Anyone here also agree that the SD course is incredibly boring?

[MJRomeo81]

Almost everyone I've spoken to about the software development study design has stated that the course is tedious. With CS/IT uni applications dropping, do you think that the nature of VCE IT plays a part?

The common consensus among VCE students is that IT subjects are ridiculously easy. Instead of introducing students to some great concepts (including some fairly challenging ones such as the RSA algorithm), VCAA present a bunch of broscience (efficiency vs effectiveness, computer hardware) for example. IT is a modern dynamic field so I think VCAA should leave all the "introduction to computers" stuff in units 1&2.

I've brainstormed some ideas to possibly improve the quality of the subject:

• Have more written tests as SACs. This would serve as excellent preparation for the exam. Just like how U402 is a test on laws and ethics, U301 should be a test on DFDs and networked environments.
• Change the study design so that only one outcome is a programming project. Here's the problem in VCE SD. Hardly any actual coding is taught in class. According to the study design the emphasis is clearly on writing algorithms in pseudo code. Furthermore the exams test this knowledge. The exam doesn't ask you to write a for loop to calculate x in VB.net/python, etc. Given that the programming SACs are around 10 periods in length, and that it usually involves implementing a queue/stack in code, most students either a) bring the work home which is cheating, or b) jump on Google and solve the problem since there's a load of other dry theory to complete in the 10 periods

[huss48]

good point made there MJRomeo81

[Yendall]

I think there definitely needs to be more of a correlation between SAC work and the end of year exam. It shouldn't be left to the last term for students to cram in unnecessary theory that wasn't touched throughout the year. When I did my sacs, they were poorly written, long, tedious and some were just unbearable. It required unnecessary research of outdated programming and in-efficient methods. I blame this solely on how our sacs were written, but also the curriculum doesn't allow students to truly use their creative abilities to present intuitive ideas.

[MJRomeo81]

I think there definitely needs to be more of a correlation between SAC work and the end of year exam. It shouldn't be left to the last term for students to cram in unnecessary theory that wasn't touched throughout the year. When I did my sacs, they were poorly written, long, tedious and some were just unbearable.

This really sums up what's wrong with the course at the moment. I think many students would appreciate completing exam-like tests as SACs rather than long tedious programming that's crammed into 10 periods.

[e^1]

• Change the study design so that only one outcome is a programming project. Here's the problem in VCE SD. Hardly any actual coding is taught in class. According to the study design the emphasis is clearly on writing algorithms in pseudo code. Furthermore the exams test this knowledge. The exam doesn't ask you to write a for loop to calculate x in VB.net/python, etc. Given that the programming SACs are around 10 periods in length, and that it usually involves implementing a queue/stack in code, most students either a) bring the work home which is cheating, or b) jump on Google and solve the problem since there's a load of other dry theory to complete in the 10 periods

I didn't choose to do SD, but this would actually be quite nice to add. Also wish DECV allowed more programming languages for others than simply just one.
DECV is PHP, mine is C#. Yes, it should be harder. Yes, that's partially why I didn't choose to do IT SD or IT Apps.

[Chazef]

haven't attended any classes for SD yet but from looking at this textbook, some of the content really isn't as logical as I first thought, and more like just stuff some guy came up with which you'll need to remember. Like the OSI model having 7 layers, I just think that's complete overkill and it stretches the components of a system out to unintuitive levels (but hey I guess the VCAA can't just make up a new model). I'm certainly hoping I don't need to spend unnecessary amounts of time slaving over how to get VB code to achieve a mundane task, when I should be perfecting my knowledge on the course content. The real problem with trying to mix practical and theoretical elements in a course like this is that the weaker teachers have a greater likelihood of spending too much time teaching content which is ultimately useless for the exam. I understand the importance of applying knowledge through practical sacs, but I imagine there are plenty of crappy teachers out there who are incapable of teaching the course content and are far more comfortable merely teaching a programming language all year at the expense of the students. These are just my fears from what I've read about SD, and I'm particularly nervous because I do not come from the strongest school in terms of teachers.

