents worth”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>cheers Don<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>btw, thanks for all your work Adrian as you do make things a lot
easier for people teaching this course, who use materials that you produce or
attend ISE that you run. I don’t agree with all your decisions but you
are good for the teachers of the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> sofdev-bounces@edulists.com.au
[mailto:sofdev-bounces@edulists.com.au] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Janson, Adrian A<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, 7 August 2010 12:08 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> sofdev@edulists.com.au<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Year 12 SofDev] VB6.0 in the approved languages list<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hi everyone,</span><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>OK. So serves me right for not turning my email on today!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I think I should clarify my stance (which is of course mine and
not VCAAs)!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The programming language panel had a discussion about whether
VB6.0 would be allowed or not. For my part – I argued that it was
probably time to ‘retire’ VB6.0 as it is getting fairly old
now. I use VB.Net and always the most current version – but
don’t teach all of the OOP concepts (although I do demo some of them so
that my students can see what OO is). In reality, the study design just
assesses 3GL concepts – but this is not the issue. In part the
languages in the approved list are there to ensure currency. Now I for
one am a believer that it ultimately doesn’t matter what language we use
as by the time our students a graduating an IT course – there will be
something else out there.... a new version or a new language? What we
give our students is an understanding of logic and syntax and they can apply
this to languages beyond the one they use in SD.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>So when languages are being considered for the approved
languages list – the first question is always – does the language
allow all aspects of the course to be taught and assessed? Some languages
do not pass this test. The ones that are left are then considered –
and I think it is wise that the list is not too large. Consideration is
given to current popularity and use. I do feel that we should at least be
making an attempt to teach languages that are currently being used and this is
where VB6.0 is/was on the cusp. Can you teach all aspects of the course
with VB6.0? The answer is definitely yes – but I think that there
are OO things in VB6.0 that are not the same as the OO things in VB.Net –
and VB6.0 is not a true OO language. I think that if we were discussing
the inclusion of Cobol in the approved languages list, then it would be a
non-argument and everyone would agree that it is too old a language to
include. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I also feel that we should be making every effort to make the course
as attractive to students as possible and potential SD students will probably
not be excited about VB6.0. Students have a pretty good idea about what
is being in industry and have an expectation that they should be using current
tools. There are also definite advantages in using the most current
version of a language as there is more support for it on the www and the
Express Edition can be downloaded and used for free. There are great
resources out there to support all of the languages in the list so the
transition should not be too difficult. I for one am very willing to
assist anyone who needs help going from VB6.0 to VB.Net. </span><span
style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Adrian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#002060'>Adrian
Janson </span></b><b><span style='font-size:7.0pt;color:#002060'>B.Sc, Dip.Ed,
M.Ed<br>
</span></b><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#002060'>Director of ICT<br>
</span></b><span style='color:#244061'>Melbourne High School, Forrest Hill,
South Yarra, Victoria 3141 Australia.<br>
Phone: 03 9826 0711 International: +61 3 9826 0711<br>
Fax: 03 9826 8767 International: +61 3 9826 8767<br>
E-mail: </span><span style='color:black'><a
href="https://www.edumail.vic.gov.au/mail/janson.adrian.a/Drafts/janson.adrian.a@edumail.vic.gov.au">janson.adrian.a@edumail.vic.gov.au</a></span><span
style='color:#244061'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#244061'>Website: </span><span
style='color:black'><a href="http://www.mhs.vic.edu.au/">http://www.mhs.vic.edu.au</a></span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#244061'>Blog: </span><span
style='color:black'><a href="http://jansona.edublogs.org/" target="_blank">http://jansona.edublogs.org</a></span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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