[Year 12 IT Apps] REVIEW OF VCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE STUDY DESIGN

[Mark Kelly]

Why don't we teach Shakespeare in grade 3 English classes?  Because the 
clients don't NEED it; they don't WANT it; it is of NO USE to them; and 
it is damned BORING to them.

And if we did teach it, would we double the dose when they failed to 
understand it?  That's what is being proposed, as far as I can see.

It reminds me of a conversation:

Mother: Eat your beans*.

Child: I HATE BEANS!  They are BORING and TASTELESS and FARTFUL and I 
HATE HATE HATE THEM!

Mother: Hmm.  Data reveals that child refuses to absorb beans.  Let's 
DOUBLE the beans.  That will surely fix the problem.

This is really a step in the wrong direction. We had it better in the 
previous IPM U3O1 where kids actually ENJOYED doing photo editing.  Is 
that so evil?

I am seriously feeling that I don't want to teach this proposed new 
course.  Seriously, folks: I'd rather take ITA off McKinnon's VCE 
offerings and only offer Software Development.  I'd be embarrassed 
justifying the proposed ITA as a stimulating VCE option.

Our VCE information night is in two days... and I dread telling current 
year tens that they will face a course with double-databases in 2011...

"Line up, sign up: there are plenty of databases for everyone.  No 
pushing. Well, yes, it IS boring, but it is useful. How is it useful? 
Well, no.  It won't be relevant to any of your other VCE subjects, and 
it's useless in daily life.  And, yes, serious RDMS normalisation (e.g. 
many-to-many relationships) IS really complex... more complex than much 
of the stuff in the Software Development course.  So you have no real 
interest in IT and would rather do Commerce?  Strange..."

Wouldn't it be more honest to call the new course: IT: Data?

And if the kids did enter tertiary IT (after surviving the new IT: 
Data), would they not be completely retrained anyway?  Do any tertiary 
courses assume prerequisite knowledge of VCE key knowledge. Don't they 
start from scratch?

I appreciate the new course's desire to deepen students' understanding 
of topics by reducing the breadth of study. This proposed course would 
deepen the misery of IT study, not its fascination.

I can understand and appreciate dropping project management.  Dull, 
irrelevant, and employed really artificially in outcomes.  But databases 
not only persist, but they are doubled??  Badly, seriously wrong, IMHO.


*Hint: Beans == Databases.

Mark Kelly wrote:
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/vceconsult/itsumofchanges.doc
> 
> *TWO* ITA outcomes using databases?  O! no no no...
> 
> ITA enrolments have been bad enough recently.
> 
> This will surely kill them stone dead.
> 

-- 
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
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