[Year 12 IT Apps] The new draft study design

[Bane, Janet A]

Yes, the name is strange

I still prefer my humble offering - Digital Information & Communication.

I can imagine the hushed communication at parent nights :

Parent:   "do you want to do DIC next year?"

Daughter:  "Yes mum, DIC sounds really cool".

Parent:  "I'm not sure if DIC is for everyone - maybe just for boys?"

Daughter:  "Girls can do DIC as well.  In fact, all my friends are doing DIC!"

Parent (sighing, knowing she has lost the battle):  "thank God there was no DIC in my day!"


Seriously though, its a pretty radical change at Units 3 and 4.  I am very uneasy about a couple of things - mainly the change to the 2nd outcome in unit 3 - are the kids supposed to be data gatherers for the whole term?  In my humble opinion, the term could go something like this...

Teacher:  "what is the focus of your researching/hunter gathering of data this term?
Student:  "well, I'll just focus on youtube at the moment.  Something will no doubt pop up.  In the meantime, how about I research the latest NBA player stats?"

four weeks later

Teacher:  "how's the research going?"
Student:   "Fantastic!  I've watched 20 matches so far.  This research is really great!"
Teacher:  "you know you have to assemble some data so you can present it later?"
Student:  "sure!  everything is under control!"

end of term

Teacher:  "I want everyone to show me their data so I can assess how well you've gathered it".  (thinks - how on earth am I going to do that? By the quality?  By the quantity? How can I be sure that this is all his own work?  Do I have to authenticate each source?  What parameters are there on the topic chosen? )
Student:  "here it is - the latest NBA stats all present and correct".  (thinks - thank God all the stats are already on the internet and all I had to do was copy and paste them - took me about 10 mins last night)
Teacher:  "well done, you have met the assessment criteria".  (thinks - this is so much easier than having to teach them how to do a website!)

it appears that  project management is back in (oh how we've missed it) and they have sneaked in Bibliography 101 just to pad things out.  I doubt the kids will be kicking down the door in droves just so they can learn how to properly reference information.  Important though it may be to some people, most 17 year olds couldn't give a crap.

Whilst I am all for shaking up the study design and making it more attractive to students, I am not sure that this is the answer.

My two cents worth.

Janet Bane
Patterson River SC








________________________________
From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au [itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] on behalf of Mark [mark at vceit.com]
Sent: Saturday, 12 April 2014 10:01 AM
To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Year 12 IT Apps] The new draft study design

I promise I won't post every time I notice something of note in the draft. Just need to say this.

The new name for IT Applications is... 'Informatics'

It's a great name for people inside the field, but it will mean nothing to outsiders, like parents and potential students.

You guys will spend the next 5 years at VCE Information Evenings explaining what 'informatics' is to queues of baffled people.

And they will say, "Oh, so it's IT?"
And you will say, "Ahhh, well, yes."

You could add "But Wikipedia says of informatics that it's 'Not to be confused with Information technology.' "

So there.

Thinking further, we could have the first VCAA Study Theme song to the tune of 'Greased Lightning' ...

Why, this study could be systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic
Why, it could be informatic!

... but then you'd have to explain the lyrics to parents and potential students.

Anyway, back to the draft. I see they're only using flat file databases in Unit 2. Nice move.

--

Mark Kelly
mark AT vceit DOT com
http://vceit.com

Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease - Bill Maher


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