Teacher Guidance Level 1

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 1, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• provide students with a detailed plan of what they will be doing during their technological practice. This could be presented and explained as a design process the teacher has developed, with key stages that need to happen clearly identified within it.
• provide a range of appropriate resources for students to select from.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Describe what they have done already.

Brainstorming an intended process (practice) in relation to a process students have previously been through.

Taking photos of key stages of a familiar process and getting students to organise them so that they illustrate process.

Have students order the photos so that the resources are in the sequence in which they undertook their process/ practice.

Photos or images of the resources students have used to undertake a process/practice.

Structured reflection across all aspects of the practice students undertook to develop a technological outcome.

Have students describe or draw pictures to explain the practice they undertook and the resources they used to do this.

Identify what they will do next.

Create a Flow chart template with broad categories of the steps to go through to produce the outcome.

Students to complete the template describing and drawing each step of the practice they intend to undertake, and identifying the key resources they could use. Possibly have some steps missing for students to identify.

Deconstruct the activities of a process that students are familiar with, such as putting shoes on, making toast.

Using a flow chart template get students to draw and explain the steps required to complete the process.

Think, Pair, Share activity to describe the parts of the process they might go through to develop a technological outcome.

Think individually about the steps in the process – moving around class/group have each student give an idea and receive one back from someone else in the class/group.

Give one, get one activity to describe the part of the process they might go through to develop a technological outcome.

Identify the resources they might use.

Photos of the resources and/or samples of the resources students could possibly use to develop a technological outcome.

Students to:

• select the resources in the order they would use them to develop their technological outcome
• explain why they have selected them for use in this order.

Brainstorm the likely practice required to develop a technological outcome to an identified issue. Teacher to record what students already know and, where necessary, fill in the gaps.

Identify the resources that are the Odd One Out.

Have tangible resources and get students to describe which ones are the odd one out – ie, one that might not be appropriate for developing a technological outcome to an identified (and fully explored) issue.

Resource Grouping

Images of, or tangible, resources that students are asked to group according to the stages they would follow to undertake their practice of developing a technological outcome, for example: research resources, concept generation resources, making resources, testing resources etc.

Teacher Guidance Level 2

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 2, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur
• provide students with an overview of the stages they will be working through during their technological practice. This could be presented and explained as a design process the teacher has developed, and it could be used to support students to identify what the key stages are
• provide a range of appropriate resources and guide students to decide which of these they wish to use in their outcome.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Identify and record the key stages and resources required to produce their outcome.

Game play: "What comes next?”

Give students a set of photographs of a sequence of steps undertaken to develop a technological outcome, with a missing bits at the end. Students to contribute either next possible step or what the finished outcome would/could be. Repeat activity but with a step(s) missing within the middle of the sequence and have student determine the missing step(s).

Students in pairs use the dice with questions to identify what they need to consider.

Use a teacher-created dice with questions that are specific to your programme or get students to create their own questions for each other.
Example questions …

• What key stages have I done so far?
• What key stages do I still need to do?
• What resources have I used so far?
• What resources will I need next?

etc

Record on template and peer critique using a bank of guided questions.

Use a range of known and unknown technological products so that students can explain them:

• from their experience in interacting with the products
• through 'predicting' what the products are used for and where, who uses them, how they were made, etc.

Use a template with stems for students to complete. For example:
Outcomes will:

• be used to … This will …
• be used by … to …
• will enable/allow … by …
• was made by … using … (resources/equipment).

Describe what they have done already and what resources have been used.

Buddy chat – in pairs describe what they have done already and what resources have been used.

Encourage the student listening to ask questions such as:

• Why did you do this?
• How did it help you?
• What will you do next?
• What resources will you need?

Explain what they are going to do next.

Students complete a template to record from a bank of resources (pictures and/or tangible). Resources that they think they will need to produce their technological outcome to meet agreed attributes.

Provide a range of pictures of and/or tangible resources for students to see and interact with to determine the resources they will use and the order in which they will use them.

Teacher Guidance Level 3

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 3, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur
• provide students with an overview of what they will need to do during their technological practice and guide students to develop their own design process
• provide a range of resources for students to select from and guide students to select those that will be appropriate for their outcome
• guide students to review their plans at key points and reflect on progress to make informed decisions regarding earlier plans and resources

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Develop a plan that identifies key stages, and resources required to produce their outcome.

