Introduction

This document lays out the perspective and vision of the Computing department. It does not take into account time, teachers, resources or timetables.

The three strands:

The goals of the computing subject at Mercury Bay Area School operate in three strands.

1)    Inspiration: Introduce the students to a range of higher level computing skills and possibilities that only a specialist can provide.
2)    Concepts: Build knowledge of the basic concepts underlying computing.
3)    Skills: Develop and teach a range of skills in some base level applications.

Inspiration:

This is where we turn the kids on to the possibilities that the new digital medium can provide. This is where we show the students what it is possible to achieve. Advanced programmes, concepts and outcomes can be demonstrated and learned. These projects should be open ended tasks that allow students to find and then work at their level. This strand in particular requires a passionate, experienced and knowledgeable specialist computing teacher. Often this strand can be accessed via an extension of the skills strand.

Here we inspire the students to lift the lid on the possibilities that the digital age provide and to show the teachers some of these possibilities.

In an ideal world students would have gained the basic skills across the other curriculum areas and the computing course would be able to focus more on this strand.
Some examples of this strand could be:

• Pixel art
• Rendering photorealistic 3D images
• Podcasting and internet radio
• Remix culture
• Computer generated graphics and adding effects into movies
• Advanced graphics and website design
• Game design and coding
• 3D modelling and animation
• Animations and interactive multimedia
• Interactive websites
• Programming
• Hacking and security
• Social networking – Web 2.0

Concepts:

There are certain computing concepts or ideas that allow students to develop a deeper and more robust understanding of what and how computers work. These concepts are application independent and will provide a level of understanding into the future despite any change in technology and applications. It can not be assumed that the students will gain these concepts anywhere else.

Broken down into year level some examples of these concepts are:

Year seven:

• Cybersafety and security
• Files and directories
• Copy and paste
• Selection (adding to and taking away from)

Year eight:

• Cybersafety and security
• Searching (both in documents and outside)
• Backup, copying and reproduction of files and information
• Left and right click
• Server and computer
• Key combinations to complete tasks

Year nine:

•     Cybersafety and security
•     Digital citizenship
•     Advanced internet searches
•     Raster and Vector graphics
•     All data is zero and ones
•     Operating system, applications and data
•     Introduction to an understanding of the operation of the world wide web

Year ten:

•     Cybersafety and security
•     File size and bandwidth (bits, bytes, meg and gig)
•     Nature of animation
•     3D presented in 2D format
•     Introduction to programming

Year eleven:

•     Cybersafety and security
•     Scripting
•     Programming variables and flow control
•     Graphical user interface versus the command line
•     HTML and it’s representation as web pages
•     Layers and paths in graphics applications

Year twelve:

• Cybersafety and security
• Dynamic generation of web pages
• Databases, use and operation

Year thirteen:

• Advanced concepts leading towards level four credits on the framework.

Skills:

Information is the currency of the digital age. Our students need a working knowledge of some basic applications in order to participate in this age. Over time students will increasingly be learning these skills earlier and earlier. Teaching of these skills will have to start at the current level of the learner and so units based around these skills will need to start with some feedback from the students or an open ended task to establish prior knowledge. These are the skills that the students will be able to implement and use when computing tasks are infused into the curriculum. This strand covers the digital literacy that one would expect a modern student to obtain during their school years. It would be anticipated that these skills would then go on to be used and further developed by integration into other curriculum subjects.

As computing is an essential skill in the modern age and as computing becomes optional from year ten onwards we need to ensure that by the end of year nine students have acquired the foundation skills in computing that they will need to ensure they are digitally .

