Sample musings on the sample questions...<br><br>1. A5 - I thought the storyboard would have more navigational information than a sitemap. Isn't a storyboard like a sitemap with extra information about each page's navigation components?<br>
<br>2. A8 - Are we now examining corporate policy making? The management could choose any of those options as its "best" decision. It's not a legal decision, it's a local decision. What <i>they</i> find best is open to debate.<br>
<br>3. B1a - The word "type" is ambiguous. Students could answer "text" (Filemaker would store the letter "F" or "M") or "gender". In Filemaker it could also be "numeric" with the answer stored as Boolean while displaying the "M/F" text onscreen. <br>
<br>If the question simply wanted students to show they knew what a radio button was, it was a dangerous way to do it. If they wanted the answer "Boolean", it's just <b>wrong</b>. As has been mentioned by Maggie, to be Boolean, the question would have to be "Male?".<br>
<br>4. B1b - I can't see much wrong with the drop down list. Should it be marked as a required field?<br><br>While on this subject, my usual grumble: I really don't see that using controls to <b>prevent</b> invalid data input can be viewed as <b>validation</b>. I see validation as the step <i>after</i> data entry that actively checks for unreasonable data. Preventing the entry of invalid data would come during <b>input</b> (in the old, defunct, but still valuable information processing cycle.)<br>
<br>5. B2 - I think this question's reference to "technical feature" is too vague. If a student said "it would need some cables", would that qualify as a technical feature?<br><br>6. B3a. I agree with Maggie that Boolean does not properly apply to <i>any</i> field.<br>
<br>7. B3c. Pah! 'Nuf already said on that.<br><br>8. B4. At least we now know that VCAA thinks an ERD is. Thanks for the clarification.<br><br>9. B5a. Vague again. How can they record the data? "On a hard disk"? Is it referring to using a web form with a POST method? If so, I'd read that as implicit since they are using a form on a website... I dunno.<br>
<br>10. B7 - the advent of super-long answers is an interesting new direction. I know my ESL kids will not be advantaged by it. <br><br>I believe exam answers have been growing shorter and more specific quite deliberately in the past years because students were having trouble with longer answers that were relevant and focused. <br>
<br>Is VCAA is consciously aiming to make ITA more rigorous? These 8 mark, 15 line answers, I fear, will lead to weaker students producing weaker answers. At least with short answers, if their answer is irrelevant it is short and does not waste too much of their time.<br>
<br>11. B8a. I assume the method of identifying members would be username/password. Asking students to describe "how she would do this" may be a bit much unless students have studied cPanel and know how to password-protect website directories. Or have I missed a more obvious method?<br>
<br>Thanks for these sample questions: they do raise even more questions!<br><br>On 1 April 2011 13:31, Christophersen, Paula P <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:christophersen.paula.p@edumail.vic.gov.au" target="_blank">christophersen.paula.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Dear colleagues</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">The examination specifications and some sample questions focusing on
new content in the study design are now on the VCAA website:</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/infotech/it-applications/publications/IT-Apps-samp.pdf</a></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Structurally the examination remains the same – two sections:
Section A multiple choice; Section B short and extended responses. </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">I draw your attention to a couple of matters in the sample questions:</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:57.0pt"><font face="Symbol" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></font></span></span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Question 4 focuses on an entity relationship diagram –
this hopefully clarifies recent concerns that have been raised.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:57.0pt"><font face="Symbol" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></font></span></span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Question 7 illustrates one way in which the
examination can deal with the choice of different software in Unit 4, Area of
Study 1. Here a common question is presented, and students select the software
tool to explain their answer.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:57.0pt"><font face="Symbol" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></font></span></span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Question 9 is an example of an extended response
(worth 8 marks) with prompts to guide answers</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:57.0pt"><font face="Symbol" size="1"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<font face="Times New Roman" size="1"><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></font></span></span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Question 12 is an example of the scope of a question
on RDBMS – the focus can only extent to what is covered in Unit 3. Again
it illustrates an extended response with prompts</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Regards</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Paula</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">Paula Christophersen</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">ICT Curriculum Manager</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">VCAA</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">41 St Andrews Place</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">EAST MELBOURNE</span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US"> 3002</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt" lang="EN-US">(03) 9651 4378</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
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