[Year 12 SofDev] Fwd: The draft study design is on the table!

[Mark]

Psst. Hey, you. Yes, you. The IT teacher.
But mainly *you* - the *ITA* teacher.

Remember that *feedback on the draft IT study design* stops on *17 May*.
See below for quick links.
Five days to go.

If you teach *ITA* and you love the idea of teaching *databases* for most
of the year in *Informatics*, you need do *nothing*.

But here's a hypothesis...

- If you do nothing you *won't* end up teaching databases for most of the
year. Yay! What?
- This is because when students hear that 'Informatics' == 'Databases',
*none* of them will enrol for it.
- You will be teaching *Woodwork*. Or two *Year 9 Health* classes instead.

Of course, that's just a hypothesis. But sharpen your chisels and unwrap
your condoms - just in case.

We know that *IT Applications* enrolments have been trending down for the
past 5 years.
And I'd suggest this largely because databases have been mandated for the
past 5 years in ITA.
And the new *Informatics* course wants to compound the injury by increasing
the database component.

Dammit, people. We've always had an *understanding:*
- *Software Development* has always been for the unashamed IT lover who
would watch "The Big Bang Theory" and laugh at the quantum physics jokes.I
know I do.
- *ITA* (formerly IPM - Information Processing and Management) was for -
let's be honest - the students who liked using computers but couldn't get
into Media Studies. It was a fun, easy subject with low skill expectations
on arrival, and a useful skill set on graduation.  It was marked down as a
VCE study, but everyone knew that and accepted that. It was *understood*.

The draft study design seems to want to make ITA an ultrageeknerd study,
chockablock with *pure database science...*the sort of study that would not
be "marked down" and would stand proudly against a "real science" like
physics or chemistry.

But is that what *Informatics* is supposed to be? A rigorous,
intellectually-demanding, highly academic investigation of esoteric theory
that tertiary graduates require for a career in a narrow corner of the IT
industry? If so, it destroys the attraction of a subject for general ICT
skill development.

VCE Maths has all sorts of streams for students who (1) want to get through
year 12  and (2) want to become a maths/science professional.
Why can't VCE IT do the same, as it has always done?

Let's retain a unit 3/4 IT subject for those who couldn't give a flying
fuschia for fancy further specialist studies. How many students would
choose VCE Biology units 3 and 4 if three of the four outcomes were on
*cellular
slime mould*, and the other one was on *everything else*?

These lists have been a whistling desert breeze, a lonely rolling
tumbleweed of discussion on the crucial issue of this draft IT study design.

- Are people passionately in favour of increased database content in ITA
and are silent in anticipation of its arrival? (Yay! More databases!)
- Are people writing passionate feedback in defence or defiance of the
draft to the VCAA survey <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25>, and are
silent here?
- Are people just passively waiting to be fed whatever VCAA pushes into
their cages, and quietly grumble "I don't like that much" for the next 5
years?

Your only chance is *now*.
And you have only *five* days.

If you have an opinion *express it here on the Edulist forums* as well as
on the VCAA survey site <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25>.
You might *inspire others* to think and respond.

But I don't have to worry.
- *I* have the beach, red wine, and a thousand fine (and bad) old movies to
amuse me during periods 3 and 4 on a Tuesday.
*- You *will have year 12 *Informatics* with yet *another* database outcome
coming up, and the kids still don't really understand how 2NF differs from
3NF even after your eleven prior attempts to explain it, even with your
hand puppets.

So, if you teach VCE IT...

Read the draft -
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/ComputingSD-consultation-draft.pdf

Read the Summary of changes -
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/infotech/VCE_InfoTech_summary_changes.doc

*But for Dog's sake, whether you agree with me or not, go here and say
something -*  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CRDVJ25

Otherwise, you know what the next 5 years will be like for you:
*Countersinks*. *Chlamydia*...

-- 
Mark Kelly (amateur troublemaker)
mark AT vceit DOT com
http://vceit.com

*Everything new draft study design is a chance to make the VCE world a
better place. - *Mark Kelly

 --

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