[Ray Krachan]

20/02/2013 at 9:31 am

What way are people planning on teaching National 4 and/or 5?

I was thinking of starting with ISDD, then that part of the assignment, followed by SDD, then that part of the assignment?
Also, I am changing language this year, and am considering Python or BlueJ (Java). What would people recommend?

[breglassc]

20/02/2013 at 9:39 am

Hey Ray – your on the same wavelength as me. I am going with BlueJ, although how I’m gonna manage the existing VB6 Highers along side the Nat5 BlueJ’s ??

[ablades]

20/02/2013 at 10:12 am

Hi – After attending an implementation course we came away with a suggested teaching order.

Software Design and Development Outcome 1 & 2
Information Systems Design & Development Outcomes 1 & 2
Software Design and Development Outcome 3
Coursework/Assignment.

Hope this helps.

[tracy_m]

21/02/2013 at 10:51 am

I’m currently teaching ISDD and plan to do both NAT4 and NAT 5 assessments before the summer. Next year I’m doing SDD and the NAt4 & 5 assessments then the coursework/assignment.

Within ISDD you need to watch the order too cause NAT 5 assessment is on databases and the NAT 4 on is on websites. I’m teaching websites and then doing the NAT 4 assessment and then teaching databases and then NAT 5 assessment.

Also toying with a change of language from VB to python or BlueJ but not decided which plus the materials that came out have Scratch and VB examples – they’d need rewritten with new language ‘s screen shots, etc….

[Tait8]

21/02/2013 at 12:41 pm

We’re going with the same approach as ablades of:
Software Design and Development Outcome 1 & 2
Information Systems Design & Development Outcomes 1 & 2
Software Design and Development Outcome 3
Coursework/Assignment.

Tracy, have you already started teaching NAT4/5 in S3? If so does that mean your pupils choose their subjects at the end of S2 rather than S3?

[tracy_m]

21/02/2013 at 12:52 pm

Yes I’m 7 months into a 2 year combined course of N4/5 in the same class. Our kids picked in S2 for S3/4, although this will change since our recent HMIe inspection….

I didn’t start the course off but have come in since. However, the thinking had been to keep software development towards the end so that it would be fresh in their minds for the N5 course assignment rather than the first thing they did.

Also that we are going to use the unit assessments provided and therefore will teach ISDD and SDD as separate units of work to allow these to be assessed. I’ll need to teach SDD outcomes 1,2,3 together for the unit assessment approach rather than splitting it between ISDD.

[tim]

19/03/2013 at 4:31 pm

How are people allocating time for bi-level Nat-4/5 classes? We will run them over one year and pupils will have the same amount of time as the Higher/int 2 pupils. This means very roughly 160 hours for the course.

I remember at the sqa event we talked about 60 hours per unit and 40 hours for the added value unit. Will it work to give the nat 4s the same amount of time to do the added value unit as we give the nat 5s to do the coursework?

[tim]

19/03/2013 at 4:48 pm

Actually, since we moved to 4 periods a week rather than 5 we only get 140 hours.