[Year 12 IT Apps] Excel/Access-specific questions

[Selina Dennis]

It would have had more impact on students had the questions regarding
databases been more MS-Access specific than they were, but in all honesty,
the MS-Excel centric questions were probably fairly safe. While there ARE
other spreadsheet solutions, it is unlikely schools would choose them over
Excel.

Other solutions: Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro, Calc for OpenOffice, and, most
recently, Google Docs with spreadsheets.

Regards,

Selina Dennis
Strathmore Secondary College

-----Original Message-----
From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Mark Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7:31 PM
To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Excel/Access-specific questions

Well, *I* have often said it was a no-no, but I'm not almighty Dog. 
What do other people think?

Should exam questions be effectively application-specific?

I would strongly argue against Access-centric questions, since I don't 
like Access.  That's just me!

However, I would possibly not even notice an Excel-centric question 
since it's the only spreadsheet I've used in the past 15 years - and 
it's about the only Microsoft product I actually admire.

Could Excel safely be called "THE spreadsheet" for 99.9% of the world, 
and could its syntax be safely used in exam questions without dispute?

Just poking wasp nests to see what happens...

MArk K

Russell Edwards wrote:
> Several questions in the exam are Excel- or Access-specific.  I thought 
> that was a no-no? Or am I remembering incorrectly?
> 
> Russell Edwards
> Whittlesea Secondary College
> 

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd, McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
School Phone +613 8520 9000, Fax +613 95789253
kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
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