[Year 12 SofDev] Re: Industry practice - tertiary links
Meadows, Roslyn M
Meadows.Roslyn.M at edumail.vic.gov.au
Sat Apr 19 13:26:48 EST 2008
Lol never was a champion speller !!
Roslyn Meadows
Head of ICT Implementation
Head of Assessment and Reporting
Bentleigh Secondary College
| 9579 1044 | 0412 614 062 |
Please consider the environment before printing this email
There are three ways of being dead - heart dead, brain dead, and not
being able to connect to the internet!
-----Original Message-----
From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark Kelly
Sent: Saturday, 19 April 2008 11:36 AM
To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Re: Industry practice - tertiary links
Cobalt? Or COBOL?
Meadows, Roslyn M wrote:
> Programming for Web Applications? Contributing to Open Source
> Applications? Game Development?
>
>
>
> My son (2^nd year Monash IT) recently had a lecture from the top IT
> Manager of the ANZ Bank. They were told that ANZ and GE Money still
use
> Cobalt!! The reason being that it is too costly to change over and
that
> this system still works for them. The latest is banking via iphones
and
> other mobile devices (so the SD Study Design has got that right!) -
> eventually we will not need cards to pay, just our phone - and that
the
> latest thing on the internet is peer-to peer money lending (social
> lending, see www.prosper.com <http://www.prosper.com> not sure if
there
> is an aussie version yet) - which the banks see as a real threat to
> their existence (as it virtually cuts out the middle man - which is
> essentially what the banks are)
>
>
>
> Looking at mycareer.com.au - php, java, C#, ASP.Net, SQL, Delphi are
> listed in software programmers and engineers jobs (273 jobs for
software
> developers and engineers in Melbourne!!)- so our software list is
pretty
> good too, and there are many jobs in IT out there (almost 2000 IT &
> telco positions in Melbourne, average salary $94,000)
>
>
>
> My tuppence halfpenny worth J
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Ros
>
>
>
>
>
> cid:image007.jpg at 01C81D4C.6EFFB170
>
>
>
> *Roslyn Meadows
> Head of ICT Implementation*
>
> *Head of Assessment and Reporting
> Bentleigh Secondary College *
>
> *| 9579 1044 | 0412 614 062 |*
>
> cid:image008.jpg at 01C81D4C.6EFFB170
>
>
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this email
>
> * *
>
> * *
>
> * *
>
> * *
>
> *There are three ways of being dead - heart dead, brain dead, and not
> being able to connect to the internet!*
>
>
>
> *From:* sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] *On Behalf Of *Russell Quinn
> *Sent:* Friday, 18 April 2008 3:24 PM
> *To:* sofdev at edulists.com.au
> *Subject:* [Year 12 SofDev] Re: Industry practice - tertiary links
>
>
>
> The first thing would be inclined to do is throw out all of the
> networking -
>
> which is totally irrelevant to software development (except to a small
and
>
> select few specialists) and replace it with actual software
development.
>
>
>
> I also think the obsession with the business models should be
downplayed,
>
> and the scenario's broadened to something far more interesting. After
> all, business
>
> is just one of the reasons for writing software, and not a very
> interesting one at that.
>
>
>
> It appears that students are voting with their feet, and I can see
their
> point.
>
> The only way to plug the leak is to make the courses software based
and
>
> interesting.
>
>
>
> Russell Quinn
>
>
>
> Mailto: qn at boxhillhs.vic.edu.au <mailto:qn at boxhillhs.vic.edu.au>
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* sofdev-request at edulists.com.au
> *Sent:* Fri 18/04/2008 12:00 PM
> *To:* sofdev at edulists.com.au
> *Subject:* sofdev Digest, Vol 38, Issue 24
>
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>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>
>
> 1. Re: Industry practice - tertiary links (Steven Bird)
>
> 2. RE: Industry practice - tertiary links (Selina Dennis)
>
> 3. Re: Industry practice - tertiary links (Mark Kelly)
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> Message: 1
>
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:00:37 +1000
>
> From: "Steven Bird" <sb at csse.unimelb.edu.au>
>
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Industry practice - tertiary links
>
> To: "Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List"
>
> <sofdev at edulists.com.au>
>
> Mes!
> sage-ID:
>
> &nbs
> p; <97e4e62e0804171400q6bf98a9fq3acd059906fe980 at mail.gmail.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 7:39 PM, Timmer-Arends <timmer at melbpc.org.au>
wrote:
>
>> I have to say that this discussion is heading to Comp Sci circa 1990
(which
>
>> is not necessarily a bad thing)
>
>
>
> Well, CS an obvious source of theory for an IT subject. The theory on
>
> which VCE Physics and Chemistry is based is older still, but no-one
>
> considers that dated.
>
>
>
>> but it seems to me that a couple of
>
>> questions need to be answered first:
>
>> 1. what do we want students to get out of a technically-oriented Y12
IT course?
>
>>&n!
> bsp; 2. is the course primarily intended to prepare students for
teritary, work, or both?
