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March 29, 2024, 12:13:30 pm

Author Topic: COVID-19 and Education  (Read 84206 times)  Share 

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ArtyDreams

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #90 on: April 07, 2020, 11:35:05 am »
+5
Interesting....I personally do like the idea of having exams in December, probably the best option. However, I'd much rather them push back exams to January than use GAT results especially!

Just waiting to see what will happen with SACs - I'm guessing that *eventually* they'll let small groups of students come in and do them? They did say that it will slowly be allowed that for practical subjects such as Chemistry, students will be able to come in and do practicals.


Sine

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #91 on: April 07, 2020, 12:05:28 pm »
+4
All this sounds alright but as someone who did absolutely appallingly in Year 11, I am terrified at that "Plan B" idea. (I'm sure there are many of us who might feel the same way. My GAT scores are the worst you probably will ever see). This also brings the idea that worst-case scenario we might have to full-on study for the GAT... (really hope not). I like the idea of pushing back the exams till December and getting results in January as it means we probably can continue our studies right to the end.

When they mean 'shortening the exam' do they mean literally taking chunks out of the study design? What would happen to prerequisite subjects like Methods and Chem then? (Learn it in uni or something?). I'd rather repeat Year 12 in all honesty :'(
Sadly, tutoring companies are probably already scrambling to prepare "GAT resources" to push immediately if the plan B outcome eventuates.

I think the writing section is probably the only one you can properly prepare for in a short time. The Science/Tech/Maths + Humanities section are things that are more about the skills developed over your whole lifetime.

I am not sure but I would think shortening exams would mean fewer questions but the same study design. This would allow them to have more exams in a single day and decrease the duration of the exam period.

Chocolatemilkshake

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #92 on: April 07, 2020, 12:13:18 pm »
+2
If Plan B was to go ahead (really hope it doesn't!!), what would happen to people who have already done a 3/4? I put a tonne of effort in last year and I would like to see my score utilised. However, I also understand that we wouldn't want to disadvantage people who haven't done a 3/4?
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Sine

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #93 on: April 07, 2020, 12:17:03 pm »
+3
If Plan B was to go ahead (really hope it doesn't!!), what would happen to people who have already done a 3/4? I put a tonne of effort in last year and I would like to see my score utilised. However, I also understand that we wouldn't want to disadvantage people who haven't done a 3/4?
Pure speculation (since no official statement that I know of) but the logical thing would be to use any study score that has already been obtained by sitting the end of year exam. After all, that is a more accurate estimation of what study score someone should get than sacs/GAT/year 11 report/teacher discretion etc

whys

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #94 on: April 07, 2020, 12:18:13 pm »
+2
If Plan B was to go ahead (really hope it doesn't!!), what would happen to people who have already done a 3/4? I put a tonne of effort in last year and I would like to see my score utilised. However, I also understand that we wouldn't want to disadvantage people who haven't done a 3/4?

Really unlikely that our 3/4s won't go towards our ATAR. Those people who didn't do a 3/4 chose not to do a 3/4/school didn't allow them for whatever reason. It doesn't mean our 3/4s will be discredited, it just means those who didn't do a 3/4 will have more study scores derived from the Plan B method (as they are likely to be doing more subjects).
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Chocolatemilkshake

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #95 on: April 07, 2020, 12:21:15 pm »
+1
Ah I see that makes sense. But what if you tagged a subject (Only did 1 unit?), VCAA would only have one semester of scores to work with?
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ashmi

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #96 on: April 07, 2020, 12:23:47 pm »
+7
If Plan B was to go ahead (really hope it doesn't!!), what would happen to people who have already done a 3/4? I put a tonne of effort in last year and I would like to see my score utilised. However, I also understand that we wouldn't want to disadvantage people who haven't done a 3/4?

This is a really good point. Also, what would happen for people that didn't do a study of a certain 3/4 subject in 1/2? Would they just join all your scores together from your other subjects and get an average or would they have to rely on other things such as your GAT if you haven't done a sequence of that study before?

That would be horrific to the whole system.
The point of doing a 1/2 subject in the first place is to make mistakes and grow as a learner, not to be put on the spot and be told 'Hey, we are using your scores now as a Plan B thank you'. Where did all the ideas of learning go when they made that Plan B idea?

*Mini-rant coming through*
I'm sure many of us made plenty of mistakes in Year 11, specifically made mistakes to learn. That was a trial year for us, for us to all learn new things, make mistakes and try new ideas and all of a sudden that's now a backup plan? We were all comfortable knowing about getting an S or an N and being able to do badly because it was Year 11. With this whole new idea it's like the concept of learning has gone out of the window and that they expect us to be perfect in Year 11 (that is what Year 12 is for not Year 11).
*Mini-rant ended*

eloisegrace

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #97 on: April 07, 2020, 12:31:45 pm »
+3
This is a really good point. Also, what would happen for people that didn't do a study of a certain 3/4 subject in 1/2? Would they just join all your scores together from your other subjects and get an average or would they have to rely on other things such as your GAT if you haven't done a sequence of that study before?

That would be horrific to the whole system.
The point of doing a 1/2 subject in the first place is to make mistakes and grow as a learner, not to be put on the spot and be told 'Hey, we are using your scores now as a Plan B thank you'. Where did all the ideas of learning go when they made that Plan B idea?