As other subject teachers become more able and interested in teaching these skills students may come to class with these skills well established.
Broken down into year level these skills could be:

Year seven:

    Basic camera work
    Image sizing and manipulation
    Insertion of images into documents
    Word processing, styles, layout and sections
    Simple graphics

Year eight:

    Word processing, tables
    Spreadsheeting
    Email
    Internet browsers

Year nine:

    Introduction  to vector graphics and animation
    Advanced image manipulation
    Movies and editing

Year ten:

    Introduction to programming
    3D modelling
    More advanced image manipulation
    Spreadsheeting, graphs and functions
    Introduction to databases

Assessments:

The computing course at Mercury Bay Area School needs to be based around these three strands. It also needs to take into account the assessment options for this subject. Unlike most other subjects there is no computing subject available within the NCEA framework. Instead the department can choose from a range of assessment opportunities. These opportunities are briefly outlined and then a preferred approach is detailed.

Text and Information Management AS

There is a Text and Information management domain. These assessments assess the sorts of things that are taught as part of the skills and concept strands. They are an assessment of information and technological literacy.

Technology AS

There is a technology domain which assesses to level three. These standards are based around a project and require a considerable amount of planning and documentation before the students get to the production of a product and the use of computer skills. These standards historically have a low success rate nationally and in most schools are reserved for the more academically focussed students.

Computing Units

This domain has unit standards which with the new changes to NCEA may become less desirable. These standards at level one and two, with the increasing technological ability of the cohort, are standards that have a high success rate. At level three and four these standards are rigorous and challenging for the senior students. These standards also allow our students to sit for a certificate in computing which is an extra qualification that may be of some value to our students.

Assessment Approach

My preferred approach to the assessment of computing as a subject is based around two main factors.

The year eleven computing class has a broad range of students. Many less able students perceive computing to be an option that will be easier than other options and more fun. These students are in the same class as academically capable students with a passion for computing. For many of these academically challenged students the nature and number of the computing standards are a significant part of their achievement towards NCEA level one.

Secondly for many students computing is a passion, a life style choice and a career. These students need to be engaged, inspired and succeed so that their skills are recognised.

At year eleven my preference would be to teach unit standards for the first half of the year. I propose teaching a selection of level one and two units which would allow extension assessments for the more able students. The second half year would be based around the Text and information management standards allowing the students to achieve credits at merit and excellence level. In the case of a smaller and more able cohort these standards could be exchanged in favour of Technology standards.

At year twelve and thirteen my preference would be to teach level three and four unit standards and a selection of the most accessible technology standards. The aim would be to get the credits for the certificate in computing at level three. I envisage these standards being based around a common theme of web pages and communication. This theme would hopefully encourage more female students into the course while giving design orientated students and technical orientated students an equal opportunity to succeed.

I would also like to see the most able year eleven students skipping directly into the year twelve and thirteen classes. These are the students that will fly through the unit standards and otherwise have few opportunities to extend themselves. These students could then complete the year twelve and thirteen courses a year early and in their final year could focus on some very engaging level four unit standards, provided guidance on a personal project or interest or tutored for the Waikato university computer scholarship examination.

Timetabling, teaching, class size and resources

The computing subject has a number of unique demands, challenges and opportunities. Assessment is one which has been described earlier.

The prior knowledge of the cohort is another challenge for the department. Classes contain students who have only had brief time and skills on a computer along side students who spend most of their lives on a computer. Often classes are working at multiple levels of both assessment and content. This is often mitigated by the medium and the use of online learning tools. Small classes help to ease this challenge as does the possibility of streaming or separating classes. For instance two year eleven computing classes would allow for the more academically challenged students to succeed at unit standards while the other students work towards technology achievement standards and this is the way that most larger schools structure their year eleven technology classes.

Teachers of other subjects believe that they can teach computing by infusing ICT into their subject areas. While we believe that computing and the base level skills should be infused into each subject area the possibilities to inspire and advance students combined with the need to focus and clarify some of the core concepts means that we believe strongly that computing education should be a both separate subject and infused approach rather than an either or approach.

While this subject is compulsory at year seven, eight and nine the hours available severely limit the content and the depth that it is possible to obtain. We also cannot assume a current base skill level in a year group due to different levels of teacher competence and so have to spend some time ensuring the basic skills are learnt. This is unfortunate as it takes time away from teaching the main concepts and the advanced inspiration strands.