[Yr11 Information Technology] End of year reflection

[Bane, Janet A]

Hi Mark and others

Some reflections on Unit 1  and 2 that may help you plan:

Outcome 1 – spreadsheets – pretty straight forward.  Next year I plan to put more emphasis on making charts rather than teaching formulas.  Things like sparklines in Excel and Google charts, which were new areas for me. Kids need to be taught data interpretation skills – when given a lot of data, how to pick what is relevant, whats the best chart and why.  Should take about 5-6 weeks

Outcome 2 – networks – much the same as the previous study design. Tasks I gave included a network assignment, drawing a network diagram using Viso, network terminology and a case study.  Finished up with a 3 column instructional brochure about how to use a network and some network security questions about a dodgy car dealer (Sid shifty).   I gave my kids a test at the end.   Should also take about 6 weeks.

Outcome 3 – Project Management, group task to make a website about a current issue.  This one I struggled with because I ran out of time (due to exams, work experience etc.).  Next time I will be devoting a lot more, as this is by far the biggest task.    You need to teach project management, as well as web authoring software which takes a while.  For project management I got them to do a time line for their next 5 years using Viso, then we did some exercises in Expression web to cover basic web authoring, and we also had a debate (using Powerpoint slides) on the issue of whether computer games lead to violence.  The other topics are cloud computing, social networking e-commerce and robotics/artificial intelligence.  They also have to include some evidence of primary research (eg survey) on their website.  When I divided up the class into groups, I gave each group a different topi c to research.

The first problem with this SAC is that it’s a group task.  I hate them.  It usually means that one person does all the work while the others waste time. Its very hard to assess who has done what and therefore to mark fairly.  Second problem is their tendency to copy and paste large chunks from the internet and call it their own.  Third problem is the gathering of survey data – logistics of getting kids to fill them out, which year levels, and the questions themselves are often poorly worded or simplistic Yes/No – next year I am definitely going to spend more time on question construction.  By the time you have assessed their team “brainstorm”, Gantt chart, Survey and questions, bibliography, storyboard, work log, evaluation, and actual website it has become quite a big SAC.  Next year I will try and allow7- 8 weeks for this SAC.

Outcome 4 (unit 2) – Data visualisation.  This was a new area for me and one that I quite enjoyed.  The kids seemed to like looking at the range of excellent visualisations that others had made on the internet.  A good website to show them is at http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations<http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/> However, when they came to make their own visualisations, we used to Excel (charts again) and I also used the many eyes website at http://www.research.ibm.com/social/projects_manyeyes.html  which was good.  Students have to register (which was a bit of a pain due to the way our network is set up) however we got there in the end. Another good site for making word visualisations is www.wordle.com<http://www.wordle.com>.  So although there are many good visualisations on the internet, when it comes to actually making them, students are limited by their expertise and the software available.   Allow 4-5 weeks.

Outcome 5 – Programming and ICT careers.  Straightforward – same as the last study design.  I got this finished by the end of term 3.  We did VB6  - kids worked on a range of programs, and had to maintain an electronic journal of their progress. I also included testing tables etc.  They finished with the ICT report  which they have to do on an ICT career which involves programming. I gave equal weighting in terms of marks to both parts.  Allow 5-6 weeks

Outcome 6 -  Working for a client.  I think this was also in the last study design.  It is another group task.  Enough said.  The kids have generally used members of staff to make websites, posters, powerpoints etc. for.  Only one managed to get a real “client” – his mum works in childcare so they made some very simple posters to put in the kinder.  I reckon an 8 year old could have done them.  I hope the bar can be raised next year.  Allow 3-4 weeks for this one, and then spend the rest of the term in some heavy duty revision.



Regards
Janet Bane
Patterson River SC.

________________________________
From: yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au [yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au] on behalf of Mark KELLY [kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 2 November 2011 11:50 AM
To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Yr11 Information Technology] End of year reflection

Hi all.  Now that things are winding down after the first year of the new study design, I was wondering if people have feelings, conclusions or tips about the unit 1 and 2 course.

Would you do anything differently next time? What worked well?

I'll be tackling it for the first time next year, and I'd be interested to see how people travelled with the new material in the course, particularly data visualisation.

regards
Mark

--
Mark Kelly
Manager of ICT, Reporting, IT Learning Area
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085, Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au<mailto:kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au>
VCE IT Lecture Notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Edulist<http://www.edulists.com.au/>

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