[Yr11 Information Technology] SoftDev pathway

Mon Feb 18 09:24:46 UTC 2019

Hi,

Thanks James.

Just a cursory glance over the Microsoft offering in 2019 and they seem to be investing more in https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/makecode and Imagine Academy for senior high school/ college https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/education/imagine-academy/default.aspx

But the Microsoft Virtual Academy which had a good VB course on it, is going. They seem to be reverting to old habits and using the Certification framework to push people into expensive paid courses with 3rd party vendors.  https://mva.microsoft.com/search/SearchResults.aspx#!q=Visual%20Basic&lang=1033

My handful of year 9s are doing Swift Playgrounds for their coding elective. While I am not confident they will get enough language to actually build an app, the "Learn to Code" 1,2,3 course are excellent. They are doing some pretty complex puzzles using functions, loops, conditionals and really enjoying the fun interface. https://www.apple.com/au/swift/playgrounds/   https://www.apple.com/au/education/docs/Swift_Playgrounds_Curriculum_Guide.pdf

I think the Swift Playgrounds course gets them through U3&4 curriculum concepts pretty comfortably but they can't build much at the end!! Need to take the next step and start again with Xcode.

Cheers, Mel

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A CONSISTENTLY HIGH ACHIEVING INDEPENDENT GIRLS' SCHOOL

Melissa

Yuan

IT Teacher

phone:

+61 3 9830 1388

fax:

+61 3 9888 5682

email:

myuan at fintona.vic.edu.au<mailto:myuan at fintona.vic.edu.au>

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www.fintona.vic.edu.au<http://www.fintona.vic.edu.au>

From: yr11it <yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au> On Behalf Of James Vella
Sent: Friday, 8 February 2019 10:19 AM
To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List <yr11it at edulists.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Yr11 Information Technology] SoftDev pathway

Hi Mel

I'm still using Visual Basic at Unit 2 and for Software Dev U3O1 - but usually let the students pick what ever language they want for their SAT.

As for what I've used in the past at Year 10 - typically HTML/CSS/JavaScript does the job and I extend students that need it into Python/Ruby/SQL etc. I find that using the earlier three requires little intervention (if any) from IT Support Staff too since it doesn't need any specific software to run on student or school devices (obviously you can use software like Notepad++ and the like if you wish). It also makes it easy for kids to show their parents what they are doing in class because of the ease of working with the languages.

Not sure what you mean by Microsoft resources and support have degraded though Mel - MSDN reference libraries are now free and updated semi-regularly. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/visual-basic/ They also provide a good background to understanding the technical underpinnings of what is there.

Keen to hear what everyone else is doing though

James
Ave Maria College - formerly MacKillop College

James Vella

Domain Leader Technology

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From: yr11it <yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au<mailto:yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au>> On Behalf Of Melissa Yuan
Sent: Friday, 8 February 2019 9:46 AM
To: yr11it at edulists.com.au<mailto:yr11it at edulists.com.au>
Subject: [Yr11 Information Technology] SoftDev pathway

Hello Y11 Teachers,

It's been a while since I've heard much on this list but I am hoping you are all still there.

I last taught SoftDev in 2016 and at that time we used Visual Basic. In 2019 I am looking at pathway languages in Year 9 but it seems that the Visual Basic materials and support have degraded significantly, especially as Microsoft has been trying to keep pace with computer science learning with Minecraft and Makecode.

Given this, what are people using in Year 9/10 and VCE Unit 2 Programming for pathway to SoftDev?
Has the pendulum swung fully over to Python now and is there a consensus about filling the gap between Python and Unit 3&4 Study Design content on User Interfaces?

Hopefully that makes sense :)

Cheers, Mel

[cid:image001.jpg at 01D4C7C7.F9593760]

A CONSISTENTLY HIGH ACHIEVING INDEPENDENT GIRLS' SCHOOL

Melissa

Yuan

IT Teacher

phone:

+61 3 9830 1388

fax:

+61 3 9888 5682

email:

myuan at fintona.vic.edu.au<mailto:myuan at fintona.vic.edu.au>

79 Balwyn Road

Balwyn VIC  3103

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