[Year 12 IT Apps] a formatting "comment"..Kent
Mark Kelly
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
Tue Aug 11 11:18:24 EST 2009
I agree that the exam setters do try, but there are recurring problems
in ITA papers which typically do not mar SD papers which are
persistently excellent.
I am thinking of:
- unclear expression in questions (e.g. ambiguity, vagueness. 2008 exam
Q9ai once again asked the vague question "Name the type of network"
being used: a network can fall into several "types").
- misuse of IT terms (e.g. "a backup media" in 2007 Sect B Q2a.)
- misuse of conventions (e.g. strange varieties of IPO, Gantt, PERT charts)
- brand-specific terminologies in questions (should we just accept that
Excel is a standard and stop arguing?)
- errors of fact (e.g. claiming that validation prevents inaccurate data
from entering a system - 2007 multichoice 9; referring to LOOKUP rather
than VLOOKUP in 2007, Q11a; and in the same paper Q11e refers to a
formula which uses ">" instead of ">=")
- overly-arguable options (e.g. 2007 multichoice Q5 - media to join
campi 2km apart: official answer was fibre optic, not wireless, but
there are so many unknowns that the answer is truly a 50/50 choice to
people who know networks)
I know the markers discuss acceptable responses after the paper has been
sat, but it would be preferable that questions were better written in
the first place.
Christophersen, Paula P wrote:
> Dear colleagues
>
> Acceptable answers to all questions, excluding multiple choice, are
> discussed at length at the all-day training sessions for examination
> assessors. All assessors have the opportunity to put forward suggested
> answers and these are considered on their merits. This means that in
> many situations there is a range of acceptable answers, as shown in the
> Examination Reports.
>
> Assessor applications have closed for this year, however, I would urge
> you to think about signing up for next year - it is a very worthwhile
> experience.
>
> While I do not work in the Assessment Branch of the VCAA, I would like
> to say that every effort is always made to make examination papers fair
> and reasonable, and the VCAA will continue to strive for that goal.
>
> Regards
> Paula
>
> Paula Christophersen
> ICT Curriculum Manager
> VCAA
> 41 St Andrews Place
> EAST MELBOURNE 3002
> (03) 9651 4378
> -----Original Message-----
> From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark Kelly
> Sent: Sunday, 9 August 2009 2:12 PM
> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] a formatting "comment"..Kent
>
> VCAA cannot prescribe software used in outcomes. If they DO decide to
> do so, they must publish the prescribed software as they do with
> Software Development's approved programming languages.
>
> They MUST accept any answer that is correct for ANY available software
> product: spreadsheet, DBMS, web editor etc.
>
> They MUST NOT ask questions that are specific to any one of the
> available varieties of software products (e.g. Access, Excel), including
>
> the esoteric terminology used by them.
>
> They'd better not ask another Access-specific question this year. The
> very mention of "queries" or "reports" is too brand-specific. It
> seriously disadvantages Filemaker Pro users, for example.
>
> It worries me how they assume a particular family or brand of software
> is "standard" and merrily ask questions assuming that EVERYONE uses that
>
> family or brand.
>
> It's wrong and must stop.
>
> I feel better now.
>
> Kent Beveridge wrote:
>> If I may, an observation...
>> Personally, I am a "majority Microsoft" product user, not by desire
> but just essentially as that is what my employers (the various schools
> of my teaching time..) have had available to use for my I.T. classroom
> ramblings.
>> Surely the VCAA can be flexible enough to allow the examiners to mark
> as 'correct' the essentials of formulae presented to them by students.
> What I mean is, what if the students have NEVER used Microsoft or APPLE
> products? Surely they shouldnt be penalised when in fact their solution
> would work on their "flavor" of application software (eg open source
> spreadsheet or other market available alternative).
>> If we are to produce flexible and thinking students for employers then
> we must allow them to provide solutions appropriate to their working
> environments.
>> Case in point: Applications developers in the commercial workforce may
> use a program that is nothing like Microsoft and yet will do the same
> job most efficiently on the mainframe in the workplace. I ask you
> VCAA...how many schools out there have a mainframe costing millions of
> bucks that runs the exact same formats and conventions of Microsoft on
> all their applications? Lets get real here with our exam expectations on
> the students and allow them some flexibility with their answers!
>>
>>
>> Kent.
>>
>> Kent Beveridge,
>> St. Brigids CSC, Horsham.
