[Year 12 IT Apps] New study design - PSM

[Mark KELLY]

Some passing thoughts as I sit through parent/teacher interview night...

- The new glossary only defines 22 terms.  Not enough, based on the spirited
discussions that have been caused by the terminology used in past designs.

- I did carry on quite a bit last year about the Problem Solving Methology
vs SDLC inconsistency.  The design has now killed the SDLC altogether.  And
the PSM has only 4 steps (Analysis, Design, Development, Evaluation - which
leads to no satisfying acronyms).  While testing and documentation are
listed as sub-steps of development, implementation is not mentioned at all.

Apparently clients never will get their new systems from the developers from
now on  ;-)
It's sad because I was fond of teaching direct/phased with optional
pilot/parallel on the side.

- There's a big web component in ITA unit 3.  Sensible.

- In ITA THERE'S NO DOUBLE-DATABASE-DOSE if you choose: a significant
victory for the Sensible Party.  While it might save training time if you
avoid teaching spreadsheets and leverage the mandatory database skills for 2
outcomes, databases are very difficult for some students and they're far
from exciting.  My kids actually enjoy the spreadsheet SAC, and there's not
a lot of difficult skill development needed.

- Many outcomes from the current course can be recycled/adapted (with care)
for the new course.

-- 
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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