[Year 12 IT Apps] Glossary - example

[Mark Kelly]

Yes - it was only this year that a student suggested the interpretation 
that the question intended the options to be read in that specific order 
(i.e. "swipe card is electronic AND login+password is physical IN THAT 
ORDER").  I never read it that way in the past - indeed there were no 
clues in the wording of the question that this interpretation was needed.

Yep... badly worded.

But still: a card is _not_ an electronic component, whichever way you 
read it  :-[


Lumsden, Richard G wrote:
> I believe the problem of the glossary goes a lot further.  Multiple
> choice questions in the context of IT will always be problematic and too
> language specific especially for ESL students.  I would prefer to see
> them removed completely and avoid the inherent debate on the pros and
> cons of the wording and interpretation of the choices in the multiple
> choice questions each year in the final exam.
> 
> Take for instance question 2 again, apart from the terminology and
> choices offered:
> 
> Are the security components respectfully ordered from the question to
> the answer?  If a student believed they were (either falsely or
> correctly), then only choosing the password as electronic would yield
> the correct answer. Not a good question all round! 
> 
> Question 2: A bank teller uses a swipe card and a login with password to
> access clients' bank accounts. This security is an example of A.
> physical and biometric.
> B. electronic and physical.
> C. biometric and biometric.
> D. electronic and electronic.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark Kelly
> Sent: Wednesday, 19 August 2009 12:25 PM
> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: [Year 12 IT Apps] Glossary - example
> 
> A quicky to highlight the importance of the glossary.  The existing 
> glossary defines "Validate" as "To check that data input to a computer 
> system is of an appropriate type for processing and within acceptable 
> boundaries."
> 
> This made it patently obvious that the "correct" answer of multichoice 
> Q9 in the the 2007 ITA exam was absolutely incorrect:
> 
> Question 9
> Validation is used to
> A. check the accuracy of calculations.
> B. detect software errors and alert the manager.
> C. test functions and alert programmers to errors.
> D. prevent inaccurate data from entering the system. << OFFICIAL ANSWER
> 
> Since validation is not defined in the proposed glossary, students could
> 
> use any interpretation of 'validation' when answering a similar question
> 
> in 2011 and claim full marks.
> 
> And even if every ITA textbook did manage to present a unified and 
> coherent explanation of what validation was, they are not canon and 
> don't count.  Only the study design (and its glossary) and the 
> assessment handbook are canon.
> 
> 
> On a different but related tack...
> 
> 
> It's interesting to see that the proposed glossary defines
> 'Physical security measures/devices' and 'Software security 
> measures/devices'.
> 
> I don't find the division at all comfortable or convincing.  For one 
> thing biometric identification relies on hardware (e.g. camera) plus 
> software (e.g. retinal mapping and matching algorithms). Each component 
> is equally vital. It fits in both categories.
> 
> This is why I hated multichoice Q2 of the 2007 exam:
> 
> Question 2: A bank teller uses a swipe card and a login with password to
> 
> access clients' bank accounts. This security is an example of
> A. physical and biometric.
> B. electronic and physical.
> C. biometric and biometric.
> D. electronic and electronic. <<offical answer
> 
> How can a CARD not be a physical object?  Without the card, you don't 
> get access.
> 
> The examiner's comment was vapid: "Many students were distracted by 
> electronic and physical (option B) and did not correctly identify the 
> security measures used to prevent unauthorised access to data and 
> information as electronic and electronic."
> 
> They offered no support or explanation of why D was "correct" and I 
> still hate this question.
> 
> Anyway: I still maintain there should be a third security category: 
> procedural security, which includes policies and behaviours to protect 
> data (e.g. disabling a worker's network access before telling them 
> they're sacked; training staff how to handle phishing attempts; 
> enforcing a policy that members of the public are not allowed near staff
> 
> workstations; prohibiting the placement of water-filled vases on
> computers.)
> 
> 

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
McKinnon Rd, McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085 Fax +613 9578 9253

Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List

Why do people mis-spell 'grammar' and mispronounce 'pronuniciation'?