2013 Notes from the Marking Centre – Design and Technology
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Design and Technology course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2013 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting their strengths in particular parts of the examination and indicating where candidates need to improve.
This document should be read along with:
- the Design and Technology Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2013 Higher School Certificate Design and Technology examination
- the marking guidelines
- Design and Technology project requirements – Frequently asked questions
- Advice for HSC students about examinations
- other support documents developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW to assist in the teaching and learning of Design and Technology in Stage 6.
Major Design Project
Project Proposal and Project Management
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- presenting finance plans with a proposed budget and an actual expense table
- understanding the project need with a good base for general discussion.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- substantiating the need with research, data, graphs or examples that support the aim of the MDP
- meeting the page limit requirement – 80 pages in 12 pt font
- choosing areas of investigation that provide the opportunity for future direction of the project
- providing evidence of detailed exploration and analysis of stated criteria
- including a supporting discussion that is relevant and specific to the intended project, with clear links to relevant actions.
Project Development and Project Realisation
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- providing evidence of realisation in either a table or flow chart in logical steps, including photographs
- documenting progressive design development
- applying some testing and experimentation.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- providing evidence of the design process
- conducting genuine experimentation and testing that indicates specific purpose and future directions in design development
- communicating a design process that is specific to the candidate’s own particular design project.
Project Evaluation
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- understanding the functional and aesthetic aspects of the project
- including positive and negative considerations of the project and relevant relationship to the proposal in the final evaluation
- making clear reference to the criteria to evaluate success
- honestly appraising the project, making judgements on the success of the process/product.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- emphasising ongoing evaluation throughout the development of the project
- using multimedia in the evaluation process
- understanding and focusing closely on the impact on society and the environment
- spending more time on this section to clearly articulate evaluative measures and results.
Written Examination
Section II
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- understanding the role that ‘function’ plays to inform design development (Q.11)
- linking to and elaborating on the added complexity of computer-based programs and the ease and speed of hand sketching in designing (Q.12)
- understanding the role that both ongoing evaluation and the management of resources and activities have on design success (Q.13)
- describing a variety of technologies that are used by designers, specifically digital technology (Q.14).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- knowing the difference between function and aesthetics (Q.11)
- articulating the characteristics and features of hand sketching beyond ‘easier and quicker’ (Q.12)
- developing an understanding of the higher order complexities that are associated with the overlap of the different modes of project management and evaluation (Q.13)
- developing an understanding of how technologies affect the specific nature of a designer’s work (Q.14).
Section III
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- identifying a variety of technologies that are used in Australia (Q.15a)
- describing how society benefits from the use of a variety of information and social media technologies (Q.15a)
- drawing upon their life experiences associated with the gaming industry, use of iPads/iPods/iPhones and social media to support their answers (Q.15a)
- articulating the relationship that exists between the designer’s use of technologies and meeting the needs of society (Q.15b)
- supporting their responses with real life examples of technology that influenced the development of new products (Q.15b).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by the term ‘Australian lifestyle’ (Q.15a)
- understanding that a designer must carefully balance their vision with the needs and wants of society while also being able to develop and manufacture their designs through the careful selection and use of emerging technologies (Q.15b)
- drawing out and relating the implications that are associated with their points of discussion (Q.15b).
NSW Government