UNIT 4 OUTCOME 1

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IT Applications

• UNIT 4 OUTCOME 1

Mark Kelly McKinnon Secondary College
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Unit 4

• Unit 4 10 weeks!
• Assume there is no class time in term 4.
• Its not long at all for 1 big and 1 small
  outcome
• And theres still the exam to prepare for...

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Whats it worth?

• U4O1 Spreadsheets (60 of unit)
• U4O2 Data security (40 of unit)
• Exam 10 November 2009, 300 515

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U4O1 action in the worksheets

• With luck (and preparation in previous years),
  your kids should already be spreadsheet-savvy
• Many just need some revision and warming up
• Cant assume kids did year 11 IT or any IT
  since year 7.
• Big differences in skill levels between kids

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Spreadsheeting
And more
Task 1 Spreadsheet solution (35 marks) Task
2 On-screen user documentation (15 marks) Task
3 Visual retracing of decisions and actions when
problem-solving (10 marks)
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Whats in U4O1?

• Task 1
• Spreadsheet solution (35 marks) a solution and
  information product in response to a design
  brief.
• Students annotate the solution and information
  product to indicate how the information needs of
  an organisation are met.

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Whats in U4O1?

• Task 2
• On-screen user documentation (15 marks)
• Must be created with web authoring or multimedia
  software

X
i.e. NOT WORD PROCESSING!
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Onscreen documentation

• What qualifies as onscreen, IMHO?
• Not designed for printing
• Typified by animation, links etc

• YES
• Web page
• Flash
• Powerpoint (kiosk mode) (sorry, Paula)

• NO
• Word
• PDF
• Publisher

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Whats in U4O1?
E r r k k k k k !

• Task 3
• Visual retracing of decisions and actions taken
  when problem-solving and
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of these
  strategies
• (10 marks)

MUST be created with software!
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The Task

• Roll your own?
• Must satisfy study design criteria
• Must allow students to achieve their best
  possible results
• Not all students should get equal marks
• Must distinguish between different levels of
  student ability
• Off the shelf?
• You are still responsible for the task you use
• Many tasks are not perfect...

...even the ones you pay for
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The Task

• From the Old SACs Home?
• Old IPM SACs are very similar to this ITA task 1
• Could easily be recycled and extended

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Spreadsheet Training

• Centennial Media video tutorials
• www.cmtraining.com.au
• Guided Computer Tutorials
• PDF and podcast
• Greg Bowden
• www.gct.com.au
• Practice tasks
• Scaled down versions of the SAC
• E.g. Pigs Galore on VITTA resources

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How hard is hard enough?

• Kids need to know
• Basic arithmetic operators
• Using worksheets
• Named cells, ranges
• SUM, SUMIF, COUNT, COUNTIF
• IF, AND, OR
• Cell protection
• Data validation
• VLOOKUP (proved by 2007 exam)

Even if they called it LOOKUP instead of
VLOOKUP ! Arghhh
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How hard is hard enough?

• Kids would be wise to know
• Conditional formatting
• Simple recorded macros (e.g. Go to sheet 2)
• Drop-down value lists

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The Assessment Handbook says top-ranking
solutions will show in task 1
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• Comprehensive analysis of the information
  problem
• Identify the nature and causes of the
  information problem
• Input / Output requirements

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• All constraints on the solution are identified.

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• Appropriate use of design tools to thoroughly
  explain the spreadsheets
• Structure
• Functions
• Format
• Including
• User interface
• Structure format of the output

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• Complete set of evaluation criteria
• Comprehensive test plan

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• Well-developed spreadsheet skills
• Good testing techniques
• Good data validation
• Efficient and effective product

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TASK 2 top solutions will show...
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• Comprehensive analysis of
• Characteristics of users
• Information needs of users

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• Comprehensive evaluation of alternative
  documentation solutions (e.g. Website vs Flash)
• Justification of the chosen form of documentation

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• Sound and complete evaluation criteria which
  focus on the analysis of user characteristics and
  info needs

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• Use of appropriate design tools to thoroughly
  describe the documentations
• Appearance
• Architecture
• User interface
• Content
• Navigation

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• Proper use of formats and conventions
• Good testing
• All instructions are
• Acurit

• Easy to read

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Documentation Notes

• User documentation should tell how to use the
  spreadsheet, not how to create it.
• It is not meant to be an Excel tutorial (e.g.
  The IF statement has 3 parts...
• Must at least have headings, preferably a table
  of contents or index page
• If in doubt, assume the user has the same
  hardware and software as the student is using

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Documentation Notes

• Documentation should cover
• How to start the solution (assume computer is
  turned on, logged in)
• How to enter and edit data
• How to produce output
• How to save and exit
• Appropriate warnings and cautions

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TASK 3 top solutions will show...
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• Skilled use of software to create an effective
  visual representation of all the thinking
  strategies used to
• Analyse the information problem
• Design, develop and test the solution
• Design, develop and test the user documentation

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• Comprehensive annotations or modifications of
  the visual representation in order to evaluate
  the effectiveness of these strategies

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Visual Representation of ThinkingV ROT!

