Level 3 Digital Technologies 91632 (3.40) Specific Assessment Guide — page 1 of 6

Level 3 Digital Technologies 91632 (3.40)
Specific Assessment Guide

TitleDemonstrate understanding of complex concepts of information systems in an organisation

Credits4

Teacher introduction

Technology assessment guides have been produced to help teachers develop their own specific assessment guides. Examples of specific assessment guides, developed from the common assessment guide for each standard, have been produced as part of the external assessment resources for level 3 Technology.

The specific assessment guides also show a variety of ways (ie, case study, research,practice) to produce external assessment material. The material in the candidate exemplars for each standard reflects the content and context of the specific assessment guides.

Teachers can adapt a common assessment guide and / or a specific assessment guide to suit the specific context of their course of teaching.

Candidate introduction

An information system is made up of people, software, and hardware. Data is put into the information system, which converts that data into information and knowledge. In order to help people get the most out of information systems there are sets of guidelines known as procedures about how you should use any particular system. These days most organisations have an information system of some sort; from small businesses, to schools, to health centres, to large corporations and government departments.

You will produce a report that demonstrates understanding of complex concepts of information systems in an organisation. Your report will be based in a case study of Cleveland College, a fictitious New Zealand high school. At the discretion of your teacher you may also supplement the case study material with your knowledge of information systems at your own school and other schools you may have researched, such as Microsoft’s school of the future, or Albany Senior High School – the first open source high school in New Zealand.

You may also construct models to assist you to demonstrate understanding.

For example, you might choose to:

  • construct a form for data entry and write an element of a procedure for data entry and link these with an explanation of how and why the procedure and the form are linked. (This would be a major component of an explanation of the interaction between the main components of an information system)
  • develop a model of data entry and information that is derived from the data
  • provide examples of processes and procedure that allowed the development of both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ information
  • describe in detail some of the specific details of the case study school’s security processes and explain why these specific processes are in place.

As a class we will evaluate Cleveland College’s information systems – as presented in the case study – so that you are able to write your report. You will need to explain the interactions between the different components of the information systems. You will need to provide examples of data, information, and knowledge in the Cleveland College system. You should also discuss the characteristics of the information provided by the system in terms of whether it is ‘good’. We will also discuss the needs of the different groups of end users, such as students, teachers, administrative staff, and parents/caregivers. Another important consideration is the security of private data. We will discuss security management and how this often needs to be balanced against the desires of the end users.

When we are working through the case study it is vital to ensure that you note examples and specific information that you can use to produce descriptions and explanations which form the basis for your report. At the discretion of your teacher your understanding of Cleveland College’s information systems may be informed by knowledge from outside the case study.

The report you produce must contain specific details and examples because without these it will be very difficult for you to demonstrate the required understanding.

Candidate guidance for producing the report

The prompts provided below are guides to producing a report that demonstrates understanding of complex concepts in information systems. The prompts guide candidates to produce evidence for all grades of the standard – Achievement, Merit, and Excellence. It is not necessary to respond to all prompts to succeed at any level. The later prompts guide candidates to in-depth discussion.

Each report will be assessed overall as to the level of understanding the report demonstrates of complex concepts of information systems in an organisation.

Your report should:

  • explain the interaction between the main components of an information system
  • explain the nature of information and discuss differences between data, information, and knowledge
  • explain the characteristics of ‘good’ information
  • explain the importance of end-user considerations in information systems
  • explain security management for information systems.
  • discuss the nature and value of information
  • discuss the impact on and influence of end-user considerations on information systems
  • discuss the implications of security management for information systems
  • discuss how information systems add value
  • evaluate the trade-offs between the characteristics of good information (e.g. timeliness vs. accuracy)
  • evaluate the trade-offs between security management in an information system and end-user considerations.

Essential documents

The achievement standard governingthisspecific assessment guide can be found at
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/specifications/2013/level3/91632-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/as91632.pdf

Definitions

The following definitions might be useful when you are writing your report.

The main components of an information system are hardware, software, data, procedures, and people.

Characteristics of good information may include, but are not limited to: accuracy, timeliness, relevance, appropriate quantity, and economical.

End-user considerations may include, but are not limited to: user consultation, ease-of-use, user interface design, work procedures, implementation issues, and training.

Security management includes discussion of security threats and measures used to address security threats. Threats may include, but are not limited to: hacking, viruses, denial of service attacks, phishing, natural disasters, hardware failure, and human error. Measures to address security threats may include, but are not limited to: security policies, encryption, firewalls, backup procedures, disaster recovery plans, and antivirus software.

An organisation may include, but is not limited to: a school, a business, a hospital, and a government department.

Further information

Appropriate reference information is available in:

  • Safety and Technology Education: A Guidance Manual for New Zealand Schools, Learning Media, Ministry of Education, 1998
  • The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
  • Technology Curriculum Support, October 2007 (found at
  • Ministry of Education ICT in Schools http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/Initiatives/ICTInSchools.aspx
  • What is a Managed Learning Environment (MLE), Ministry of Education http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/Initiatives/ManagedLearningEnvironments/ManagedLearningEnvironments.aspx
  • National Education Network (NEN)
    http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/Initiatives/ICTInSchools/ICTInitiativesAndProgrammes/NENTrialExtension.aspx
  • Albany High School – the First Open Source High School in New Zealandhttp://www.edgazette.govt.nz/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleId=7839
  • Microsoft’s School of the Future
  • Other case studies are available on the Ministry of Economic Development websitehttp://www.med.govt.nz/templates/ContentTopicSummary____469.aspx

Further information can be found at

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.