Identify key stages in someone else's technological practice.

Provide students with a description (video, photos and/or flow chart) of the key stages used within technological practice to develop a technological outcome. Students to identify what would happen if (in relation to a process(es) and/or use of resources – tools, materials).
Students explain the consequences if a particular key stage was not undertaken within the practice to develop the technological outcome and/or if a resource was not used.
Buddy chat – students discuss in pairs.

Students create a flowchart of the key stages and the resources required at each stage

The teacher could create the initial flowchart with some of the key stages, leaving space for students to add the more specific stages as they go.

Video clip(s) of the technological practice used to develop a technological outcome.

Deconstruct the practice that was used to develop the technological outcome. Identify the key stages followed and the resources that were used – record on a flow chart template.
Students to identify the key stages followed to develop the technological outcome and the resources that were used. Record these stages and resources used on a flow chart template.

Review photos of previous technological practice and identify the key stages followed within this.

Identify the resources that were used and record these on blank cards beside the appropriate photos. Use this sequence of photos and resources as a class planning tool on the wall to structure/ inform next practice.

Review progress through the keys stages and resources used to date and use this to inform future planning decisions.

Students to complete a key stages timeline for the technological practice they undertook to develop a previous technological outcome.

Alongside this timeline record the practice they intend to follow to develop their next outcome.

Students in pairs use the dice with questions to identify what they need to consider.

Use a teacher created dice with questions that are specific to your programme or get students to create their own questions for each other.
Example questions:

• What key stages have I done so far?
• What key stages do I still need to do?
• How have my key stages changed?
• How can I manage my time better?
• What changes have I made to my outcome/planning?
• What resources have I used so far?
• What resources will I need next?
• How can I manage my resources better?
• People resources; Who can help me?

Students asked to compare their previous practice used to develop a technological outcome with their current practice.

Students to focus on identifying similarities and differences (Venn diagram).

Students analyse the technological practices undertaken by another person (eg, senior student). From this they determine the key stages that could be used to develop their own technological outcome.

Students to focus on identifying practices that could be used and/or refined into their own practice, and those that are additional which need to be included in order to allow the development of their outcome.

Plan, explain and record ideas for future activities to support the completion of their outcome.

Class/group brainstorm (GANTT charts) to consider next key stage and the resources necessary to complete it in terms of time, tools, materials, people etc.

Teacher provides a GANTT chart template and guides students through the process of completing it.

Using a class developed GANTT chart, students record the changes (and explain reasons for these changes) for the technological practice they undertook to develop their technological outcome.

Group discussion/decision-making session(s) to consider and agree on way forward when developing a technological outcome.

Students to present to group/class what they have done to date and seek feedback on the best way forward in terms of the practice they should undertake to develop their outcome.

Identify key resources suitable to complete their outcome.

Students are provided with a total list of the resources that could be used to develop a technological outcome to address a need or opportunity. Students are invited to remove those resources not crucial to the development of their outcome.

From the available resources (groups of) students choose the resources they will use (eg, ingredients, utensils etc) and produce an outcome that addresses the directed brief. Once the outcome is completed, class discusses:

• What were the key resources used to produce the outcome?
• How did those used differ between students/groups?
• How do the outcomes themselves differ between students/groups due to the different resources used?

Who needs what and how to manage it matching game.

Student A writes the resources they predict they will need, on separate pieces of paper, for each stage of the technological practice they need to undertake to develop an outcome. The pieces of paper are then shuffled up so that they are out of order.

Student B is then required to sort the pieces of paper into the order that the resources will need to be used.

Teacher Guidance Level 4

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 4, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• provide planning tools and support students to record key stages and resources needed, including when they will need to access. stakeholder feedback. (Please note; records only need to capture what students plan to do and what they need to do it to guide their practice and allow them to review this periodically).
• support students to review their plans at key points and reflect on progress to make informed decisions regarding earlier plans and resources.
• support students in organising their resources (including time, money, materials, equipment and access to stakeholders etc).

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Establish a plan to manage resources and stakeholder interactions, setting out key stages, actions to be undertaken and progress review points.

In groups, students revisit a planning tool they have used and discuss the usefulness of this tool as a means of recording and informing the practice undertaken.

Encourage students to reflect on such things as the actual time it took to complete each key stage of the practice, how useful the planning was in informing the next stage of practice etc.

