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March 29, 2024, 01:16:24 am

Author Topic: COVID-19 and Education  (Read 84125 times)  Share 

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lm21074

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #300 on: August 17, 2020, 06:29:17 pm »
+4
What do you mean? I don't see any 'new VCE Unit 4 SAC protocols'...? Although I may have misunderstood something.
Basically, students are allowed to leave their premises to undertake essential assessment (i.e. Unit 4 SACs).
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Snow Leopard

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #301 on: August 17, 2020, 06:51:37 pm »
+6
Just wondering:
1) How important do you think the GAT is this year? Is there any way to prepare for it if it is substantially more important this year as compared to other years?
2) Do you guys reckon the class of '21 will have to deal with this as well?
Spoiler
3) Anyone else feel like this new system is rigged? Like honestly...just add another section onto SEAS about impact due to COVID that doesn't rely on teachers so much subjectively assuming how a student would have done without coronavirus.   [/quote]

re people feeling sorry for Dan Andrews (don't think it was on this thread but still): yeah I definitely agree, first came the bushfires, then coronavirus, what next?

whys

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #302 on: August 17, 2020, 07:06:01 pm »
+5
1) How important do you think the GAT is this year? Is there any way to prepare for it if it is substantially more important this year as compared to other years?
2) Do you guys reckon the class of '21 will have to deal with this as well?
Spoiler
3) Anyone else feel like this new system is rigged? Like honestly...just add another section onto SEAS about impact due to COVID that doesn't rely on teachers so much subjectively assuming how a student would have done without coronavirus.   
1) It will be important to do well on the GAT, however I still firmly believe you shouldn't be spending a substantial amount of time preparing or stressing yourself out about it. It's not going to play a major part in study score calculation as of now - it will be a factor to moderate scores and compare scores/assessments between schools but isn't going to actually count towards the final study score (as of now).
2) No, I really don't think so. I'm hopeful the vaccine will come out sometime in the middle of next year at least, meaning the class of 2021 won't be as affected as the class of 2020. If you are substantially impacted by the effects of COVID early next year, then there might be provisions in place but I don't think it will matter too much in the long run because you won't experience the same levels of disruption as we have.

Re. your spoiler: the system has always been somewhat rigged, people are just voicing their complaints now. There is a new SEAS section for education disadvantage caused by COVID (which basically every student will apply for), but the government is choosing to take other subjective measures such as purported rankings if COVID wasn't a thing from teachers (and I'm not sure why they are taking things like this into consideration). It's honestly quite counterintuitive.

Re. unit 4 SACs being undertaken at school: I don't know. There's still a choice here - schools can choose not to do this or they can. This furthers the difference in SAC administration methods, which is already such a big problem due to the virus. Overall it's good for subjects like English and other writing-based subjects where writing the essay prepares us better for the exam than typing the essay. However, if our goal is to minimise the spread, I don't think this will help a good deal. Especially now that we see a trend as cases start to recede. Do we really want to go out and mingle when there is always a possibility of a 3rd wave? I don't know if this is the best way to go.
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keltingmeith

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #303 on: August 17, 2020, 07:06:21 pm »
+7
Just wondering:
1) How important do you think the GAT is this year? Is there any way to prepare for it if it is substantially more important this year as compared to other years?
2) Do you guys reckon the class of '21 will have to deal with this as well?
Spoiler
3) Anyone else feel like this new system is rigged? Like honestly...just add another section onto SEAS about impact due to COVID that doesn't rely on teachers so much subjectively assuming how a student would have done without coronavirus.   

re people feeling sorry for Dan Andrews (don't think it was on this thread but still): yeah I definitely agree, first came the bushfires, then coronavirus, what next?
1. GAT will be monstrously more important this year. The GAT is designed fairly well in that it tests a set of skills, not a set of knowledge - the best way to prepare for it is by practicing those skills. Do some practice GAT essays and ask your teacher to mark them (if they're willing - I was lucky in that my high school English teacher used to be a GAT assessor, and was more than happy to mark practice GAT essays for us), then go through the multiple choice questions and answer them all as well as you can. Realise which of the three sections you're doing best at, and which you need to work on - but also consider which of those areas you need to do well on. The essay section is going to be important since everyone has to do an English, but if outside of that all that you study is maths and science, don't worry too much about doing poorly on the humanities section.