Cleveland College Case Study Summary

Cleveland College is a large state secondary college based in the South Island of New Zealand. It is a co-educational, uniform school with around 1,000 pupils, teaching a wide range of subjects from Years 9 to 13. The school’s mission statement is to inspire students to reach their full potential as members of a supportive learning community. In the past few years the college has linked up to the National Education Network (NEN) which means it now has ultra-fast broadband and is beginning to explore the possibilities this brings to improve student learning and develop communication between the school, students, parents, and the wider community.

At present ClevelandCollege has information systems for timetabling, managing student records, financial systems, and general office practice. Most of the teachers use the college’s learning management system to supplement their teaching. The learning management system contains learning materials and assignments for different subjects. It is up to individual subject teachers how much material they make available on the learning management system. The students can also use the learning management system to obtain information about their courses and assignments, take part in discussions, try out practice problems and quizzes, share ideas with other students and submit course assignments. The learning management system is available on the college’s intranet, and each student and staff member has an individual log in to the site. The school also has an external website which is publically available over the internet.

The college is managed by a principal and two deputy principals, who report to the board of trustees. There is a financial officer, and five general administrative staff. There is also an information technology officer who is responsible for the college’s computers and associated networks and software. The school also has a property manager, and two librarians. All the staff have desktop computers running the standard Microsoft Office suite; the college also has four servers for storing data and running firewall software. The principal, deputy principals and financial officer have their own printers in their offices; the library and the administration office are also equipped with printers. Approximately fifty teachers work at Cleveland College, most are full time, but a few are on part time contracts. All full time teachers are issued with a laptop by the Ministry of Education. The teachers share fifteen high quality laser printers which are located in different subject departments throughout the school.

When a student is enrolled at Cleveland College contact details for the student and their parents / caregivers are input into the student management system by the administrative staff, together with a photograph of the student. Every effort is made to keep this data up to date by sending out reminders every year asking parents / caregivers to notify the college of any change in contact information. However, inevitably some of the data is not up to date which can cause problems in emergency situations. The student management system also contains details of student’s grades for different assignments, and any official correspondence between the college, the student, and their parents / caregivers. Much of this information is highly confidential, and only full time teachers and certain administrative staff are allowed to access the system using a secure log in. As the teachers now have laptops many of them would like to be able to access the student management system from home, so that they can update class records outside of teaching hours. However the information technology officer is opposed to this as the security of the Internet connections from the teachers’ homes cannot be guaranteed.

The financial officer also uses the information in the student management system to collect school fees from parents / caregivers, and to keep records of who is up to date with voluntary donations and who needs to be sent a reminder. This information is available to the financial officer and the principal only and cannot be accessed by teachers. The financial officer also looks after the schools overall budget. The school staff are paid directly by the Ministry of Education, but each department within the college (eg technology, science, drama) is allocated a budget for the school year. Each head of department is responsible for making any purchases with their budget, though all purchases greater than $1,000 must be pre-approved by the financial officer. The head of departments record all their spending and keep receipts, some use a spreadsheet, and others use a paper based system. Periodically the financial officer will check over these records and enter them in the master spreadsheet system. The data about how much each department spends is used to forecast budgets for the following year.

Teachers take registers at every timetabled class and the information is either entered directly into the student management system, or recorded on a paper register and transferred to the student management system when the teacher next has access to a computer. One of the administrative staff is responsible for taking calls from parents / caregivers, and inputting any authorised student absences into the system. Form teachers check these registers for any unexplained absences and generally follow them up with student’s caregivers after a few days. The school is planning to implement a system to text details of student absences directly to any parents / caregivers who sign up for the scheme. This will mean that parents / caregivers will be informed directly by text message every time a student misses a class. Information about numbers of absences for individual students is collected and recorded in bi-annual school reports that are sent out to parents / caregivers. Rates of overall absences also need to be reported to the Ministry of Education, which produces an annual report comparing rates of unexplained absences at different schools.

At present the student management system and the learning management system are not integrated. This means that teachers have to maintain separate records of class lists on the two systems. It also means that at present students grades are not made available on the learning management system. Students have access to the learning management system through an individual log in, but not to the student record system. Students are given advice about choosing a secure password, which must be at least eight characters long and contain a mixture of letters and numbers, plus at least one special character. Students are also advised not to write down their passwords or share their passwords with their friends. One consequence of this is that students often forget their passwords, particularly after the long summer holidays, and a great deal of the information technology officer’s time is taken up with issuing new passwords to these forgetful students.

Towards the end of term three, the year 10, 11, and 12 students choose their options for the following year. The forms they fill in are firstly sent to the dean of each year group, then on the head of departments who check that the student has taken any necessary pre-requisite courses and are responsible for approving individual options. This information is sent back to the year deans who then pass it on to the deputy principal who is responsible for timetabling. The students choices together with information about the availability of teachers and classrooms is then fed into the timetabling system, which attempts to build a timetable that will give the maximum number of students their first choice of approved options. Unfortunately it is not always possible to cover all the different choices and some students have to take their second choice of options, or are asked to choose new options. Once the timetable has been fixed at the end of the school year it is very difficult to make any changes. This means that students who want to change their options after obtaining their NCEA results are restricted to those subjects that fit in with the existing timetable.

The board of trustees of Cleveland College is keen to use information technology to improve communications with parents / caregivers and is planning to implement a parent portal. This means that each parent/caregiver would be able to log on to the learning management system to view the learning materials and assignments that their child had been given. The board of trustees is also considering making attendance records and assignment grades available through the parent portal, however as this would mean creating a link between the student management system and the learning management system, the information technology officer is opposed to this because of security concerns.

Schedule
Assessment Schedule
AS Digital Technologies 91632 (3.40)
Demonstrate understanding of complex concepts of information systems in an organisation
Final grades will be decided using professional judgement based on a holistic examination of the evidence provided against the criteria.