Look at a selection of planning tools used by others (senior students) to see the similarities and differences between them.

Students to identify:

• similarities and differences between the planning tools that were used
• where within the practice they were used
• how the tool(s) were used to inform the practice undertaken.

Review progress according to the current plan, and revise planning as appropriate to ensure completion of outcome

Use planning tool(s) to plan overall practice and structure key stages, base this planning on knowledge gained from undertaking previous planning actions.

Encourage students to reflect on tools that worked well and those that didn't from aspects of their previous planning practice. Ensure students use understandings developed to inform selection of planning tools for their next practice.

Class discussion on the most appropriate planning tool for different aspects of current practice.

Focus discussion on identifying those tools most suitable for:

• initial planning of intended key stages,
• planning for resource management and activities within identified key stages
• planning for outcome testing and evaluation etc.

Strategies for gaining quality stakeholder feedback.

Students review the practice of others (senior students and/or practicing technologists) to identify the planning strategies/tools that were used to obtain stakeholder feedback. They analyse these to identify if they enabled quality feedback to be received.

Group discussion to consider and agree on best strategy(ies) for obtaining stakeholder feedback and most appropriate tool(s) for analysing this feedback.

Students present to group/class the strategy(ies) they are considering using to obtain stakeholder feedback. Discussion should focus on the merits of the strategy, identifying likely responses and therefore the appropriate tool for analysing the feedback.

Analyse other practice to identify how they planned ahead and documented their practice.

Use case studies from the Techlink website of student practice and/or the practices of practicing technologists.

Teacher questions students/groups about the list of resources they have identified as needing in order to undertake technological practice to develop a technological outcome.

Question students/groups about how their identified resources in terms of:

• when (what stage of their practice) they will require the resource(s )
• if they have the appropriate level of knowledge and skill to use the resource and if not how they will access it
• if the resource identified is the most appropriate to complete this key stage of their practice
• what will happen to the resources once the key stage is finished, etc.

Ask students to put into sequence a set of photos of the technological practice of someone else (senior students and/or a practicing technologists).

For each photo, ask students to identify the:

• resources that where necessary to enable them to carry out their practice
• aspects that needed management; for example, safety, storage, resources requiring handling in a specific way, disposal of waste etc.

Teacher Guidance Level 5

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 5, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• provide a range of planning tools and support students to analyse these to inform selection of the tools they will use to record1 their planning (Please note: records only need to capture what students plan to do and what they need to do it to guide their practice and allow them to review this periodically).
• support students to review past planning decisions in an ongoing manner and evaluate progress to inform their ongoing planning.
• support students to manage their resources (including time, materials, money, equipment and access to stakeholders etc.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Select and use planning tools to identify and record key stages, actions to be undertaken, determine progress review points, and manage resources.

Revisit a planning tool students have used and discuss the usefulness of this tool to record the practice undertaken.

Students to reflect on such things as the actual time taken to complete each key stages of the practice, how useful the planning was in informing next stage etc.

Look at a professional technologists practice to identify the possible planning tools they used.

Select a product/collection and, using information provided, predict their ideas about:

• What planning tools might have been used?
• What might have been their key stages?
• What might have been the actions they needed to undertake?
• When might they have reviewed their progress?
• What would have informed changes to their planning?
• How did they identify their resources and then manage them?

Fun examples:

• www.dinosaurdesigns.com
• www.davidtrubridge.com
• www.huffer.co.nz
• www.threadless.com
• www.gadgetnation.net
• www.loyalloot.com
• www.farmdesigns.co.uk
• www.shin.co.nr

Analyse a selection of planning tools used by others (senior students and/or practicing technologists) to see the consistencies and differences between them.

Students to identify:

• similarities and differences between the planning tools used
• where within the practice they were used
• how the tool(s) were used to inform the practice undertaken.

In pairs or groups using a new and unrelated brief, each pair/group has a different planning tool.

Critique the planning tools in the context of the specific brief.
Discuss and justify:

• Does the planning tool suit the brief?
• Why/why not?
• Modifications that could be made to the planning tool
• Rest of class to critique their justifications.

Progress review points/Managing resources trials.

Class is split into groups, all creating an outcome (eg, origami) within one lesson. Some groups are deliberately given insufficient resources/time/people.
Group A has only one final review point. Group B has maybe two. Group C have several progress review points. Some progress review points are purposefully placed in the wrong places.
Discuss and reflect on the outcomes achieved and what assisted/hindered the attaining a quality outcome.