*Mini-rant coming through*
I'm sure many of us made plenty of mistakes in Year 11, specifically made mistakes to learn. That was a trial year for us, for us to all learn new things, make mistakes and try new ideas and all of a sudden that's now a backup plan? We were all comfortable knowing about getting an S or an N and being able to do badly because it was Year 11. With this whole new idea it's like the concept of learning has gone out of the window and that they expect us to be perfect in Year 11 (that is what Year 12 is for not Year 11).
*Mini-rant ended*

I agree with this! Almost everyone in my year level (year 11) is doing a 3/4 that we didn't do last year! I also could not imagine having to do all my subjects in year 12..... Also, schools assess 1/2 subjects very differently.

I think what they have proposed will hopefully work, however moving exams back will interrupt some things (schoolies, exchanges etc.) But with the world we live in, there is no way to avoid interruptions :'(
2020 - mathematical methods [42] | further mathematics [45]
2021 - english language [45] | chemistry [36] | french [33] | physical education [44]
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J_Rho

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #98 on: April 07, 2020, 12:53:29 pm »
+3
This is what my school just said
Quote
All students will be learning from home, except for students in the following categories:

1. Children on days when they are not able to be supervised at home and no other arrangements can be made.

This will be available for children of parents who cannot work from home, and vulnerable children, including:

·       children in out-of-home care

·       children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm

·       children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service and children with a disability).
 
2. For learning requirements that cannot be conducted via distance, and considering operational requirements set out below, small groups of VCE and VCAL students are permitted to attend school, with appropriate physical distancing and hygiene measures in place.
— VCE —
English 30, Further Maths 33, Biology 33, Legal Studies 27, Psychology 32

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Bachelor of Nursing @ Monash
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S_R_K

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #99 on: April 07, 2020, 01:16:02 pm »
+4
That advice is more or less copy-pasted from the department, so it is accurate.

A couple of other things that might be relevant for students to know:

If you fall into a category where you will attend school, then the "on-site" learning will be the same as remote learning (ie. you won't be in a regular class), but there'll be a staff member around to supervise. This is just for duty-of-care reasons, rather than for teaching and learning. The ratio of staff to student is no more than 1:10. Supervision may be done by non-teaching staff. So if you need to attend school, do not expect that you will be able to speak face-to-face with a teacher of your subject(s).

If you rely on public transport to get to school, the same bus services will still be running.

It is not clear if "learning requirements that can not be conducted at a distance" includes SACs needing to be supervised. It probably doesn't (it's too big a loophole).
« Last Edit: April 07, 2020, 01:17:46 pm by S_R_K »

eloisegrace

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #100 on: April 07, 2020, 01:21:37 pm »
+3
It is not clear if "learning requirements that can not be conducted at a distance" includes SACs needing to be supervised. It probably doesn't (it's too big a loophole).

In terms of SACs, they can be run at home. My further SAC was run at home, so basically it was in a Microsoft form and we were on zoom video the entire time. We could only leave if we contacted the teacher, and we had to show our workspace. Some SACs with a smaller cohort have gone ahead, but it is possible to do a SAC at home, however, I'm not sure how it would work in some schools.
2020 - mathematical methods [42] | further mathematics [45]
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TigerMum

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #101 on: April 07, 2020, 01:33:04 pm »
0
In terms of SACs, they can be run at home. My further SAC was run at home, so basically it was in a Microsoft form and we were on zoom video the entire time. We could only leave if we contacted the teacher, and we had to show our workspace. Some SACs with a smaller cohort have gone ahead, but it is possible to do a SAC at home, however, I'm not sure how it would work in some schools.

How can they mark working out on a Microsoft form?

MoonChild1234

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #102 on: April 07, 2020, 03:07:48 pm »
+5
this might be nitpicky but I would rather they did not shorten the exams (for example making the exam 1 hour instead of 2) because there is the added stress of preparing for time management in an exam format we have never done before. there won't be any sample or practice exams to refer to, and so it will be like preparing for an exam without actually knowing how to approach it

furthermore, i think reducing exams by say 30 minutes or an hour reallly isn't going to do much in terms of stress levels (which will be high anyways), they are better off keeping the exam structure and pushing the exams back to late dec early jan as they are thinking of doing

Snow Leopard

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #103 on: April 07, 2020, 04:06:58 pm »
+3
I can't believe I thought that school would be back to normal for term 2. Naïve me.

What if you did badly on the first SAC for your 3/4 subject. Would your SAC marks be largely based on that if they're gonna reduce the number of SACs done?

eloisegrace

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Re: COVID-19 and Education
« Reply #104 on: April 07, 2020, 04:48:50 pm »
0
How can they mark working out on a Microsoft form?

I'm not sure how it would work for other subjects, but as it was a data analysis SAC for further maths, it was just analysing data and writing reports. We also had to draw some draws which we had to scan and submit.

They also recorded the zoom meeting to double-check academic integrity and stuff. Some schools would be different, but my school doesn't have much trouble with cheating so it worked out very well.
2020 - mathematical methods [42] | further mathematics [45]
2021 - english language [45] | chemistry [36] | french [33] | physical education [44]
ATAR - 98.75
my vce journey !
2022 - bachelor of commerce and bachelor of politics, philosophy and economics @ the australian national university