How to use this text#

This text provides a study of the content of the QCAA (Queensland Assessment Authority) Digital Solutions curriculum 2019. It is broken into two distinct parts:

  • The concepts — these are the general concepts that are used throughout the course.

  • The EDGE process — this focuses on the design process used in Digital Solutions. We will explore process through the lens of the design tools that will be used in this course.

EDGE Design Process#

The problem-solving process in Digital Solutions is analytical and technical in nature. The process is iterative, proceeds through a number of phases, requiring students to explore problems, develop ideas, generate components and digital solutions, and evaluate personal, social and economic impacts, components and digital solutions [QCAA, 2017].

Explore#

In the explore phase, you will examine a digital problem by understanding a need, want, or opportunity. You will look closely at the issue and compare it with existing solutions.

During this phase, you will:

  • Explain problems as a user would experience them.

  • Identify limitations or restrictions.

  • Break down problems and similar existing solutions into smaller parts.

  • Focus on the key aspects of the problem’s elements, components, and their relationships.

  • Assess problems, solutions, and information to decide how reliable and accurate they are.

  • Consider how everything is connected, including users, solutions, and their components, especially in similar problems.

  • Determine what might be needed for a solution, like information, skills, and tools, by looking at the structure of the problem.

  • Employ various thinking methods (like design, systems, and computational thinking) to set standards for evaluating and making decisions during and at the end of solving the problem. These standards can be set by the teacher, client, or the student and should include evaluating personal, social, and economic impacts, and the quality, suitability, and effectiveness of the solution.

  • Use design thinking to choose ideas that best fit these evaluation standards.

Develop#

During the develop phase, you’ll be creating new understandings and thinking of possible solutions by using design, systems, and computational thinking. You’ll evaluate the personal, social, and economic impacts of these solutions. Your goal is to refine both the user experience and the technical aspects of your solution.

Here’s how you can develop your ideas:

  • Employ design thinking to visualize your ideas. Use your drawing and creative skills to represent and communicate your responses to a digital problem.

  • Gather all the information, tools, and skills you need to carry out your solution plan.

  • Apply computational thinking to break down problem components using abstraction.

  • Also applying computational thinking, formulate algorithms to solve parts of the problem.

  • Combine systems and design thinking to develop ideas about different components and test your conceptual models.

  • Use systems and design thinking to come up with creative ideas and pinpoint a solution. Evaluate these ideas to find the ones that best meet your success criteria.

Generate#

In the generate phase, you’ll be using information, software, programming tools, and your skills in systems and design thinking to create parts of a digital solution you’ve identified. You’ll evaluate how your solution and its components affect people, society, and the economy. This evaluation helps you make decisions and improve both the user experience and the technical aspects of your solution.

Here’s what you need to do to generate solutions:

  • Apply design and systems thinking processes to blend together the information, ideas, and skills you’ve gathered.

  • Create individual parts of the solution you think is best.

  • Develop and improve your chosen solution as you get new information or revisit existing information.

  • Use design thinking to assess and react to the outcomes of your initial (alpha) testing.

  • Employ systems and design thinking to build your solution and effectively communicate your knowledge and understanding of it.

Evaluate#

When you evaluate in the Digital Solutions process, you’ll use systems, design, and computational thinking to judge the personal, social, and economic impacts of your digital solutions and their components. This means looking at the strengths, implications, and limitations based on criteria you or others have set. When refining ideas and your digital solution, you’ll make small changes based on these criteria to improve how users experience your solution and how well it works technically. Remember, evaluation is something you should do throughout each phase of problem-solving to keep improving your solution and its components.

For evaluating and refining, here’s what you should do:

  • Use pattern recognition to compare how people use different solutions and how these systems work, and look at the results of using different solutions.

  • Carefully review any test data and errors you come across.

  • Apply design thinking to assess both the individual components and the overall digital solution, considering both the criteria others have given you and the ones you’ve set for yourself.

  • Continuously test and appraise your solution and its components, making changes as needed.

  • Make well-reasoned recommendations about what should go into your solution and about the solution itself, supporting your ideas with evidence.

Digital Solutions Context#

The Digital Solutions curriculum requires that selection of a Technology context. For this course we will be using the Interactive Media context which includes animations and simulations, digital games, learning objects and productivity applications. In addition, the programming language used throughout this course is Python.

Digital Solutions Units#

Unit 1: Creating with code#

In Unit 1, students will explore the creative and technical aspects of developing interactive digital solutions. They investigate algorithms, programming features and useability principles to generate small interactive solutions using programming tools and gain a practical understanding of programming features. This allows them the opportunity to explore existing and developing trends involving digital technologies [QCAA, 2017].

Unit 2: Application and data solutions#

Unit 2, students are required to engage with and learn subject matter through the use of the various phases of the problem-solving process in Digital Solutions. Students will optimise a given database and use programming skills acquired in Unit 1 to write procedural text-based code to generate a solution that interacts with an existing database via structured query language (SQL). Students will plan, develop and generate the interface and code to enable the user to insert, update, retrieve and delete data using an existing database via SQL. Prior to inserting the data, the system will validate the data being entered to ensure its integrity and reliability for use and storage. Retrieved data will be displayed to the user in an appropriate format, such as text or a symbolic visual form [QCAA, 2017].

Students are required to understand the structure of a database, along with how primary and foreign keys and data types affect the performance of the database. Students will evaluate the security, privacy and ethical effects of storing data in databases from individual, organisational and government perspectives [QCAA, 2017].

Unit 3: Digital innovation#

In Unit 3, students are required to engage with and learn subject matter through the use of the various phases of the problem-solving process in Digital Solutions. Students analyse the requirements of particular groups of people, and use knowledge and skills of problem-solving, computational, design and systems thinking. They will determine data requirements and use available resources to create prototyped digital solutions by programming and developing user interfaces to improve user experiences [QCAA, 2017].

Unit 4: Digital impacts#

In Unit 4, students learn how data is shared in both local and global contexts, particularly how digital solutions are increasingly required to exchange data securely and efficiently. Students will understand elements of cybersecurity by exploring the conditions, environment and methods for enabling data to flow between different digital systems. They will analyse data privacy and data integrity risks associated with transferring data between applications and evaluate the personal, social and economic impacts associated with the use and availability of both public and private data. Students will develop an application that simulates the exchange of data between two applications [QCAA, 2017].