Use planning tools to record initial plans and ongoing revisions in ways which provide justification for planning decisions made.

Discussion on the most appropriate planning tool for different aspects of practice.

Class discusses the most appropriate planning tool for different aspects of practice in, for example:

• initial planning of intended key stages
• planning for resource management and activities within an identified key stage etc.
• planning materials flows

Teacher-led example of how to use planning tools.

Teacher shows how to plan overall practice and structure key stages. Base this planning on knowledge gained from undertaking previous planning actions.
Encourage students to reflect on and discuss what worked well and what didn't in aspects of their previous planning practice. Encourage students to use 'linking' words in their discussions such as:

• … because …
• … and therefore …

Use understandings developed to inform next planning.

Oral justification

Student(s) talk to rest of the class about the planning tools they are using, justifying their decisions by explaning why they chose these tools, including the advantages and disadvantages of tools consdered. Their peers can question them and find out more about different tools.

Photos of different stages of the development of a technological outcome compared to available planning tools.

Provide students with a selection of photos of different stages of the development of a technological outcome. Stages could be, for example, the mixing and blending of ingredients for a muffin, the identifying of a type/style of garment suitable to be worn at an identified special event.
Students are also supplied with a range of planning tools.
The students are asked to match the outcome/stage to an appropriate planning tool and justify their choice. Teacher questioning will ensure deeper thinking through using three storey intellect or Bloom's Taxonomies.

Create a dice with focus questions.

Students create questions that will focus them and others to ensure their justifications are appropriate, by referring to:

• planning decisions made
• planning tools selected
• planning tools dismissed
• altered paths chosen
• modifications to outcome.

The dice can then be used as a planning tool for them and other classmates

Teacher questioning students about the list of resources they will need to organise in order to undertake technological practice to develop a technological outcome.

Question students about such things as:

• the appropriateness of the identified resources
• how they will manage the resources during their practice to maximise efficiency of their practice and achieve the desired outcome
• when they will need to access the resource(s) for each stage
• what will happen to the resource(s) once the key stage is finished, etc.

Teacher Guidance Level 6

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 6, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• support students to critically analyse a range of planning tools that have been used in past practice.
• ensure tools selected by students will provide appropriate support for their practice.
• support students to use selected tools to effectively manage resources (including time, materials, money, equipment and access to stakeholders etc) to enable the outcome produced.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Select appropriate planning tools informed by the critical analysis of own and other planning practices.

What does critical analysis mean?

Critically analyse a technological outcome (or a photo of the outcome) in regard to a specific functions/attributes (such as ergonomics, fitness for purpose etc).
Focus on creating 'fertile' questions that allow for a critical analysis to be undertaken.

Now move to critical analysis of planning practices.
Model this with a case study of someone else's technological practice, including their use of planning tools.
Start with a past/present student's work or a Techlink student showcase (www.Techlink.org.nz/student-showcase/).
What planning practices did/might they have used?
Then move on to Techlink classroom practice case studies (www.Techlink.org.nz/Case-studies/Classroom-practice/index.htm), and use a real world Technologists' Practice case study.
Use these points as a class to create focused questions with which to approach the case study:

• What overall planning and project management tools were use?
• How did they ensure fitness for purpose of their(own) outcome?
• What strategies were used to gain access to stakeholder feedback?
• What resource management techniques were used and how were these planned for?

Students to add to this list.

Students critically analyse own past planning and organisational practice.

(The above modelling and activity needs to be done first.)
Students critically evaluate their own practice, focusing on such things as:

• their(own) overall planning and project management
• ways of ensuring the fitness for purpose of their(own) past outcome
• strategies for gaining access to stakeholder feedback
• resource management and how this was planned for.

Use planning tools to plan for the effective management of resources to ensure completion of an outcome

Use of physical and virtual, planning and modelling techniques.

Students are provided with the opportunity to place/imagine their outcome in its intended physical and social environment, by using physical and/or virtual modelling techniques (eg, testing of materials, trials with mock-ups, CAD trials, crocodile-clips).
Students then discuss and substantiate their judgments about the success or otherwise modelling their outcome in its intended physical and social environment:

• What were the risks/issues identified?
• How can these be minimised/eliminated to ensure the successful completion of the outcome.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of different planning tools.

