Supporting Learning Environment Level 7

To support students to undertake brief development at level seven teachers could:

• provide a context that offers a range of issues for students to explore
• guide students to select an authentic issue within the context. An authentic issue is one which is connected to the context, and allows students to develop a brief for a need or opportunity that can be managed within the boundaries of their available resources.
• support students to identify a need or opportunity relevant to the issue
• support students to understand the physical and functional nature required of their outcome
• support students to justify the nature of their outcome in terms of the issue it is addressing
• support students to develop specifications and provide justifications for them drawing from stakeholder feedback, and wider community considerations such as the resources available to develop the outcome, ongoing maintenance of the outcome once implemented, sustainability of resources used to develop the outcome and the outcome itself, disposal of the developed outcome when past its use by date.

Explore the context to select an issue

Use a range of evaluative tools to explore and evaluate a context

Evaluation tools could include:

• PMI
• CAMPER (consequences, actions, minimisations)
• SWOT/SWOB analysis
• Waterfall questions
• What if questions
• Ryan’s thinkers keys
• Evaluating dice – with key questions
• Question Box – with key questions (colour code for different levels) see Blooms taxonomy

Exploring contexts and issues

Provide students with a variety of scenarios (contexts) which they can critically evaluate to identify issues that allow for the undertaking of technological practice to derive a feasible outcome.
Students undertake feasibility studies on the issue(s) and the likely technological practice that is required to resolve the issue(s).

Identify a need or opportunity relevant to their selected issue

Expand on examples listed in level 6

Establish a conceptual statement that justifies the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed with reference to the issue it is addressing

Literacy development – using linking words to provide justifications

Encourage student to use linking language such as:

• as a result of …
• because …
• therefore etc.

Student (and/or practicing technologist) critique students developed conceptual statements.

Students (and/or practicing technologists) critically analyse each other’s (student) developed conceptual statements to ensure that it is robust and can be justified.
How will the conceptual statement allow the issue to be addressed?

Establish the specifications for an outcome using stakeholder feedback, and based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available

Strategies for eliciting stakeholder feedback

Exploration of advantages and limitations of strategies such as:

• surveys
• email, social networking sites
• interview – face to face, phone, skype
• to obtain feedback from key and wider community stakeholders.

Specification checklist

Do the specifications consider …

• stakeholder feedback
• the nature of the outcome
• the need/opportunity
• the environment where the technological outcome will be developed
• the environment where the technological outcome will be placed
• resources required to develop a technological outcome and demonstrate its fitness for purpose

Communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose

Students in pairs clarifying their specifications

Students share their specifications with a partner.
Are the specifications explicit enough to be able to be used to evaluate the fitness for purpose of a developed outcome?

Justify the specifications in terms of stakeholder feedback, and the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available.

Literacy development – use linking words to provide justifications

Encourage students to use linking language such as:

• as a result of
• because
• therefore
• henceforth
• consequently

Another student (and/or practicing technologist) critique a students developed specifications.

Another student and/or a practicing technologist critically analyses a student’s specifications to verify if they can be justified a enabling a technological outcome to be determined as fit for purpose . Focus on answering questions such as:

• how do the specifications address the need or opportunity?
• has the students specifications considered stakeholder feedback?
• has the environment where the outcome will be developed been considered?
• has the outcomes intended environment been considered?
• do the specifications consider available resources?