2. No clue. Only time will tell. It's probably best not to make conjectures about this. This is not a system you can try and manipulate, anyway, until we know exactly how it works - otherwise trying to "game it" may just end up hurting you in the long run.

3. Lots of people are, and many have even said so in this thread. I, personally, don't think it is - and sounds kinda fair. Sure, you could add it into SEAS, but VTAC likely wouldn't be prepared for the amount of moderation they'd have to put into it, and it would end up leading into nearly everyone getting the same SEAS bonus, which would just artificially boost everyone's ATARs anyway AND the clearly-ins as a result. Putting it in SEAS would lead to the exact thing that everyone is worried about happening. Whereas the system they've proposed sounds like it'll only be pushing up the people whose both GATs and teachers suggest they could've achieved higher than they will as a result. I maintain that - based on the information that has been made available to us - if you do well on the GAT, were doing well this year before COVID, and continue to do well, you won't be disadvantaged. However, even if you were doing poorly before COVID, and are doing great now, you likely won't be disadvantaged EITHER - and the same for if you did well before COVID, but aren't doing well now. This doesn't sound like a system that will disadvantage anyone other than those who were already doing poorly and likely to not get good ATARs anyway (which is a topic for another thread)

Snow Leopard

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #304 on: August 18, 2020, 11:30:40 am »
+1
Thanks for your insight whys and keltingmeith!  :)
If I'm just a Yr 11 student this year and doing a LOTE 3/4, what section of the GAT do you reckon I should do well on? Also how would I be impacted if I have a small cohort (12 people)?

homeworkisapotato

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #305 on: August 18, 2020, 07:54:56 pm »
+3
Thanks for your insight whys and keltingmeith!  :)
If I'm just a Yr 11 student this year and doing a LOTE 3/4, what section of the GAT do you reckon I should do well on? Also how would I be impacted if I have a small cohort (12 people)?
Hi! I'm not 100% sure on this so take it with a grain of salt. As languages does not directly correlate with any of the sections, I'd say the writing tasks. However, I strongly believe that you should strive to do well on ALL of the sections, as no one really knows how the GAT is going to be used this year. With small cohorts, the achievements of individuals have a bigger effect overall, but this year I think they'll assess GAT results individually.

What does everyone think about the importance of Unit 4 sac ranks this year? Do you all think that the weighting of sacs in regards to our ATAR has been decreased drastically? I kind of want it to be...the sacs run in this unit are all over the place in terms of what schools are doing. Frankly, I'd prefer the weighting of unit 4 sacs to be reduced even further, if not completely cut out with only unit 3 sac rankings mattering, as external factors affecting sac performance of individuals has been drastically affected. By factors I mean mental health issues caused by isolation, improperly moderated sac conditions allowing students to cheat, home lives interfering with health and performance, and just so much more.

« Last Edit: August 18, 2020, 07:57:04 pm by homeworkisapotato »
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angrybiscuit

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #306 on: August 24, 2020, 03:19:13 pm »
0
I'm so worried about the GAT. I did horrendous last year and thinking about what would have happened if they used my GAT for my study score just gives me nightmares. I know that they need it for moderation this year but still not a fan that it's important. Because I do all science and maths, should I put less effort into the arts/hums part of the GAT or is it still important for me to perform well in them?
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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #307 on: August 24, 2020, 03:28:11 pm »
+4
I'm so worried about the GAT. I did horrendous last year and thinking about what would have happened if they used my GAT for my study score just gives me nightmares. I know that they need it for moderation this year but still not a fan that it's important. Because I do all science and maths, should I put less effort into the arts/hums part of the GAT or is it still important for me to perform well in them?
Don't forget the English subject.
Also, if you did the GAT last year you've at least had practice...? Don't worry about it, too... you're a year older now, I guess you can do better! You can do this!
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ArtyDreams