Students focus on answering questions such as:

• What is the tool and how is it best used?
• What is the likely information the planning tool will elicit when used in practice?
• What key stage within practice is this planning tool most suited to in terms of providing informed projections?
• What impact is the information gained through the use of this tool likely to have on future practice?
• How much Iteration is necessary between the planning tool and the ongoing development of the technological outcome to ensure an outcome(s) is fit for purpose?

Use planning tools to record initial plans and ongoing revisions in ways which provide justification for planning decisions made.

Explore contexts and issues.

Provide students with a variety of scenarios (contexts) that they can critically evaluate to identify issues that provide opportunity for the undertaking of technological practice to derive a feasible solution.
Students undertake feasibility studies on these issues and determine the likely technological practice required to develop an outcome that addresses the issue.

Literacy development – using linking words to provide justifications.

Encourage students to use linking language when justifying, such as:

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

Refer to Effective Literacy strategies book for Secondary Schools.

Model justifications.

The class formulates model justifications based on classmates projects or hypothetical scenarios/issues

Explore the use of a range of evaluative tools.

Evaluation tools could include:

• PMI
• CAMPER (consequences, actions, minify /modify/magnify, put into another use, eliminate, reverse)
• SWOT/SWOB analysis
• 'What if… ?' questions
• Ryan's thinkers keys
• Evaluating dice – with key questions
• Question Box – with key questions (colour code for different levels) see Bloom's Taxonomy.

Students to identify:

• the advantages/disadvantages of each of these tools
• when to use what tool
• the levels of appropriateness of the tools for a particular project.

Justifying the management of resources in terms of the physical and social environment in which they are used.

Students to critically evaluate:

• another's practice (case study and/or observation of a practicing technologist's practice) to determine how well they managed resources within the physical and environmental location in which they were used.
• their own past practice to determine how well the resources were managed within the physical and environmental location in which they were used.

Teacher Guidance Level 7

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 7, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• support students to critically analyse a range of planning tools and project management practices that have been used in past technological practice.
• support students to use selected tools to effectively manage resources (including time, materials, money, equipment and access to stakeholders etc) to enable the outcome produced to successfully meet the brief.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Select appropriate planning tools and develops project management practices informed by the critical analysis of own and others' planning practices

Critically analyse another's (practicing technologist) project management practices through evaluation of case studies and/or their actual practice as observed/presented.

Students critically evaluate the practice of others, focusing on such things as:

• the planning and project management tools used
• planning undertaken to enable the fitness for purpose of their outcome to be verified
• management practices used to ensure valid stakeholder feedback was accessed
• planning used to manage the efficient use of resources
• a comparison with the student's own practice.

Flowchart a practicing technologists practice and critically analyse it to inform own practice.

Flow chart showing …

• What the analysis of a technologists practice told them
• Implications/findings/what I learnt
• How I will/did use that learning

Develop project management practices of either a real project or a simulated one off, using roles in group situations.

Each student takes a different role, for example:

• project manager
• resource manager
• time-keeper
• construction manager

Answer questions such as:

• What qualities does each role need?
• Evaluate success against the roles?
• What part does each role play to the overall success of the practice undertaken?
• How are these roles reflected in my own practice, when I am required to undertake all of these roles myself?

Use planning tools and project management practices to plan for the effective management of resources to ensure completion of an outcome.

Look at your use of planning/modelling tools and determine the likely accuracy/validity of projections based on findings obtained from them.

Focus on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each planning/modelling tool in terms of allowing accurate and valid projections to be made.

Use of physical and virtual, planning tools and project management practices and modelling techniques.

Focus on encouraging students to project and substantiate their judgments about the success or otherwise of the expected outcome(s) when they are placed in their intended physical and social environment using the physical and/or virtual planning and modelling techniques.

Use planning tools to record initial plans and ongoing revisions in ways which provide justification for project management practices.

Exploring contexts and issues.

Provide students with a variety of scenarios (contexts) which they can critically evaluate to identify the issues that provide opportunity for the undertaking of technological practice to derive a feasible solution. Students undertake feasibility studies on these issues and determine the likely technological practice required to develop an outcome that addresses the issue.

Explore the use of a range of evaluative tools.

Evaluation tools could include:

• PMI
• CAMPER (consequences, actions, minify /modify/magnify, put into another use, eliminate, reverse)
• SWOT/SWOB analysis
• What if questions
• Ryan's thinkers keys
• Evaluating dice – with key questions
• Question Box – with key questions (colour code for different levels), see Bloom's Taxonomy.