• Undefined by study design
• Little available in the way of examples
• VCAA needs to lead by example
• Kids dont find it easy
• Get them to start it as they start the outcome so
  they can remember what they had to decide and how
  they did it.
• Im pretty generous with marking VROT.

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Task 3 Notes

• Thinking curriculum may make this easier in the
  future
• What software to use?
• Inspiration (www.inspiration.com)
• Word (painful!)

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Inspiration easily creates flexible and complex
visual representations
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(No Transcript)
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A sample task 1

• Hiroyuki Sakai provides a one-stop catering
  service for organisations such as companies,
  clubs, schools and other groups who want a good
  night out without any hassles.

Organisational overview
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• Sakai prides himself on being able to offer, on
  very short notice, a complete catered package
  including food, drinks, hall hire, and music.

Implied organisational goals
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• Clients usually contact Sakai by telephone and
  after giving him basic details such as numbers of
  adults and children and what quality food they
  desire, Sakai calculates a total cost and a cost
  per head and rings the client back.

Current practices
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• Lately, however, Sakai has been getting so many
  requests for quotes each day, that he is finding
  he cant keep up with demand. By the time he has
  prepared a quote, the client has run out of
  patience and chosen another caterer.

Information problem
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Sakai wants a way to instantly calculate numbers
so he can give an accurate quote over the phone.
He showed his current paper-based quote system
to a friend who created a mock-up of what a good
solution might look like.

• System goals

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• Prototype

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Constraints lots of constraints

• The shaded cells are the only data needed to be
  entered by Mr Sakai.
• All of the numbers in italics are to be
  calculated by formulas and Mr Sakai wants them
  protected so he cant accidentally type in them
  and ruin the formulas.
• The Quality level of the food is chosen by the
  client. A Quality 1 meal is cheap - like pig
  knuckles. A Quality 2 meal is better, like
  chicken. A Quality 3 meal is the best, and most
  expensive like lobster.

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• The adult prices for the various qualities are
  entered by Sakai. They corresponding childrens
  prices are calculated as a fraction of the adult
  price (the fraction is chosen by Sakai and can be
  seen in cell E8.
• Sakai wants his spreadsheet to not only calculate
  prices, but to calculate the numbers of bottles
  of drink need to be bought, to make ordering
  easier. Under the Setup Figures, he enters basic
  information like the capacity and costs of
  bottles of wine and soft drink.
• Using his experience and the clients
  suggestions, Sakai wants to estimate how many
  glasses each guest will drink of wine and soft
  drink. Since glass size can vary, he wants to be
  able to easily adjust the glass sizes too.
• The cost of the band varies too, and must be
  easily changeable in the spreadsheet without
  having to rewrite any formulas.
• The spreadsheet calculates the total requirements
  for wine and soft drink, and then the numbers of
  bottles required (rounded up to the nearest whole
  bottle.)
• Total food costs for adults and children should
  be calculated and shown separately.
• The cost of the hall depends on how many people
  will be attending Sakai has easy access to 3
  venues a small pub, a larger convention centre,
  and a really large hall. Each has its own
  maximum capacity and cost. The spreadsheet
  should use the total number of guests to choose
  the most appropriate venue and find its
  associated cost.
• Sakai wants summary statistics showing itemised
  costs for drinks, food, hall hire and band. He
  finally needs a total event cost and a cost per
  adult head (children are paid for by the adult
  guests.)

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And a warning to students....

• Sakai has seen amateur spreadsheets in the past
  that have caused him all sorts of problems such
  as
• wrong answers
• letting him easily type in a formula cell and
  delete the formula
• numbers such as hall limits, glass sizes, band
  costs being built into formulas, making it
  impossible to adjust them without being skilled
  with Excel
• Your spreadsheet should have none of those
  problems.

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Strict discipline is good

• Enforce separate times for analysis, design,
  production, evaluation etc
• Protect kids against themselves
• Otherwise they jump in before theyre really
  ready

Dont assume they can read instructions, organise
their time or even remember to put their names on
their work!
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Task 1 Spreadsheet (35 marks)

• 1. Analysis (5 marks)
• test conditions
• computers turned off
• 20 minutes.

