What if sofdev was a folio subject?

[silverpixeli]

Just an idea I came up with today when talking to a friend about theatre and product design exams, it already seems like we learn content for our extended analysis/design/development SACs throughout the year, what if it was about one larger-scale project, preferably one we choose based on assessment criteria, and we needed a folio to go through analysis, design, development and evaluation stages for the solution.

I think something like this would bring some of the fun back into the subject, I wouldn't mind putting the extra hours into a folio if I enjoyed the app/game I was making. That's the other thing, I'm sure there would be a way to make a great game start to finish, because it still has specific functional/nonfunc requirements and constraints based on the intended audience and stuff so there'd be plenty to write about for a game too, it could even be made for a phone or tablet or something like that.

The reason I say 'bring some fun back into the subject' is because sofdev kinda made me hate sofdev, because we were making test-score-calculator apps, sales-report-generating apps, we got to make a cd-collection-cataloguing app, and the SACs were about a new software solution for a warehouse to track what went in and out. Don't get me wrong, I know these apps are probably necessary, but the quality of the apps my teacher was getting us to make was just dry all around. The only thing I learned how to code that I hadn't done this for was writing to/from a text file, I feel like I would have learned a lot more if I was forced to write a fully-functioning game or even a piece of software, just something I could design myself and pick and choose the features, be a bit more creative. What I'm trying to say is software development made me think of programming as dull, and that's not easy to do, because programming is one of the greatest things in the world as far as I know (can't wait to get back to designing/coding games after exams).

The other thing is, I don't know about you guys, but for me the multiple-period SACs involved making the solution at home then bringing in the code in my notes book and copying it line for line into a new app at school. That was the only way I had time to finish all the other documentation we needed to include for each SAC, there just wasn't enough time in class to make a fully working app from nothing because of all the trial and error coding takes, as well as the shear amount of time you have to think about how to make something work and troubleshooting and stuff.

There was one redemptive SAC, the U4O2 SAC on evaluation, which was the traditional question-answer format (with a case study, but that made sense.) With this in mind, I think alongside a long-term folio (and maybe a final where you have to present your app to an assessor/teacher? I don't do any folio subjects), there could be traditional question-answer tests on the Problem-solving Methodology as well as the stuff we need to know about networks, security and project management and all that. This, I think, would bring the content of the subject a bit closer to the class throughout the year, because one problem I find is that we've been learning for the SACs (how to code, mostly, which for us consisted of the programmers learning nothing and the non-programmers falling behind and then giving up because our teacher didn't pitch at either level) and we've mostly ignored exam content, which I've studied independently throughout the year, but most of my class has ignored. More frequent assessment of actual content would keep learning relevant to the study design and we wouldn't all be screwed for the exam (did my first practice exam today, I feel like I was just making it up as I went along, and I'm topping the class)

I guess also for ITA (don't take the subject, this is just an idea) you could do something similar with a long-term website project or something.

So to summarise:

Long-term, student-choses folio task throughout year based on set criteria that have to be met (eg must include a complete SRS, design documentation, working prototypes and development of concepts/ideas, usecase/context diagrams, testing tables, data dictionaries, user documentation, and a whole section on evaluation strategies and implementation, basically the whole PSM in one folio)
Accompanied by formal, written tests for each outcome based on the study design content for that outcome.

Like I said, I don't do a folio subject so I may be completely off, but I think having this layout would have made this year's software development class, a class I really wanted to love, way more enjoyable.

Thoughts?

[Lasercookie]

I wonder if teachers have enough flexibility with how they choose to set their sacs to cover U3O2 and U4O1 with a single large folio that you keep working on for those few months. If they can, that'd be a pseudo-solution for that to happen under the current study design. I think the idea of the current assessment structure is to have some kind of 'project' you work on for a couple of weeks, so extending that to a larger project is something that seems to make sense.