>
>
>
> Another conceivable answer to q2 is that it is foundational study,
>
> preparing students for whatever they choose to do in future, even if
>
> it involves no formal IT study or employment.
>
>
>
> For the students continuing from VCE Software Development to a degree
>
> in Software Engineering, we would prefer students to have a solid
>
> grounding in algorithmic problem solving and the associated
>
> programming skills. (The SDLC follows naturally once they're ready to
>
> scale up.)
>
>
>
> -Steven
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> !
>
> Message: 2
>
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:09:16 +
> 1000
>
> From: "Selina Dennis" <selina at dennis.net.au>
>
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 SofDev] Industry practice - tertiary links
>
> To: "'Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List'"
>
> <sofdev at edulists.com.au>
>
> Message-ID: <003801c8a0d7$aed8dd80$0c8a9880$@net.au>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
>
> I am both a Year 12 Software Development teacher and a Computer
Science
>
> graduate - I completed my CS degree late in life, circa 2005 - and as
>
> someone who has worked in the IT industry since 1996, I must say that
I
>
> concur with Steven Bird's view that there is a chasm between secondary
>
> school teaching of IT and !
> tertiary teaching of IT. For students in Year 12,
>
> the key components of software development that they will "get the
most out
>
> of", is the theory behind algorithms, problem solving, and also the
>
> development of their basic thinking skills. I've been teaching
PHP/mySQL to
>
> my students this year and while most have come into the course having
>
> completed Year 10 and 11 IT, they still did not have a basic
understanding
>
> of fundamental programming concepts at the start of the year.
>
>
>
> Perhaps this is more of a "theological" discussion on how to teach
>
> programming to teenagers, but it's also relevant to note that much of
the
>
> theory that is being taught in Year 12 is rarely used or developed in
either
>
> tertiary study or in industry. One !
> such example is diagrams - N-S Diagrams,
>
> DFDs, et
> c have long been superseded by UML, both at a university level and
>
> in industry - as an aside, I had never heard of NS diagrams until I
had to
>
> teach it in IPM, and I had worked with ISO-9000 compliant corporations
>
> developing major software products.
>
>
>
> Similarly, the SDLC, as Steven has raised, is most useful for
large-scale
>
> projects. Students will rarely experience the benefit, nor the
relevance, of
>
> the SDLC, in a secondary school curriculum. More useful theory would
be a
>
> more focused look at iterative design, extreme programming (or any
other
>
> kind of agile software development), etc, and move away from the
excessive
>
> documentation requirements that the SDLC brings to the table.
>
>
>
> As a teacher, I would prefer to bring i!
> n key aspects of the SDLC without
>
> having to formally teach every part of it. For example, a
concentration on
>
> testing and debugging of software - this is a twofold benefit, as it
teaches
>
> students to be aware of how they choose to implement functionality,
and also
>
> develops their analytical and observational skills when they are
debugging
>
> an error. Bringing in Use Case Diagrams instead of DFDs would be
fantastic,
>
> also, as it conceptually allows a student to think through what they
are
>
> providing in their system before they develop it.
>
>
>
> In general, however, I have to say I am currently much happier with
the core
>
> content of the Software Development course than I was with the IT:
>
> Applications course, but I still believe that it is, at its core, dat!
> ed and
>
> at times irrelevant. In a perfect world, w
> e would be teaching our students
>
> "good practice" programming while also preparing them for a future
path in
>
> IT if they so choose - both at the tertiary level and in industry.
>
>
>
> </soapbox>
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Selina Dennis
>
> Strathmore Secondary College
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au]
>
> On Behalf Of Steven Bird
>
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 7:01 AM
>
> To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
>
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Industry practice - tertiary links
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 7:39 PM, Ti!
> mmer-Arends <timmer at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
>
>> I have to say that this discussion is heading to Comp Sci circa 1990
>
> (which
>
>> is not necessarily a bad thing)
>
>
>
> Well, CS an obvious source of theory for an IT subject. The theory on
>
> which VCE Physics and Chemistry is based is older still, but no-one
>
> considers that dated.
>
>
>
>> but it seems to me that a couple of
>
>> questions need to be answered first:
>
>> 1. what do we want students to get out of a technically-oriented Y12
IT
>
> course?
>
>> 2. is the course primarily intended to prepare students for
teritary,
>
> work, or both?
>
>
>
> Another conceivab!
> le answer to q2 is that it is foundational study,
>
> preparing students for whatever they choose to do in future, even if
>
> it involves no formal IT study or employment.
>
>
>
> For the students continuing from VCE Software Development to a degree
>
> in Software Engineering, we would prefer students to have a solid
>
> grounding in algorithmic problem solving and the associated
>
> programming skills. (The SDLC follows naturally once they're ready to
>
> scale up.)
>
>
>
> -Steven
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> http://www.edulists.com.au
>
> IT Software Development Mailing List kindly supported by
>
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority
>
> and
>
> http://www.vitta.org.au/vce/studies/infote!