Literacy development – using linking words to provide justifications.

Encourage students to use linking language such as:

• as a result of
• because
• therefore …

Refer to effective Literacy Strategies book for Secondary Schools.

Justifying the management of resources in terms of the physical and social environment in which they are used.

Students critically evaluate:

• another's practice (case study and/or observation of a practicing technologist's practice) to determine how well they managed resources within the physical and environmental location in which they used, and if the management practices made an impact on the sustainability of the resources used and the outcome itself
• their own past practice to determine how well they managed the resources within the physical and environmental location in which they used.

Teacher Guidance Level 8

To support students to develop understanding of Planning for Practice at Level 8, teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur.
• ensure students critically analyse a range of planning tools and project management practices that have been used in past technological practice.
• dupport students to select planning tools and project management practices that will ensure the efficient development of an outcome to completion. Efficient management of resources ensures that the use of time, material and people is optimised during the development and production of an outcome that successfully meets the brief.

Indicators of Progression

Teaching Strategy

Explanation

Select appropriate planning tools and develops project management practices informed by the critical analysis of own and others' planning practices.
NOTE only difference from Level 7 to Level 8 is the word 'ensure' in the guidance section. Focus is therefore placed on providing strategies to help students self direct their own practice in order to allow the teacher's to adopt an 'ensure' role.

Strategies/techniques for undertaking feasibility studies to determine a suitable context and issue, and subsequently identify a need or opportunity.

Explore the use of strategies/techniques such as:

• mind mapping tools
• graphic organisers
• compare and contrast.

Students focus on answering questions such as:

• Is the issue likely to provide an opportunity to develop a technological outcome that has the potential to be fit for purpose for the physical and social environment in which it will be placed?
• What constraints (eg, political, social, moral, ethics, economic) will likely impact on the technological practice undertaken to develop a technological outcome, and the outcomes themselves?
• Is the context providing opportunities for the student to engage in appropriate learning activities that increase their breadth, and depth of knowledge and skills?

Explore unsuccessful products and their project management practices (or lack of!).

Students focus on identifying the planning practice(s) that were missing in a project from:

www.baddesigns.com

www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3rOtS7wsZCo
What project management practices were incomplete:

• risk management
• planning tools chosen
• review points – When? How?

When could they have identified that it was becoming unfit for purpose?
What are constraints identified/not identified?
How could constraints have been considered?

Use planning tools and project management practices to plan for the efficient management of resources to ensure completion of an outcome

What is efficiency?

Students define efficiency.

• What does efficiency look like in technology?
• How does it affect project management?

Students evaluate efficiency in a practicing technologists practice, comparing and contrasting the fitness for purpose of their technological outcome(s) that they produce with the resources they use.

Use an Efficiency Competition to model what efficiency is.

Students are divided into in groups. Each group has same resources, time and instructions etc, to create the one-off product. Students plan before the task what they could do to ensure efficiency (eg, use minimum resources/use mock-ups and patterns to ensure efficient use of materials).
Students evaluate the success of planning practice against the success of the one-off product they create (its fitness for purpose).

Students should be aware of the integrative nature of these indicators.

Students are encouraged to critically evaluate their planning practice to determine its effectiveness in informing next steps. This evaluation should focus on answering questions such as:

• Is the planning and management tools supporting informed projections as to where to next?
• What information is missing to allow informed projections?
• Is there a better means of/tool for planning and managing that would allow a more efficient use of resources and better projections to occur?

Use planning tools to record initial plans and ongoing revisions in ways which provide justification for project management practices employed.

Strategies for future projection – use of creative thinking strategies.

Examples include:

• 'What if… ?' questions
• De Bono
• Inquiry learning strategies
• organisations of think tanks
• Secondary Futures resource.

Critically evaluate another's (practicing technologist) project management practices through analysis of case studies and/or their actual practice as observed/presented.

Students critically evaluate the practice of others, focusing on such things as:

• the management tools used
• the opportunities created and/or constraints resulting from specific practices undertaken
• the management of resources and how/if this was undertaken in an ongoing manner through-out technological practice
• justifications provided for the planning and management practices adopted in terms of the physical and social environment in which the practice took place
• how they ensured that the practice was always focused on addressing the context and issue.