[Yendall]

The real problem, Chazef, is the absolute rubbish SACs! You will spend unnecessary time completing them because they have to stretch to nearly or over 10 one-hour periods in length. Teacher incompatibility doesn't help either, I had this problem and the SACs were close to impossible because we were never taught anything. Of course, I had to use my own knowledge of programming to go home and enhance my skills, but that shouldn't be the case. I should be studying the course at home, not the programming. That should be done in class. Mind you I got A+ on all the SACs, but in achieving that I had to cram exam study into the last frame of my Year 12 life.
What I would suggest to you:

• Learn VB.net completely before the Term 1 holidays
• Brush over exam content whenever you can
• Start using vceit.com as soon as possible. Learn the content so you're prepared!
• Start making programs before school that utilise IF THEN ELSE statements, STACKS, QUEUES, FOR loops etc.
• Learn what each simple object in Basic actually do (ie. Button, Textbox, Listbox, Panel)
• And of course, start coding!

One thing I regret is going into SD with no knowledge of VB.net at all. And having no guidance, it took me a while to get my head around all the concepts. This left very little time to get the exam content in my head, resulting in not the best grade on the EoY. Just attempt SD with confidence and focus and you should be fine. Remember, the exam is highly ambigious so you will need to train yourself to answer even the weirdest and most bizarre of questions. Good luck!

[iamtom]

haven't attended any classes for SD yet but from looking at this textbook, some of the content really isn't as logical as I first thought, and more like just stuff some guy came up with which you'll need to remember. Like the OSI model having 7 layers, I just think that's complete overkill and it stretches the components of a system out to unintuitive levels (but hey I guess the VCAA can't just make up a new model). I'm certainly hoping I don't need to spend unnecessary amounts of time slaving over how to get VB code to achieve a mundane task, when I should be perfecting my knowledge on the course content. The real problem with trying to mix practical and theoretical elements in a course like this is that the weaker teachers have a greater likelihood of spending too much time teaching content which is ultimately useless for the exam. I understand the importance of applying knowledge through practical sacs, but I imagine there are plenty of crappy teachers out there who are incapable of teaching the course content and are far more comfortable merely teaching a programming language all year at the expense of the students. These are just my fears from what I've read about SD, and I'm particularly nervous because I do not come from the strongest school in terms of teachers.

The OSI model having 7 layers makes a lot more sense when you begin to understand networking principles and operating systems.

But only barely.

Thing is, Software Development was the most boring, useless subject I did in VCE. And I did IT Applications, too. Half the stuff in there was useless, the other half was useful but not really relevant to anything else. The SACs were all over the place, the exam was a clusterfuck of... god knows what. I do Computer Science now, and I can honestly say that very little had helped in my first year subjects.

[MJRomeo81]

The OSI model having 7 layers makes a lot more sense when you begin to understand networking principles and operating systems.

Exactly. And unfortunately VCAA only briefly mention this concept in the study design. The information presented in SD textbooks is so disorganized that you can't see the forest for the trees. How can students understand the big picture of the OSI model if it's not even tested on a SAC? This is why theory tests are a good idea. It prevents students from sitting down in November wondering "wtf is layer 1?".

Thing is, Software Development was the most boring, useless subject I did in VCE. And I did IT Applications, too. Half the stuff in there was useless, the other half was useful but not really relevant to anything else. The SACs were all over the place, the exam was a clusterfuck of... god knows what. I do Computer Science now, and I can honestly say that very little had helped in my first year subjects.

I agree. I also studied ITA and SD (knowing in advance that I'd be studying IT at uni) thinking that the subjects would give me a head start. If it weren't for my long life passion with computers, I would have considered other tertiary courses ASAP after studying VCE IT. IT Applications is perhaps a candidate for the worst VCE subject out there. Awful concepts (online communities/why do businesses use IT...are you fucking kidding me?), dumb exams and again long tedious SACs.

[Lasercookie]

Hmm, I didn't mind the SD course that much, mainly because there were a lot of things there that interested me. But it still could, and should, be better. I liked the sorting etc. stuff and I reckon they should have involved more programming concepts in the course.

There were a lot of things that were ambiguous that took ages to figure out wtf VCAA wanted. I do like MJRomeo's idea of replacing U3O1 with something that focuses a bit more on the networks theory.

I don't really like the sound of only having one programming sac though, I think it's better to have more programming. Even though code-wise the exam will only test pseudocode and algorithms (which was another ambiguous concept in the study design, pretty much having to go through previous SD exams to piece together the standard that VCAA was using), for the other programming concepts: files, sorting, indexing, arrays etc. it really is useful having to actually code those kind of things and that being assessed as part of a larger programming project, where you get to see when and where you'd use something and how it all fits together. Given that the time is already pretty tight, I don't think you could practice all those things with just a single programming outcome.

I think I also lucked out by getting a fairly decent teacher too, so IT classes were always pretty fun and the programming/theory balance was maintained pretty well.