[Design and Technology] destech Digest, Vol 139, Issue 15

Mon Sep 12 10:55:52 AEST 2016

Hi All,

Another concern of mine is the increased evidence requirement in the SAT folio, more emphasis seems to be on the theory rather than the completed product - in some cases with the overall quality of the product being compromised due to this.

Dean.

Dean Lambert
Faculty Leader - Technology
John Paul College
McMahons Road
Frankston VIC 3199
Ph 9784 0375

-----Original Message-----
From: destech-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:destech-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Foster, David B
Sent: Monday, 12 September 2016 9:37 AM
To: destech at edulists.com.au
Subject: Re: [Design and Technology] destech Digest, Vol 139, Issue 15

Well said Gabriella,

I just feel these changes are made for the sake of making changes. They talk about what happens in industry and now we are going to expect to do work that is not work related. The changing of terminology is also a concern. Students have enough trouble understanding the terms now and these new changes seem   more complicated. As I have commented before the work load of students and now teachers is increasing and is a big factor and I am not just talking about just in the classroom either.
In the smart workplaces it is recognised that a balance between work and life is really important yet the new study design is increasing the students work levels. We already have a many more young people today feeling stressed and suicidal, than ever before.

Regards, David Foster

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Subject: destech Digest, Vol 139, Issue 15

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Today's Topics:

   1. feed back re review of new study design PDT
      (Gabriella Verstraeten)

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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2016 22:50:56 +0000
From: Gabriella Verstraeten <gverstraeten at sfx.vic.edu.au>
Subject: [Design and Technology] feed back re review of new study
        design PDT
To: "destech at edulists.com.au" <destech at edulists.com.au>
Message-ID:
        <8EAC032DC4C7FC4B84C88D15AE714987FD1791D0 at mail.curric.stfx>
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Hi Lisa
Thanks for putting your feed back up. Did you read my feedback re the new study design? It sounded so much like mine. It's a relief to find that some one else feels the same way.

I sent my feed back in on Friday. In case any one is interested this is what I wrote:

3.1
Changing of terminology is confusing. I don't find that it reflects what happens in industry. I.e. replacing Design options with Presentation drawings?  That's not accurate to industry.  The changes aren't carried through to the lower levels in yrs. 8-10. So I am using different language and that's confusing to students at the senior level.
You change terminology throughout study design periods, so you aren't consistent. That's frustrating.
LCA - life cycle assessment / Life cycle Analysis both are used industry, yet this isn't reflected in the study design. Also there is confusion about what will be acceptable with VCCA and on the exam.
the second point is not justified as the scope of products students can produce has not increased, in fact I feel that the emphasis on Sustainability and loss of a client ( in Unit 3 ) has made the scope of products more restrictive.

3.2 disagree because redevelopment suggests to be a total overhaul or start again from scratch, whereas redesign suggests a basic model that is started with and is reworked to improve on.

3.3 the LCA is a sophisticated and scientific approach to assessing a products impact. It has complex formulas and uses specific numbers of information used to calculate products impact in industry. We don't have access to the kind of material in the classroom setting. It would not be possible to do an accurate LCA. An LCA may be able to be gleaned from text books about general impact of products. It would be superficial and a guesstimate at best.

3.5 3.4 I strongly agree with reducing the work load but I don't see that this has happened. I currently have to run after school classes weekly and still it's not easy to complete the folio. Doing away with the specific client for the product and replacing with 'an end user' will mean more work because students will have to find more than one person to seek feedback from in the beginning, designing, fitting and evaluation stages, for a start. There are now 7 Ps of marketing to look at instead of 5. Increased requirement and expectation of the inclusion of working drawings, assembly drawings and with drawings incorporated into production plans. That's a lot of work. This is to name a few examples.
The repetitive evaluations, explanation of how testing is to be done, the evaluation of planning, design options, production as well as evaluation questions is laborious, painful and not done in industry.

Other comments
Unit 1

*         Unit 1 has so much in it. I struggle with the current study design to get through every aspect and task that is outlined and I can't. This study design remains as full. It is not a reduced work load at any Unit level.

*         too much emphasis on sustainability. It is restrictive and over emphasized. It is at the expense of allowing students to be creative or do something different. It creates a study design which is heavy and boring. This won't tempt students to stay in this subject area. Personally, I feel it would be far more interesting a course teaching textiles through a study of Studio Arts. (I considering applying to change the way we deliver textiles.  I need to keep my numbers up if I am to survive teaching Textile in this school.)

*         The current design allows for students to redesign and improve aspects of a products Aesthetics, functionality, quality, materials & sustainability. The proposed study design is to design the redevelopment of a product to improve its function (purpose) in terms of sustainability. That's a lot more restrictive. It does not allow for creativity in design, there's no emphasis in regards to the artistic side. That's disappointing.

*         Concerned with the introduction of & use of the wording 'pattern draughting. 'Come on. These are 16/17y r old school students. They haven't learnt to draft patterns. That's a professional career in its self. Do you know how long it takes to draft a pattern? There's no time in the course to draft patterns. Their teachers would end up doing that. 'Pattern modification' would be more applicable.

*         It still remains an overloaded curriculum. There's way too much in there to do.  For example: develop a scheduled production plan - I'm ok with but the additional with reference to working drawings.  This is an additional expectation. In Textiles, students haven't learnt in junior levels, how to draw flats. its ok to incorporate one or two but it feels like there's a greater expectation to be creating working drawings in production as wel
Unit 3

*         the loss of a specific client for students to work with to be replaced with an 'end user 'is a backward step. I know it is a current option. Having a specific end user means the student is developing that relationship with a real client. There's no danger of the student skewing the end product to suit their own wants and needs. That whole development and experience of the relationship between client and designer is lost. Having a specific client with a genuine focussed need means there is a direct link a student can refer back to and liaise with in developing a design brief and throughout the whole product development process.

*          Having a client means students work with just one end user. In the proposed study design, they will need to be seeking feedback and evaluation from several end users. This will take more time to complete through all stages.

*         An end user can mean that some students will be developing for a type of client they have no knowledge nor experience of. They won't have a specific end user they can consult with, to guide them.

*         the expression 'teachers need to provide design scenarios'. that's concerning. You are taking away from the students an aspect that was theirs. A loss of their ownership of their project. Choosing their client is an exciting aspect of the course for them

*         the expression 'teachers need to provide design scenarios'. As a teacher I am giving support all the time and now I also need to provide design scenarios?  I have got to come up with 10 - 15 design scenarios? My work load just increased.

*         The insistence of including student's evaluations of the designing and planning, the efficiency of the design, planning and production processes on top to the formal evaluation criteria across all the Unit levels is over kill. It is repetitive, time consuming, laborious. And writing up 4-part design evaluation mode on all of these criteria is so painful and time consuming.  That is to the students write and as a teacher to grade. it takes away from valuable production time. it is unnecessary in terms given evaluation criteria are developed based on constraints anyway.  it has no relation to what would happen in industry.

*         Glad to see the confusing 'Decision Matrix' gone

*         Introducing working drawings into the scheduled production plan increases the work load for students and takes away from production time

*         Expecting students 'to be able to research, describe & illustrate relevant processes to enable mass or low volume production of the preferred design' Really? What for? This is just going to take away from valuable production time. How are they going to do that research?

Cheers
Gabriella Verstraeten

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