[Year 12 IPM] Potty Problems

[Mark Kelly]

Hi all.

I've been poking through the Potts text (uncorrected page proof version 
- I have not seen the final edition) and I'm not feeling at all 
comfortable about their Unit 3 Outcome 2 sample.

Keeping in mind what Lady Paula C said in a recent email about the risks 
of using other people's tasks without due care and attention, I fear the 
sample task might be leading teachers down a dangerous garden path... 
and potentially leading to big trouble for students if their means of 
assessment are audited at the end of 2007 and found to be deficient.

The Potts sample U3O2 is a chain of travel agencies that want to sharing 
knowledge.  That's fine, but there is nothing I can see about 
*collaborative decision making* which is dictated in the study design.

All the agencies are doing is sharing static information; they are only 
disseminating, not collaborating.

Now, if the branches banded together electronically to plan the 
end-of-year dinner dance, or created a new advertising blitz as a 
virtual team, it would meet the requirements of the study design.  But 
at the moment, the info flow is only one way: there is no interaction 
between the team members.

It worries me that if students create a website that does nothing to 
facilitate communication, knowledge exchange and decision making, they 
will be severely disadvantaged.

If you are going to use Potts as your starting point for ITA U3O2, I 
urge you have a good long look at your task and compare it to what the 
study design demands of it.

Hell, ANY task that you borrow from ANY source needs to be checked by 
you to make sure it's kosher.  I'm not just picking on Potts.

Be especially careful if you're tempted to use tasks adapted from IPM 
outcomes: most of the ITA outcomes are fundamentally different to those 
in IPM.

As Paula said earlier: you are ultimately responsible for your 
assessment.  You can't blame the source of borrowed outcomes if they're 
flawed - even mine!

(Scurries back to my draft outcomes for a fresh look-see)




-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
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