> ch/softwaredevel3-4.html - VITTA
>
> Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> Message: 3
>
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:20:04 +1000
>
> From: Mark Kelly <kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au>
>
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Industry practice - tertiary links
>
> To: "Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List"
>
> <sofdev at edulists.com.au>
>
> Message-ID: <4807CD14.8060002 at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
>
> Yes - and we have to position VCE a!
> gainst VET, which is the more
>
> practical, work-or
> iented stream.
>
>
>
> Frankly, I can't see SD being directly useful in providing students
with
>
> workplace skills. It's simply not deep enough in programming skills -
>
> and it could never be in the time available. And by the time the kids
>
> took the tram from school to their first job, the entire IT industry
>
> would have had three technological revolutions in the meantime, so any
>
> language they learned would have been superseded.
>
>
>
> I see SD as giving students a taste of the mindset of software
>
> development, to be developed later at uni or TAFE.
>
>
>
> 2.2c worth, and falling against the Yen.
>
>
>
> Timmer-Arends wrote:
>
>> I have to say that this discu!
> ssion is heading to Comp Sci circa 1990 (which
>
>> is not necessarily a bad thing) but it seems to me that a couple of
>
>> questions need to be answered first:
>
>> 1. what do we want students to get out of a technically-oriented Y12
IT
>
>> course?
>
>> 2. is the course primarily intended to prepare students for teritary,
>
>> work, or both?
>
>>
>
>> Regards
>
>> Robert T-A
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven Bird"
<sb at csse.unimelb.edu.au>
>
>> To: "Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List"
>
>> <sofdev at edulists.com.au>
>
>> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:41 AM
>
> !
> > Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Industry practice - tertiary links<
> o:p>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>> [Adrian -- thanks for picking a more appropriate subject line now
that
>
>>> discussion has moved away from data flow diagrams.]
>
>>>
>
>>> On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 7:28 PM, andrew barry <jagguy999 at gmail.com>
>
>>> wrote:
>
>>>> I prefer to just teach an IT subject which is just programming and
some
>
>>>> programming design eg psuedo code.
>
>>>
>
>>> I agree. Students should learn how to walk before learning how to
>
>>> run, i.e. they should be competent with "programming in-the-small"
>
>>> before they spend much time on "programming in-the-large" (incl
SDLC).
>
>>>
>
>>>> Including so much theory doesn't get any student excited about
learning
>
>>>> IT
>
>>>> at Uni. After all we are trying to promote IT beyond yr12 are we
not?
>
>>>> Are
>
>>>> we
>
>>>> not trying to get more people to do it?
>
>>>
>
>>> I agree with Adrian that rigour is important, and this cuts across
>
>>> analysis, design, implementation, documentation, etc. The SDLC is
one
>
>>> source of theory but I question its suitability at this level. It's
>
>>> intended for software engineering projects where you have to manage
>
>>> whole teams of developers, client relationships, project
deliverables,
>
>>> etc. When students a!
> ren't already experienced at small-scale
>
>>>
> programming the emphasis often falls on a rather heavy document
>
>>> process, which has to be one of the least exciting aspects of
software
>
>>> development.
>
>>>
>
>>> Another issue I have with the emphasis on SDLC as a major source of
>
>>> theoretical content is that it focusses too much on the software
>
>>> development process. Of course that's entirely appropriate given
the
>
>>> title of the subject, but there's some other areas of computing
theory
>
>>> that would be useful and accessible at this level, including
>
>>> algorithmic problem solving and the limits of computing. Here's a
>
>>> couple of introductory books that cover these topics in a
>
>>> non-mathematical yet rigorous and !
> intellectually stimulating way:
>
>>>
>
>>> Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (3rd Ed, David Harel, Addison
>
>>> Wesley, 2004)
>
>>>
>
>>> Computers Ltd: What They Really Can't Do (David Harel, Oxford
>
>>> University Press, 2000)
>
>>>
>
>>> -Steven Bird
>
>>> http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/~sb/
>
>>> _______________________________________________
>
>>> http://www.edulists.com.au
>
>>> IT Software Development Mailing List kindly supported by
>
>>> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
>
>>> Authority
>
>>> and
>
>>> http://www.vitta.org.au/vce/s!
> tudies/infotech/softwaredevel3-4.html -
>
>>
> ;> VITTA Victorian Information Technology 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 95789253
>
> kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>
>
>
> Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>
> IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
>
> Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List
>
>
>
> A conclusion is the place where you got sick of thinking.
>
> If you Declare War - is it integer or boolean?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> sofdev mailing list
>
> sofdev at edulists.com.au
>
> http://www.edulists.com.au/mailman/listinfo/sofdev
>
>
>
>
>
> End of sofdev Digest, Vol 38, Issue 24
>
> **************************************
>
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> Development Mailing List kindly supported by
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<http://www.vitta.org.au/vce/studies/infotech/softwaredevel3-4.html%20%2
0>
> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
> http://www.vitta.org.au <http://www.vitta.org.au>- VITTA Victorian
> Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
>
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--
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
Only those who swim against the current know the current is there.
_______________________________________________
http://www.edulists.com.au
IT Software Development Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority and
http://www.vitta.org.au/vce/studies/infotech/softwaredevel3-4.html -
VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
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