There'd probably have to be a strict outline of how you'd go about teaching the skills that you'd need to actually be able to code enough to produce a folio especially since the subjects assumes pretty little programming experience. The smaller assessments they currently have probably cater for this. There'd probably be a lot of finicky details of how you'd actually assess a folio too, or choosing what would be a sufficient end product for a large project. I have a feeling that it'd probably still end up being the kind of dry programs you mentioned

Perhaps keep an eye out for any information on Australian Curriculum IT consultation (usually advertised on the front page of the VCAA website), probably could just copy/paste this post whenever the next time they ask for input comes along. They had stuff about Aust Curric IT for up to Year 10 last year, so I assume senior secondary IT stuff is something that's going to happen in the next year or two (or well who knows... these things are pretty slow). 

[lala1911]

I like your idea but I really see where VCAA are coming from with having such limited time for SACs. It's meant to be specific to a workplace environment. When working for an application development company for example, a client may expect their application to be fully functional within two days. I believe you're given such limited time in order to familiar yourself to the pressure that you may endure in a typical workplace. It's not like a client is going to give you weeks to make an application, they might though sometimes, I could be wrong there.

The only problems with the major folio task that I can think of is that students can easily cheat as they are given a heap of time plus they can just hire someone to make them one and that it'd be very hard to teach students in such limited time. A huge folio can be daunting for many students because really, a lot of students in SD wouldn't have much programming knowledge. They may show interest, but I'd guess that <3% of the state walk into their first SD class knowing how to program a huge folio task.

[MJRomeo81]

Nice post! Hopefully we can have a good discussion in this quiet forum

The idea of SD being a folio based subject is interesting. I mean in the real world when it comes to IT, most IT Pros showcase their work in a portfolio. But I don't think this the best idea for a VCE subject.

The whole idea of one massive project is alarming. SD is intended for all audiences, even those students who have never wrote/seen a line of code before. A large scale software project is a big undertaking and it's really easy to stuff it up. Every year it seems that many students have trouble with the programming component of the subject. How will they cope when working on a software project?

When reading the SD study design it's clear that the emphasis isn't on coding. Yet two of the SACs are basically all programming. Furthermore there is no programming section on the exam.

This is why I have said for years SD has an identity crisis. The course covers too many broad areas and you're left wondering wtf have I learnt. It tries to cover the physical layer of the OSI model (layer 1), while insisting the emphasis is ONLY on layer 1 and nothing else. How can you understand the OSI model if you ONLY learn layer 1? Then the course moves on to discussing VCAA's outdated methodology (which I have never seen outside VCE), network security (with zero discussion on encryption algorithms), programming (with no mention of programming paradigms, i.e. procedural vs. object-oriented), and then a tacked on ethics component.

If VCAA want the SACs to be about developing solutions, then scrap all the other useless content and focus on programming. Call the class software engineering. Teach object-oriented concepts such as classes, objects, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and so on. Pick a programming language such as Java or C# (or both) and make it standard across all schools for implementation. Similar to how in ITA you have a choice between databases and spreadsheets, on the SD exam let the students have a choice between Java and C#. Have questions where the student has to write some fucking code. Maybe then the SACs become relevant. Also include UML such as use cases, CLASS DIAGRAMS FFS, object diagram, sequence diagram, activity diagram, state machines, etc. I GUARANTEE that this approach would satisfy any aspiring programmer. I also feel it's more satisfying than a year long project (at the VCE level) since you need to learn to do things right first.

If VCAA think that's a bit too hardcore, then ditch the programming component and turn the subject into ITA on steroids. Cover advanced relational database theory (e.g. normalisation including functional dependencies), full OSI model, IP subnetting, and so on. Ditch the 10 period SAC and replace it with topic tests. After all, the exam isn't a real time coding exam. Have a SAC on database theory. Then one on networking. You can even include an algorithms part of the course. e.g. learning about the various sorting algorithms, etc.

