[Year 12 IT Apps] Proposed U3O1

[Mark Kelly]

After having a look though the proposed U3O1 it actually looks juicier 
than the prototype website/virtual team it replaces.

By concentrating more on the likes of mailing lists, Usenet, fora, 
Twitter, Youtube, Wikis and other online communities, it sounds like it 
will mean more to students than dry old virtual team stuff.

Golly.  I actually said something positive about the proposed study 
design.  I really should be more careful in future.

However, expecting students to "create their own multi-page websites 
that incorporate web-based applications" will be a challenge. 
Critiquing real sites is easy and valid.  Creating their own is a 
different matter.

It's not tagged as a prototype site, so we have to assume the site will 
actually need to work and can't be simulated.

How easily will the average student manage providing even the most basic 
online community tools?  Such web-based applications either require 
sophisticated server-side tools (unavailable to students on a 
locked-down school network), or embedding or linking to online 
applications like Google docs or free Wikis, a public forum etc, which 
require registration and setting up.

I'm not finding it comfortable imagining how this duck is going to get 
off the ground...

What would we expect as a minimum for any realistic site supporting an 
online community?

- User Authentication?  How can a student set up a working 
login/password system?
- Communication between members. Perhaps a link to a free online 
discussion forum, like at Yahoo groups.
- Uploading/sharing - a link to a Rapidshare account?
- Voting - requires server-side PHP tools.

I'm thinking the outcome should be modified to allow a prototype site 
with simulated features.

-- 
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
IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List

Why do people mis-spell 'grammar' and mispronounce 'pronuniciation'?