Years 11 & 12 Software Design & Development

Five tasks have been selected to address the 17 HSC course outcomes. Each outcome is formally assessed at least once. A substantial weighting has been given to practical activities and project work to reflect the intent of the syllabus and to balance the HSC examination, which is a 100% written paper.

This is the first scheduled task in the assessment program shown above.

It will occur early in the HSC course as part of a six-week unit of work. The unit of work addresses content from the core strands of Software Development Cycle and Developing a Solution Package.

This unit of work is based on a group project. The project provides learning experiences which address many of the course outcomes.

Students work as members of a team to design a piece of educational software. The software should be suitable for use by a selected group of students in infants, primary or junior high school, and their teacher.

The assessment task is scheduled during the group project. While the group project assesses many of the outcomes, the assessment task focuses specifically on three outcomes: H4.3, H6.3 and H6.4. This has been done to ensure that a manageable number of outcomes is being assessed and that the task is effectively measuring those outcomes.

The students handouts shown on the following pages for the assessment task and the feedback sheet would be provided to the students at the beginning of the project.

This assessment task relates to your group project, designing and developing a piece of educational software suitable for use by a selected group of students and their teacher.

This assessment task involves you and your team in submitting specific material that demonstrates your progress towards achievement of the above outcomes.

As an individual you are required to submit:

• An individual module report that documents the module you developed as part of the group solution. The report should include:
  • the specifications for the module
  • evidence of your initial attempts at the module
  • the source code for the module (in hard copy and digital format)
  • an explanation of any differences between the initial attempts and the implemented solution
  • test data used and the results from testing your module.
  
  
• A self-evaluation sheet that evaluates your performance in the team.
• Team member evaluation sheets that evaluate the performance of other members in your team.

• A group technical report that documents the entire solution to the problem. The report should include:
  • a description of the problem and the specifications for its solution
  • a representation of the solution using a recognised design tool
  • test data used and the results from testing the solution
  • details of any changes made to the problem’s specifications during the project
  • the source code for the solution (in had copy and digital format).
  
  
• Minutes of all group meetings, including individual responsibilities, decisions made and reasons.
• The finished product: educational software and use manual
• End user evaluation sheets completed by the teacher and students for whom the solution was developed.