The other thing is, I don't know about you guys, but for me the multiple-period SACs involved making the solution at home then bringing in the code in my notes book and copying it line for line into a new app at school. That was the only way I had time to finish all the other documentation we needed to include for each SAC, there just wasn't enough time in class to make a fully working app from nothing because of all the trial and error coding takes, as well as the shear amount of time you have to think about how to make something work and troubleshooting and stuff.

I agree. Except line for line? Copy the files on a flash drive (say it's for backup purposes) and then come back to school with the code, cut and paste.

VCAA's PSM is an extremely outdated methodology. Agile/RAD is where it's at. I've never liked the idea of fully designing something and then trying to implement it. Software development is an iterative process. This includes a rapid cycle of designing and then prototyping. So when we were told "do not even ATTEMPT to write a line of code until your design is complete" it was a massive wtf.

... would bring the content of the subject a bit closer to the class throughout the year, because one problem I find is that we've been learning for the SACs (how to code, mostly, which for us consisted of the programmers learning nothing and the non-programmers falling behind and then giving up because our teacher didn't pitch at either level) and we've mostly ignored exam content, which I've studied independently throughout the year, but most of my class has ignored. More frequent assessment of actual content would keep learning relevant to the study design and we wouldn't all be screwed for the exam (did my first practice exam today, I feel like I was just making it up as I went along, and I'm topping the class)

This is a serious problem with the current course. But would things really change if students had to work on a project? The non-programmers are going to be lost, the programmers will be frustrated with their teachers, and so on. What you are suggesting is certainly a good idea in principle. But the sad fact is many teachers aren't programmers, and in most schools around the state the idea of a year long software project is a nightmare.

I guess also for ITA (don't take the subject, this is just an idea) you could do something similar with a long-term website project or something.

I think ITA suffers from the same problem as SD, but again most teachers are clueless about HTML 5 / CSS.

As I stated above both courses have an identity crisis and I believe it's why VCE students are no longer interested in IT anymore. VCAA present the content from a business perspective. ANY DECENT university that has an IT/CS degree teaches it out of the engineering department.

[silverpixeli]

Unfortunately, we were allowed to bring whatever we wanted in print into the SAC, I didn't see the point but we weren't allowed to bring anything electronic in so copy pasting was out of the question. We could have done it, but with the risk of getting caught it wasn't really worth it.

I wish there had been more content stuff, though independent study I learned a lot of basic stuff about networks and about sorting and algorithms, and I saw but didn't follow up some interesting stuff on encryption and the maths involved and stuff (computerphile channel on youtube is great). With that in mind, I definitely think there should be more formal test-based assessment throughout the year, it's something that forced the class to learn the stuff throughout the year in legal last year, because there was always a SAC in a few weeks and there was stuff to learn before that. With software, we've touched on the content in class but only very very lightly since my teacher insisted on having many 'prac' classes where he'd set us a small app to make and help us code it.

As I said before, he has pitched the programming stuff (we used vb.NET) too slow for the programmers and too fast for the ones who had never touched vb before, and I think that was a major contributor to how I felt about the subject. I don't mind so much about it being lower than my level of programming, but the fact that half the class couldn't make what he was asking was horrible, because they wouldn't be able to make the app and I wouldn't need to make the app and the teacher would get really frustrated because nobody was making the app.

EDIT:

As I stated above both courses have an identity crisis and I believe it's why VCE students are no longer interested in IT anymore. VCAA present the content from a business perspective. ANY DECENT university that has an IT/CS degree teaches it out of the engineering department.

I am looking forward to CS electives in my Melbourne Science degree, soo much

[TechnicallyDead]

Personally i love the idea. It would make the year more enjoyable.
Even tho it would be hard to teach the required information, but after a couple of years they could have it down pat. 

On a different note i don't have the greatest or most enthusiastic teacher for soft dev, so the course became even more dry and boring, and it even questioned me if i want to continue IT in uni (which i made up my mind i do, and hope its more enjoyable). But with the folio idea it would make the entrie course more enjoyable.