[vet-mm] 2006 exam

Brian Pearce BPearce at clc.vic.edu.au
Thu Nov 16 09:59:31 EST 2006


If I could add my two cents worth as a bit of a newbie, a first time Cert 3 teacher at a secondary school this year, I think there is a serious problem built in to the offering of a VET Certificate as part of a VCE course. I love the subject, as do the students, and we try and play the game and fulfil all the requirements of both the VCE and VET, whilst learning something useful and creating exciting products. 
 
On the one hand though the VET Certificate  is really a guarantee to an employer that the student has reached a certain level of competency in certain areas, is self managing to a large degree and a safe bet to employ at that level. On the other hand the VCE is set up to grade and rank students in order to sort them out for further education opportunities. As mentioned by previous secondary school teachers, the students have limited time ( ususally much less than the nominal VET hours for the cert 3 ), several subjects to study at once and many schools have limited resources. The students mosty bring a VCE mentality to their VET work, i.e. juggle a million things at once, hand work in just in time and often seek help from the teacher when they should be becoming more independent learners ( as they would need to be in a workplace ).
 
I'm not sure what the solution is. I'd hate to see the subject disappear from schools because industry groups are not satisfied that schools are upholding and enforcing the required standards, but I'm also not convinced that the competencies as written are properly acheivable in a VCE school setting.
 
 
Cheers,
 
Brian Pearce
 
Catholic Ladies College,
Eltham

________________________________

From: vet-mm-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Daylan
Sent: Thu 16/11/2006 9:40 AM
To: VET Multimedia Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [vet-mm] 2006 exam


Wow, 
Brutal ! Thanks for your comments Mario, first of all i'd just like to point out a couple of things. What i have written about in my posts is purely my opinion, as mentioned in my first post about this subject, i am leaving Impact and just thought i would voice my opinion on what i believe was lacking in the multimedia classes at VET/VCE level. If you want to bring the claws out and have a go at where i work, go ahead. 
You just have to look at the 15+ responses this topic has raised to know that somethings not quite right. 
If an exam has scripting questions, "its too hard", if there's not enough scripting "its not relevant". I don't care whether or not you take Impact seriously, i think our 98% pass rate in cert 3 and constant appearance by our students work at things such as season of excellence proves that, "holy crap" i guess we're doing something right huh. When schools are contacting us in order to do their flash training for their students. Damm! Being "money driven" and "naïve" sucks huh. 
Everyone else though, please don't get me wrong. I don't know if teachers have the same conversations/emails about Maths and English and P.E and whatever else, but if people cant agree on what is meant to be taught then there is a problem. 
Im just stating that i think if your going to show students this subject, its important to be showing them stuff that is relevant to the actual subject, which is both design and programing, as well, of course as meeting the competencies set by "the powers that be". I personally prefer doing the design aspect of this stuff. Its a lot more fun and creative, but like i said previously, this stuff changes faster than anyone can learn it, and staying in the comfort zone of teaching the easy stuff will not help students in the future who obviously have an interest in this industry. 
But I'm not an art teacher, so what the hell do i know about multimedia.(No offense to art teachers of course, I loved art in high school) 


On 16/11/2006, at 1:44 AM, Mario Yannakakis wrote: 


	We have tried for so many years to get an understanding of what it is that 
	we as teachers/trainers for VET in schools are suppose to teach that it 
	really annoys me and it really makes me wonder whether I really want to 
	teach in the future!!! 

	Please forget about impact creativity because they are just business minded 
	people. Ofcoarse they will support scripting because they want their 
	graduates to come and work within a production based programming role for 
	their clients and they, just like every other business will give their 
	employees next to nothing for an entry level role. 

	This is just my opinion! 

	Mario Yannakakis 






	-----Original Message----- 
	From: vet-mm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:vet-mm-bounces at edulists.com.au] 
	On Behalf Of peterfowler at optusnet.com.au 
	Sent: Wednesday, 15 November 2006 5:07 PM 
	To: VET Multimedia Teachers' Mailing List 
	Subject: Re: [vet-mm] 2006 exam 

	You are dead right Susan, 
	The exam is supposed to test of the whole course at year 12, its not 
	intended to focus on individual competencies. 
	The students greater understanding of programming is assessed as part of a 
	scored SAC. 
	In most cases the MM job market will not be interested in students with a 
	Cert III qualification. 
	Part of our role is to provide student with a broad understanding of the MM 
	industry, they usually specialize when they hit University. 
	So lets put our personal bias on hold and lets try to get a better balance 
	in the exam next time around. 
	Yours Sincerely 
	Peter Fowler 
	Swinburne Senior Secondary College 




		Susan Bell <Susan.Bell at wesleycollege.net> wrote: 

		I think the issue here was about programming in the exam - not whether 
		you need programming when students venture into the job market. No one 
		is denying that programming is important - but the exam was biased 
		towards scripting which is simply not fair in a year 12 exam. 
		Sue 

					daylan at impactcreativity.com.au 11/15/06 04:28pm >>> 

		Hi all, 
		I've been training Cert 2, 3 and diploma level multimedia for 

		the past 3 years and working in the industry (clients etc) for 4 years. 

		This is my final year of training students however as i will be 
		venturing of into that big, murderous multimedia world to work for MYOB 

		but i thought i might add my 2 cents too. 
		I felt that there wasn't enough emphasis on programming in the exam 
		or 
		in the course in general. I personally tried to train my students in a 

		way that would give them actual skills that are relevant for industry, 

		as well of course, as meeting competencies. And while i agree design is 

		important, i fell that its only about 20% of most jobs. 
		You just need to look at it.seek.com etc to see that 98% of jobs in the 

		industry require more than awesome photoshop and design skills. In fact 

		i'd say 80% don't even care if you are good at design, they want you to 

		be a programmer. 
		Its extremely hard in the industry to find a job that is purely design 

		and even if you do they are usually the lowest paying jobs. 
		Design is the fun stuff and it's a lot easier to keep students 
		attention with fun things, but as far as vocational training goes, i 
		feel programming is a much more important skill for students to walk 
		away with. 

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		VET Multimedia Mailing List kindly supported by 
		http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment 
		Authority and 
		http://www.vitta.org.au - VITTA Victorian Information Technology 
		Teachers Association Inc 

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	http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe 
	VET Multimedia Mailing List kindly supported by 
	http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 
	and 
	http://www.vitta.org.au - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers 
	Association Inc 


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	http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe 
	VET Multimedia Mailing List kindly supported by 
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	http://www.vitta.org.au - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc 


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