>> Ph (03) 5382 3545
>> http://www.stbc.vic.edu.au/
>> kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au
>> "This email and any attachments may be confidential. You must not
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>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Roland Gesthuizen
>> Sent: Sat 8/8/2009 2:02 PM
>> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Examination reports
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes, it isnt so much as they came up with something different or that
>> they have invented a new standard. There is an open standards group
>> that is trying to improve the exchange of recalculated formulas in
>> spreadsheets and I suspect that is what they have used. Google Docs
>> uses this format too. Let me check. Yep .. works with double quotes.
>>
>> Curious I did not directly spot this before as I jump across between
>> XLS, ODC and GoogleDocs. Shows how plastic our minds are to these
>> subtle changes. I guess when it flags an error, I just thump my
>> forehead to shake a neuron loose and amend the formula with either
>> single or double quotes. REM hmmm
>>
>> Regards Roland
>>
>> 2009/8/7 Robert <robert at yinnar.com>:
>>> And I have just checked Open Office. Different again.
>>>
>>> Requires semicolons rather than commas as separators between items,
> eg
>>> =IF(C2>40;"yes";"no")
>>>
>>> ?
>>>
>>>
>>> Robert Hind (Semi-retired)
>>> Ashwood and Traralgon
>>> robert at yinnar.com
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert" <robert at yinnar.com>
>>> To: <itapps at edulists.com.au>
>>> Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 3:50 PM
>>> Subject: Fw: [Year 12 IT Apps] Examination reports
>>>
>>>
>>>> Whoops! I missed out one (double straight) quote :-)
>>>>
>>>> Should have read:
>>>>
>>>> And can I add to Mark's message by noting that Excel does not like
> "smart
>>>> quotes", or curly quotes but only straight quotes, ie
>>>>
>>>> =IF(C2>40,"YES"," ")
>>>>
>>>> Robert Hind (Semi-retired)
>>>> Ashwood and Traralgon
>>>> robert at yinnar.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert" <robert at yinnar.com>
>>>> To: "Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List"
>>>> <itapps at edulists.com.au>
>>>> Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 3:33 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Examination reports
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> And can I add to Mark's message by noting that Excel does not like
> "smart
>>>>> quotes", or curly quotes but only straight quotes, ie
>>>>>
>>>>> =IF(C2>40,"YES," ")
>>>>>
>>>>> Pedantic? Yes! But Excel, and other apps, will only accept exactly
> what
>>>>> they have been programmed to expect.
>>>>>
>>>>> Robert Hind (Semi-retired)
>>>>> Ashwood and Traralgon
>>>>> robert at yinnar.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Kelly"
>>>>> <kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au>
>>>>> To: "Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List"
>>>>> <itapps at edulists.com.au>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 1:26 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Examination reports
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Examiners' report, ITA Q12b:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Quote
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Few students could correctly write the formula for the IF
> statement
>>>>>> =IF(C2>40, 'YES',' ').
>>>>>>
>>>>>> End Quote
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And fewer examiners could either, apparently: double quotes
> rather than
>>>>>> single quotes are needed (at least in Excel, which is the
> undeclared
>>>>>> standard for all spreadsheet questions in the exam).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It does bug me when a commentary on what is correct and what is
> not gets
>>>>>> it wrong.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Christophersen, Paula P wrote:
>>>>>>> Dear colleagues
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In case you are not aware, the examination reports for the 2008
> exams
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> IT apps and Software development are available at the following
>>>>>>> addresses.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/exams.ht
>>>>>>> ml#H2N10037
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/softwaredevel/exams.html
>>>>>>> #H2N10037
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Paula
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Paula Christophersen
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ICT Curriculum Manager
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> VCAA
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 41 St Andrews Place
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> EAST MELBOURNE 3002
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> (03) 9651 4378
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential.
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>>>>>>> representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual
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>>>>>>> Development.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Mark Kelly
>>>>>> Manager - Information Systems
>>>>>> McKinnon Secondary College
>>>>>> kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>>>>>> McKinnon Rd, McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
>>>>>> Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085 Fax +613 9578 9253
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
> <http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/>
>>>>>> IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com <http://vceit.com/>
>>>>>> Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Why do people mis-spell 'grammar' and mispronounce
> 'pronuniciation'?
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
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>>>> IT Applications Mailing List kindly supported by
>>>>
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> Victorian Information Technology Teachers
>>>> Association Inc
>>>>
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>>> IT Applications Mailing List kindly supported by
>>>
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>>> Association Inc
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
>> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au <http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au/>
>>
>> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
>> change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
>> --Margaret Mead
>>
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>> IT Applications Mailing List kindly supported by
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> Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
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>> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html
> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
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> Teachers Association Inc
>
--
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
School Phone +613 8520 9000
School Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
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