[Aries] RE: Changes in Sem 2 Aries

[Clarke Stevenson]

Hi Andrew

Firstly, are you on the Aries Mailing list?  If not, please join as it's
easier to communicate with the group for me and some of the issues that you
have brought up may have been addressed through that. www.edulist.com.au

See below

Clarke Stevenson

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Bleach [mailto:Andrew.Bleach at det.wa.edu.au] 
Sent: Monday, 13 August 2007 10:55 AM
To: clarke.stevenson at bigpond.com
Cc: Drew.Bathgate at det.wa.edu.au
Subject: Changes in Sem 2 Aries

Hi Clarke,

I notice that the Aries Sem 2 course (operating systems) has changed.

- We have added Ver 7.1 to Semester 2. Version 6.1 is still able to be used
if required.

  I know this was expected but the students report that several units have
changed entirely and other units have had information added to them.  I
appreciate the up to date additions but this has now led to concerns from
the students that the core content they have studied in units 1 to 5 is
different and therefore the final exam content will also have to change to
reflect this.  Their main concern is that they will not pass the final exam
should this occur.  Any ideas if this will occur?

- No. As long as you get them to do the exam that coincides with the unit
that they are doing i.e. if they are studying 7.1, then they should do the
7.1 exam. If they have started 6.1, then they should continue with it and
complete the 6.1 exams.

- I have made Aries aware that Sem 2 change of version should occur before
July next year to avoid the problem of schools starting the Sem 2 program
and then having access to the latest edition after they have started. They
just didn't have it done in time:(

- I have suggested to another school that when students complete 6.1 that as
an extension activity they delve into 7.1 and look at the section on VISTA.

Also, we are still experiencing issues with the loading the aries curriculum
pages online due to Dept of ED WA system wide security systems.  This
inhibits and slows pages loading and often makes it so the flash and/or
shockwave animations/interactive content fail to load.  This does diminish
the students ability to comprehend the content.  Is there any chance of
curriculum discs being available?  This would greatly enhance our ability to
deliver the content in the time frame available.

- I expect that the curriculum 7.1 disks (we skipped doing a 6.1 disk) will
be available in the next few weeks however, that will not solve your
problem. So I suggest that you hassle ED WA to free up the access to the
materials - that's if they are not the usual
"head-in-the-sand-hope-the-internet-will-just-go-away" types like the VIC
people are.

Thanks

Andy Bleach