Digital Technologies NCEA NZC Level 1 Course Outline 1

Guide to aid teacher planning — designed to be printed or viewed in A3, Landscape.

Purpose
This example Course Outline has been provided to support teachers to understand how the new subject Learning Matrix and NCEA Achievement Standards might be used to create a year-long programme of
learning.

Duration
Significant Learning Learning Activities and Assessment Opportunities
Total of 32 weeks
Evaluate the fitness for purpose of Introduction to Digital Technologies
digital technologies outcomes by Overview of digital technologies and introduction to the idea of their impact. 2 weeks
considering manaakitanga,
kaitiakitanga, and the outcomes’ Review examples of technology and how it impacts humans and the world around us.
social and physical environments
Relevant context examples:
Understand that digital technologies ● Impacts of social media — positives and negatives. What makes different ones better or worse to use?
and the concepts that underpin them ● Video games — different perspectives. What makes games fun? What makes them frustrating?
are influenced by the people that ● Filmmaking and animation as modes of communication. Storytelling and the ways that can be used for education, entertainment, passing on
create them and the contexts in which knowledge, connecting, and giving people a voice.
they are developed

Be aware of relevant occupational

safety and health practices

Follow a technological process to Introduction to Animation

design, develop, and document digital Students will learn basic techniques in animation, such as: 5 weeks
outcomes
● drawing and text tools
Use appropriate standards and
● keyframes, motion, easing, etc
conventions for digital technologies
domains ● basic image compression for importing images, and video compression for exporting animations

Apply appropriate tools and use ● basic video editing: cutting, transitions, adding audio tracks.
information from testing to improve the
quality of digital technologies
Class activities around planning:
outcomes
● Identifying an audience, communication purpose, and key messages.
Understand how compression enables
● Storytelling — how to plan a good story, characters, etc.
widely used technologies to function
● Storyboarding.

Course Outlines up to date as at 22/12/2023. Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga cannot guarantee status or content of linked pages beyond this date.
 Understand that digital technologies Introduction to Web Design
and the concepts that underpin them Overview and history of the internet and web design. 5 weeks
are influenced by the people that
create them and the contexts in which Review examples of web development and the purposes and audiences of different types of websites.
they are developed
Relevant context examples:
Understand that digital technologies ● What types of websites are there?
and the concepts that underpin them ● Basic information websites — what do we use them for?
have an impact on people, societies, ● Social media websites.
and cultures ● Club/organisation websites.
● Interactive websites, for example, the one that lets you zoom in and out from microscopic levels to the galaxy/wider universe.
Follow a technological process to
design, develop, and document digital Class activities to teach basic techniques in HTML/CSS:
outcomes
● Structure tags such as doctype, title.
Use appropriate standards and
● Headings, paragraphs, and lists.
conventions for digital technologies
domains ● Images.

Apply appropriate tools and use ● Anchor tags with links to other pages and external websites.
information from testing to improve the
quality of digital technologies ● Semantic tags like header, section, footer.
outcomes
● CSS for styling.
Understand that digital devices can
collect, store, and share data, and Class activities around planning:
consider the related ethical issues
● Identifying an audience, communication purpose, and key messages.

● Layout design and hierarchy of information.

● Wireframing for prototyping.

Understand that digital technologies Introduction to Human-Computer Interface Usability

and the concepts that underpin them Learn about user human-computer interfaces and explore examples of good and bad ones and what makes them that way. 2 weeks
are influenced by the people that ● Explore mātāpono Māori as a lens that can be used when thinking about creating something for people to use.
create them and the contexts in which ● Learn about usability heuristics and principles and explore examples of them in a range of different user interfaces.
they are developed ● Practise evaluating interfaces in terms of usability principles and mātāpono Māori and suggest improvements.

