2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Information and Digital Technology
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Information and Digital Technology course. It contains comments on candidate responses to particular parts of the 2014 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting candidates’ strengths and indicating where they need to improve.
This document should be read along with:
- the Information and Digital Technology Curriculum Framework Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate Information and Digital Technology examinations
- the marking guidelines
- advice for candidates attempting VET examinations
- 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 Information and Digital Technology in Stage 6.
Section II - Core
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- demonstrating understanding of workstation ergonomics (Q.21b)
- identifying key features of open source software from the text provided (Q.22a)
- understanding what is meant by full backup (Q.23b)
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- understanding the difference between tagging and labelling (Q.21a)
- addressing the individual conditions (neck, back and wrist pain) in the workstation setup (Q.21b)
- understanding how to install a software using an ISO image and the need to extract to media (Q.22b)
- understanding why it is not necessary to run a defrag on a SSD (Q.23a)
- knowing the difference between differential and incremental backup (Q.23b)
- providing a justification in addition to describing the most efficient procedure for restoring the full system (Q.23b).
Section II – Digital Animation
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- identifying a feature of ‘squash and stretch’ (Q.24a)
- describing generic skills needed to work in a production team (Q.24b)
- identifying a difference between 2D and 3D using technical terminology (Q.25a)
- knowing about animation sequences (Q.25c).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- knowing the skills that an instructional designer requires to work in a production team (Q.24b)
- understanding how perspective can be introduced into an animation sequence (Q.25b)
- understanding creative principles used in animation (Q.25c).
Section II – Networking and Hardware
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- identifying the advantages of having a FAQs section on a website (Q.24a)
- identifying advantages of one-to-one training (Q.24b)
- explaining the advantages of one-to-one training (Q.24b)
- giving an appropriate example for HTTPS (Q.25a)
- knowing the purpose of the ping test (Q.25b)
- understanding a number of methods for securing a SOHO network (Q.25c)
- structuring responses with clear justifications (Q25c).
Section II – Web and Software Applications
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- knowing what a formula is (Q.24a)
- describing file management functions relating to user access (Q.24b)
- identifying a benefit of using cascading style sheets (CSS) (Q.25a)
- knowing why it is useful for a web author to understand coding (Q.25b)
- recognising headings, paragraphs and image in HTML source code (Q.25c).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- knowing what a function is (Q.24a)
- understanding the management functions relating to version control (Q.24b)
- differentiating between coding and WYSIWYG authoring (Q.25b)
- knowing the title, unordered list and emphasis tags (Q.25c).
Section III – Digital Animation
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- producing basic line sketches (Q.26a)
- identifying basic types of transitions, eg cut (Q.26b)
- creating a basic storyboard (Q.26c).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- labelling features of line sketches (Q.26a)
- understanding the purpose of transitions in animations (Q.26b)
- indicating camera movement and shot types and providing adequate descriptions for scenes on storyboards (Q.26c).
Section III – Networking and Hardware
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- identifying many generic advantages for using a separate graphics card (Q.26a)
- recognising that a dedicated card could allow for upgrading (Q.26a)
- identifying the connectors and the most suitable one for the computer (Q.26b)
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- understanding that justify means ‘give reasons’ (Q.26a)
- justifying the choice of connector (Q.26b)
- justifying the recommended components (Q.26c)
Section III – Web and Software Applications
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- recognising that the game was online so online documentation was more convenient (Q.26a)
- providing features of both online documentation and printed documentation (Q.26a)
- understanding the general features of copyright (Q.26b)
- relating the answer to the scenario (Q.26c)
- recognising that the site needed to be tested on multiple browsers (Q.26c).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- supporting the arguments with clear understanding of the advantages of online documentation (Q.26a)
- relating the answer to the scenario (Q.26b)
- discussing more than one issue (Q.26b)
- understanding that a discussion requires points for and/or against the issues (Q.26b).
- recommending and justifying, not just identifying strategies (Q.26c)
- providing more than one strategy (Q.26c).
Section IV – Core – Question 27
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- suggesting a number of communication methods and tools with examples of how they could be used
- explaining how social media could be implemented in the scenario.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- recommending appropriate collaborative tools
- justifying the methods and tools chosen based on the scenario