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• 1.1 What information problem does Sakai have?
  Express it as a goal to be achieved. E.g. The
  problem is to (1 mark)
• 1.2 What is the cause of his information problem?
  (1 mark)
• 1.3 List the input and output required for the
  new system. (1 mark)
• 1.4 How will your solution solve the Mr Sakais
  information problem? (1 mark)
• 1.5 What constraints will there be how you choose
  to solve the information problem? (1 mark)
• (Note how these questions arise directly from the
  assessment handbook)

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DESIGN

• Design (13 marks)
• computers turned off
• 90-120 minutes
• handed in at the end of design time
• either assessed and returned by the time
  development begins, or photocopy it and keep the
  copies for assessment
• any changes made later are not assessed

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• Broad or prescriptive?

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• How could advanced features such as drop-down
  lists, conditional formatting, or macros could be
  used to make the solution better or easier to
  use? (1 mark)
• (Can get a mark even if unable to implement the
  ideas)
• Create a relevant and complete set of evaluation
  criteria by which the success of the spreadsheet
  and its output could be evaluated after it is
  developed. (1 mark)

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• 2.5 Create a testing table with the following
  columns (2 marks)
• Item to be tested (e.g. number of wine bottles
  required).
• Method of testing. (e.g. Manually recalculate
  the figure.)
• Expected result.(e.g. 55)
• Actual result.
• Remedy (if necessary)
• The first 3 columns of the testing table should
  be completed during the design phase. The
  remaining columns are finished after development.
  

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Development

• 15 marks.
• 240-300 minutes.
• They must actually use their design.
• Apply formats and conventions.
• Complete the testing table.
• May not work on it out of class time.

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• Give them a list of everything they need to
  print, e.g.
• all worksheets, showing data, including charts
  and lookup tables.
• all worksheets, showing formulas
• macro definitions
• Annotate output with a pen if they used any
  clever features that are not visible in printouts
  (e.g. conditional formatting)

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4. Evaluation (2 marks)

• 4.1 Referring to your evaluation criteria
  developed in step 2.4, annotate your printouts to
  explain how your solution and its output have met
  the needs of Mr Sakai.

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Helping them out

• Give them a list of what to hand in at each
  stage, e.g.  
• After Analysis Analysis questions
• After Design Design
• After Production Printouts of worksheets showing
  data and information formula printouts and macro
  definitions, if applicable completed testing
  table
• The location of their spreadsheet in their home
  directory.

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• TASK 2
• Onscreen User Documentation

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1. Analysis (4 marks)

• test conditions, no computers, 40 minutes
• 1.1 Describe the characteristics and needs of the
  user of your onscreen documentation. (1 mark)
• 1.2 Outline at least three feasible options for
  how you could create and present your onscreen
  documentation. For each one, outline its
  advantages and disadvantages for the user and/or
  for you as the developer. (1 mark)

exam practice!
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Analysis

• 1.3 Choose the method you consider to be best.
  Justify your choice. (1 mark)
• 1.4 Keeping in mind the needs of Mr Sakai, with
  what criteria will you evaluate your
  documentation when it is finished? (1 mark)

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2. Design of the documentation

• 4 marks
• computers turned off
• 45-60 minutes
• 2.1 Use at least two appropriate design tools
  such as storyboards, screen mockups, flowcharts
  etc to thoroughly explain... etc

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3. Documentation Development (5 marks)

• 160-200 minutes.
• Assessed onscreen.

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4. Testing (2 marks)

•  4.1 Show evidence that you thoroughly tested
  your user documentations readability (e.g.
  surveys of test users questioning readers to
  ensure theyve understood your instructions)

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Unit 4Outcome 1Task 3

• Visual representation of thinking

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1. VROT Development (8 marks)

• 10 marks, 160-200 minutes
• 1.1 Use software to create a visual
  representation of all the thinking strategies
  used to
• analyse the information problem
• design, develop and test the solution
• design, develop and test the user documentation.

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VROT would be massive if done exhaustively

• They should at least touch on each of
• Analysis of the info problem
• Creating the solution
• Creating the user documentation.
• As long as kids show some evidence of thinking
  about and evaluating their thinking
• Show major actions and decisions, their
  consequences and value
• Show some honest reflection

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• 2. VROT Evaluation (2 marks)
• Annotate or modify the visual representation to
  evaluate the effectiveness of your thinking
  strategies.

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Tips

• Mark it in sections to avoid being swamped at the
  end
• White wine, when spilled on SACs, stains less
  than red wine.
• At the start READ THE WHOLE SAC TO THEM. Dont
  assume they can read all by themselves!
• Give them status reports and progress hints at
  the start of each session.

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Housekeeping

• Each period of the SAC write in your diary who is
  away.
• As they make up time, cross them off.
• Give them a firm deadline by which time they
  should have done all their catchup. After that,
  they lose time they have not caught up.
• Make it their responsibility to organise a time
  to catch up.

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Resources

• Textbook, gt1 preferably!
• ITA mailing list - www.edulists.com.au
• VITTA - www.vitta.org.au
• IT Lecture Notes vceit.com
• VCAA www.vcaa.vic.edu.au
• QATs www.qats.com.au