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #308 on: August 27, 2020, 10:17:38 pm »
+2
Does anyone know/think we will be starting face-to-face learning in the last week of this term, as the 6 week lockdown ends before then? Just curious if I've missed something as our teachers are positive that we will be starting.

keltingmeith

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #309 on: August 28, 2020, 08:56:18 am »
+5
Does anyone know/think we will be starting face-to-face learning in the last week of this term, as the 6 week lockdown ends before then? Just curious if I've missed something as our teachers are positive that we will be starting.

Government isn't clear on if stage 4 will actually end with the 6 weeks, because numbers aren't going down as fast as they hoped. We'll likely get some information on this on the week of the 7th of September. I have heard, however, that the CHO would consider less than 50 new cases per day a success, and worth easing restrictions for if we get there

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #310 on: August 28, 2020, 09:29:28 am »
0
If that does happen, I beg everyone to p l e a s e keep their mask on as much as possible :)
Would this include people who can't wear a mask for medical reasons? Or would we be forced to stay at home if we don't keep our masks on?
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K888

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #311 on: August 28, 2020, 02:17:42 pm »
+5
Would this include people who can't wear a mask for medical reasons? Or would we be forced to stay at home if we don't keep our masks on?
I feel like this is a question that no-one on AN can answer, probably not even most people in government could answer it. What will happen in the next few weeks/months is very uncertain.


As an aside (purely anecdotal and obviously I would have different circumstances to you, but thought I'd say it in case it helps), I have asthma and heart issues and have found using proper surgical masks over homemade/cloth masks much better. After you adjust to using them they're fine, it can just take a bit of practice to get used to wearing them. Surgical masks have been worn by doctors for years and statistically speaking there's going to be surgeons with severe asthma who have to wear surgical masks for long periods of time in theatre - they have to be safe to use.

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #312 on: August 28, 2020, 03:33:43 pm »
+3
I feel like this is a question that no-one on AN can answer, probably not even most people in government could answer it. What will happen in the next few weeks/months is very uncertain.


As an aside (purely anecdotal and obviously I would have different circumstances to you, but thought I'd say it in case it helps), I have asthma and heart issues and have found using proper surgical masks over homemade/cloth masks much better. After you adjust to using them they're fine, it can just take a bit of practice to get used to wearing them. Surgical masks have been worn by doctors for years and statistically speaking there's going to be surgeons with severe asthma who have to wear surgical masks for long periods of time in theatre - they have to be safe to use.
Thanks for the tip! I also have asthma, but since that's combined with 66% lung capacity, I can't wear a mask for the whole day - I find fifteen minutes on the train exhausting enough. Maybe I'll try the surgical masks sometime (I guess I'll have to at some point, given I want to be a nurse...?)
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eloisegrace

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #313 on: August 28, 2020, 04:51:36 pm »
+2
Thanks for the tip! I also have asthma, but since that's combined with 66% lung capacity, I can't wear a mask for the whole day - I find fifteen minutes on the train exhausting enough. Maybe I'll try the surgical masks sometime (I guess I'll have to at some point, given I want to be a nurse...?)
Definitely try a surgical mask, my mum has one lung and can wear it for the entire 8 hour day at work and it's fine :)
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K888

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #314 on: August 28, 2020, 04:56:22 pm »
+5
Don't want to derail from education further, but adding to the above, surgical masks are also better at droplet control so better for you if you are in a compromised health state :)

Back on education - honestly my year hasn't been affected *too* much but was announced today our end of year conference where we present our research project will be over zoom and our final exam will also be online. I guess I'm not that surprised but I just hadn't really thought about how things will happen in the months to come!