Level 3 Digital Technologies 91636 44) Specific Assessment Guides Complexity and Tractability: 1–4 Formal Languages: 5–8 Graphics and Visual Computing: 9–12 Intelligent Systems: 13–16 Network Communication Protocols: 17–20 Software

The achievement standard governing this specific assessment guide can be found at
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/specifications/2013/level3/91636-spc-2013.pdf

The assessment specifications for the Digital Technologies achievement standard can be found at

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/achievements/2013/as91636.pdf

Definitions

The following are concepts, algorithms, techniques, applications, and problems that students at level 3 are likely to be able to work with; it is not a list of all the key ideas in the area.

Key concepts likely to be encountered are: plan-driven development, agile development, test-driven development, waterfall model, scrum, customer requirements, open source, object-oriented design, Brooks’s law, software crisis, software metrics, interpersonal communication, working environments, and outsourcing.

Algorithms: (techniques are more relevant to this area than algorithms)

Techniques: plan-driven development, agile development, test-driven development, scrum.

Applications: any large software project is an application of this topic. There is much information available publicly about large software projects (including some significant disasters), or students could interview someone involved in a current large project.

Software engineering is about systematic approaches applied to large software projects, typically with many team members and large amounts of program code, so that the products behave reliably and efficiently, are affordable to develop and maintain, and satisfy customer requirements. This area can be explored by learning about common software engineering methodologies (including examples of ‘plan-driven’ and ‘agile’ approaches) and the different roles and skills required in a software engineering project, particularly analysis, development, testing, and maintenance. Understanding can be demonstrated by doing case studies of software projects through interviews with software engineers, researching reports about successful and unsuccessful projects, running a simulation of a software engineering project, or reflecting on teamwork experiences that simulate the issues that arise in software engineering. The report should discuss the main issues and compare different approaches in the context of commercial projects that involve multiple team members. This topic is distinct from the programming standards because it explores large systems developed by teams of people; participating in such a project is way beyond the scope of Level 3 work, and the expectation is that students will review commercial or simulated projects, rather than run one themselves.

Further information

Useful links:

• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering
  
• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
  
• 
  http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/why-software-fails
  
• 
  http://www.cs4fn.org/fundamentals/softwareeng.php
  
• 
  http://www.teach-ict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/A2_G063/331_systems_cycle/slc_stages/home_slc.html
  

Further information can be found at http://www.techlink.org.nz.

Exemplars

Please read the exemplars. You can model your work on these exemplars but you may not copy the material from the exemplars. Your report must be the product of your own efforts.

Schedule

Assessment Schedule AS Digital Technologies 91636 (3.44) Demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science
Final grades will be decided using professional judgement based on a holistic examination of the evidence provided against the criteria.
Issues from the Specifications Authentic candidate submissions will be recognisable because of specific contexts associated with the work. This does not imply that submissions will arise only from the candidate’s practice. However, where the candidate’s practice does not provide the immediate source of a specific context, one would expect to see that several sources of information relating to materials had been applied within a specific context. In both cases, the marker will be able to detect the candidate’s voice. In situations where information does not have some aspect of student voice, it is difficult to establish whether the candidate has actually demonstrated understanding or simply identified information. Candidates who have simply identified information by reproducing information from sources without making use of that information have not demonstrated understanding. Where a candidate has provided a brief answer, the answer should not be penalised because of length. Candidate work in excess of 14 pages should not be marked. Where work is illegible, it cannot be marked. Digital submissions that cannot be read cannot be marked.
Achievement	Achievement with Merit	Achievement with Excellence
Demonstrating understanding of areas of computer science involves:	Demonstrating in-depth understanding of areas of computer science involves:	Demonstrating comprehensive understanding of areas of computer science involves:
describing key problems that are addressed in selected areas of computer science describing examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from the.se areas.	explaining how key algorithms or techniques are applied in selected areas explaining examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.	discussing examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas evaluating the effectiveness of algorithms, techniques, or applications from selected areas.

Directory: nqfdocs -> ncea-resource -> schedules -> 2013
nqfdocs -> Nzqa registered unit standard 22528 version 2
nqfdocs -> Nzqa registered unit standard 26968 version 1
nqfdocs -> Nzqa registered unit standard 10212 version 5
nqfdocs -> Nzqa expiring unit standard 11867 version 7
nqfdocs -> Nzqa expiring unit standard 6862 version 5
nqfdocs -> Nzqa expiring unit standard 2780 version 8
2013 -> Level 3 Digital Technologies 91636 44) Common Assessment Guide
ncea-resource -> Number as91076 Version
ncea-resource -> Number as91075 Version