[Year 12 SofDev] Term 1 Study Design Reflection

[Selina Dennis]

Hi everyone,

 

Just as we (joyfully) head into the Easter break, I thought I'd share with
all of you some of the SAT project topics my students have selected, as well
as a little bit of my own reflection on the Study Design changes.

 

Some background: I have 21 students in SoftDev this year: 11 x Year 11s and
10 x Year 12s - 3 females in total. The language we use is Python, version
2.7, with Tkinter for GUI-creation.

 

Of the 21 students, 19 have found clients that are not related to them (2
have family-run business clients). The vast majority of clients are small
businesses that are part of the local community. The variety is really
pleasing, including car repairs and parts companies, the local gym, a
psychologist's practice, a nutritionist's company, an accounting firm, a
phamarcy and a local bookshop. 

 

While most students are planning business-related applications, some
students have been able to find really interesting projects. Two students
have clients who specialise in robotics, and will be working on (different)
simulation and maze-traversal programs. One student is meeting the need of a
classical musician and will be creating a modular metronome app that can be
programmed to automatically change timing and tempo for specific musical
pieces. Another is working on a backwards recipe app, where you can search
for healthy recipes that you can make with what you have in the fridge.
Interestingly, the majority of their design ideas focus on creating
solutions to meet a client "need" rather than a client "opportunity".

 

Right now, students are at the stage of determining the data they need to
collect (Observation Number 3) and we've been having some fun with
mock-interviews and role-plays to help generate design ideas as well as help
determine the questions they'll need to ask their clients to help them in
their mission to create the SRS next term.  

 

>From the perspective of a teacher who has taught Software Development for
multiple Study Designs, I can say that the switch to a SAT for this
iteration of the Study Design was quite daunting. I was worried my students
wouldn't be able to find "real projects" and "real clients" and that I'd end
up with a lot of contrived programs that wouldn't ever be used. I'm so glad
that I've been proven wrong!  Of course, not all students will be able to
write programs to fulfil every element of what they've put into their
initial outline/design brief, but really that's something for them to decide
as part of determining the scope in the SRS. It's really hard for them to
know what's "in scope" and "out of scope" in relation to their own
abilities, though, as they're all just beginning to get comfortable with
programming - no students have prior experience in Python, and only one
student this year has prior coding experience. What I've noticed, though, is
that students are far more excited about the subject than students I've had
in the past, and far more engaged with learning the fundamentals of
programming as well as the theory behind it. That's not to say my past
students weren't excited, it's just a very different buzz to the room from
what I've experienced before; the motivation has increased ten-fold.

 

Also from my "teacher hat" perspective: it's definitely more work, but I
find I'm enjoying the different learning and teaching environment so the
extra work's not onerous. It's challenging and I've had to re-think the way
I deliver content, but this has so far been quite refreshing. I'm still
worried about SAT rubrics and meeting requirements and timing, but I'm
certainly feeling more comfortable about the SAT as a whole than I did in
January.

 

If anyone out there needs ideas for students who are struggling to lock down
their project, please feel free to send me an email off-list. I'm happy to
go into more detail about some of the design briefs that students have
submitted. If you're a Python-based class, I'm also more than happy to share
resources.

 

Thanks and happy holidays,

 

Selina Dennis

Strathmore Secondary College

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