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<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>actually .. a good exam must include questions that only a few will get
other wise there is no discrimination between scores at the high
end</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>That
is for any exam .. not just one that is used for Uni entrance. Ranking of
students is important otherwise students have nothing to reward them for either
effort or Ability.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Also
without asking hard questions the subject will turn into Information Processing
and Society .. for those with long memories.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250303603-16112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>HSC
Computer Science it Certainly is not </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><SPAN lang=en-us><B><FONT face="Antique Olive" color=#008080 size=2>Royce
Williams</FONT></B></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Impact size=4>Round
Square BoardWalk Co</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Impact
size=4>"We keep your feet Dry"</FONT></SPAN> </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
is-bounces@edulists.com.au [mailto:is-bounces@edulists.com.au] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Andrew Shortell<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, 16 November 2006 1:09
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Year 12 Information Technology Systems Teachers' Mailing
List<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Year 12 Its] New IS study design
query<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hi
Frank<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Past exams give you
what the examiners have asked over the years at an algorithm
level.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">All of the SACs are
statistically moderated against the exam.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The lack of depth
specified in the study design gives the examiners incredible scope to ask at
any level.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Then consider how
many students would answer it well. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Look carefully at the
examiners reports over the last twelve years. Look especially at the success
rate on the algorithm questions. Look at the questions
concerned.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Think carefully about
the point of asking a question where only a few percent of students get above
zero. The point of the exam is to spread students in to a long line using the
filter of the knowledge learnt in this subject so that they can be given a
study score and thus get put into a long line for uni entrance.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cynical – yes ,
practical –yes <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The practice exams
with parameter passing – an attempt to lift the bar. ( I know, I wrote that
algorithm) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Eventually we will
get to that stage. But first we have to educate the teachers and there are
teachers in this subject who are not confident teaching parameter passing,
linked lists, stacks, queues, LIFO, FIFO, multi d arrays. There is a lot
of PD that needs to be done before we can ask questions at that depth in the
exam.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Meanwhile I teach all
of those, make it interesting and for those students who are not up to it I
make very sure that they can do a bit more than the minimum that we have seen
on the exam. Their SAC results for u3o3 and u4o1 are not as good as the
programmer students but programming itself only makes up a small part of those
SACs. Most of the marks are in planning, documentation etc. The programmer
students hate those aspects and often leave them
out.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">So it evens
up….<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(Off the soap box and
stagger off to lunch. I hate getting up at 4 a.m. to mark papers but it is the
only quiet time in the house)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><FONT face=Arial color=blue
size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Andrew
Shortell</SPAN></FONT></st1:PersonName><FONT color=navy><SPAN
style="COLOR: navy"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><FONT
face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Braemar</SPAN></FONT></st1:PlaceName><FONT
face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></SPAN></FONT></st1:place><FONT
color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy"> </SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: blue 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">
<DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
is-bounces@edulists.com.au [mailto:is-bounces@edulists.com.au] <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Frank Van Den
Boom<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Thursday, 16
November 2006 10:29 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B>
is@edulists.com.au<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B>
FW: [Year 12 Its] New IS study design query</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I was a bit surprised
to only get one response to the question below a couple of weeks ago. Does
that mean that nobody else finds this difficult to judge?<BR>Imagine you were
an experienced IT practioner and you came in to teach this course with no
prior knowledge of it and you were trying to figure out what depth was
required in programming. So you look at the following
:</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">1. Study design -
very hard to know (see comments in original message)
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">2. 2006 IS exam -
nothing beyond nested IF's - nothing involving arrays, records, files. One
question with a loop was only concerned with identifying variable types, but
not control or data structures.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">3. Previous exams -
basic use of 1-dim array, basic looping</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">3. VITTA practice
exams - suggest you need to have a solid understanding of arrays, records,
file processing and parameter passing. </SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">4. Text books - cover
algorithms for stacks, queues, linked lists etc</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">At the end of the
day, past exams to me are the only general indicator of the depth to
cover. Is there a reason why the study design can't spell this
out more clearly?</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=blue size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Frank</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
is-bounces@edulists.com.au [mailto:is-bounces@edulists.com.au] <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of </SPAN></B>Frank Van Den
Boom<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, 25
October 2006 12:41 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B>
is@edulists.com.au<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B>
[Year 12 Its] New IS study design query</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Today I started looking more
closely at the revised study design to plan for next year. One of the things
that struck me is that it is difficult to know what the minimum content
requirements are in a number of areas. For example-data structures. I don't
think it specifically mentions any particular data structure. U4O1 key
knowledge includes "methods of organising files....serial, sequential, random"
which implies the need to cover records. Arrays are not specifically referred
to and while, it would be pretty dumb to omit them, are 1-dim arrays enough,
or might exams expect ability to work with multi-dim arrays? What about sets,
pointers....</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Another KK point --> 'Forms and
uses of data structures to organise and manipulate data'. Which data
structures?? What types of uses?? - all the oldies like sorting, linked lists,
queues, binary searches etc are possible
here.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Now I know we have the flexibility
to cover as much of this as we want to for the kids who are really into it,
particularly for those who already have a reasonable programming foundation as
they enter the course. But what I don't know is what the minimum
requirement is. This becomes more important when most of your group have
little to no programming experience.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">What do you think about
this?</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Frank</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________________________________ <BR><A
href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au </A>IT Systems
Mailing List kindly supported by <BR><A
href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au </A>- Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment Authority and <BR><A
href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au </A>- VITTA Victorian
Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
_______________________________________________ <BR><A
href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au </A>IT Systems
Mailing List kindly supported by <BR><A
href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au </A>- Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment Authority and <BR><A
href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au </A>- VITTA Victorian
Information Technology Teachers Association
Inc<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV>_______________________________________________
<BR><A href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au </A>IT
Systems Mailing List kindly supported by <BR><A
href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au </A>- Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment Authority and <BR><A
href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au </A>- VITTA Victorian
Information Technology Teachers Association Inc </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>