Understand that digital technologies Learning covered supports development of skills and knowledge toward AS 92006 (1.3) Demonstrate understanding of usability in human-computer
and the concepts that underpin them interfaces.
have an impact on people, societies,
and cultures

Course Outlines up to date as at 22/12/2023. Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga cannot guarantee status or content of linked pages beyond this date.
 Prioritise user experience in design —
practise manaakitanga by applying
relevant design principles, mātāpono
Māori, and usability principles

Recognise that new and innovative

solutions to existing problems are
developed through kotahitanga, and
creative and critical thinking

Investigate and consider possible Outcome Design

digital solutions for authentic contexts Reinforce the ideas around the purposes of websites and animations and the need to make them appropriate for the target audience. They can be 5 weeks
or issues used as tools to communicate a message, connect people, engage people, or for entertainment.
Learners choose whether they want to design a website or animation.
Follow a technological process to
design, develop, and document digital Exploration of mātāpono Māori and usability heuristics lenses that can be used when thinking about creating something for people to use.
outcomes
Exploration of design tools (wireframes, storyboards, etc).
Prioritise user experience in design —
practise manaakitanga by applying Exploration of the principles and elements of design.
relevant design principles, mātāpono
Māori, and usability principles Overview of the technological design process (scoping a project, user requirements, designing and refining ideas, communication, and evaluation of
design).
Apply appropriate tools and use
information from testing to improve the Use the technological design process to design a website or animation.
quality of digital technologies
outcomes Identify a story to tell through either animation or a website.

Recognise that new and innovative ● Brainstorm story ideas.

solutions to existing problems are
● Brainstorm who the audience of the outcome might be and what their needs are.
developed through kotahitanga, and
creative and critical thinking ● Consider how mātāpono Māori/usability heuristics/design principles can be used to ensure the design is fit for purpose.

Understand how digital technologies ● Using a template, students identify the purpose and end users of the animation, as well as basic requirements.
impact on end users by considering
the following mātāpono Māori:
Design ideas.
kotahitanga, whanaungatanga,
manaakitanga, wairuatanga, ● Generate a range of design ideas.
kaitiakitanga, and tikanga
● Use research into the chosen audience and story to inform design ideas.
Anticipate and find solutions to
● Develop a design concept using design ideas.
problems
● Use feedback to refine aspects of the design.
Evaluate the fitness for purpose of
digital technologies outcomes by ● Apply design principles to improve the design.
considering manaakitanga,

Course Outlines up to date as at 22/12/2023. Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga cannot guarantee status or content of linked pages beyond this date.
 kaitiakitanga, and the outcomes’ social
and physical environments Final design.
● Provide evidence that the proposed outcome addresses the purpose and meets the requirements of the club/group/user (fit for purpose).

● Provide evidence of how mātāpono Māori contributed to the design’s fitness for purpose.

Learning covered will provide opportunities to collect evidence towards AS 92007 (1.4) Design a digital technologies outcome.
Follow a technological process to Outcome Development
design, develop, and document digital Building on the learning earlier in the year, students will follow a technological process to develop their animation or website. (Note that students may 5 weeks
outcomes elect to develop an outcome from a different digital technologies domain. The choice of outcome should be undertaken with teacher support and
guidance at the appropriate point in the learning programme.)
Use appropriate standards and
conventions for digital technologies Class exercises teach students about managing timeframes and about effective feedback and testing strategies.
domains Based on their design, learners will now develop the animation or website they have designed. They might:

Anticipate and find solutions to ● break the outcome into components

problems
● use an iterative process to develop their outcome

Apply appropriate tools and use ● use a range of basic techniques in appropriate software
information from testing to improve
the quality of digital technologies ● consider usability and design principles in their development
outcomes
● consider mātāpono Māori when developing their outcome
Work collaboratively and engage in
● test that their outcome works as expected
talanoa, wānanga, and kōrero to
share perspectives and values
● trial their outcome with end users, and use feedback to improve their outcome

Use appropriate strategies to manage ● export their completed animation using appropriate parameters for file type, compression, etc
time and resources for completing a
project ● upload their completed website to an appropriate space to share with the teacher and/or class.

Evaluate the fitness for purpose of Learning covered supports development of skills and knowledge toward AS 92005 (1.2) Develop a digital technologies outcome.
digital technologies outcomes by
considering manaakitanga,
kaitiakitanga, and the outcomes’
social and physical environments

Understand the nature of computation Programming

and apply appropriate reasoning about Review different programming languages/platforms to demonstrate that programming concepts are very similar across different languages. 8 weeks
the behaviour of basic programs
Class activities built around small challenges or programs that teach and reinforce programming concepts of:
Apply basic computational thinking
skills (decomposition, abstraction, ● collecting input and producing output
pattern recognition, algorithms, logic,
● the importance of thoughtful commenting
and evaluation) to write and debug

Course Outlines up to date as at 22/12/2023. Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga cannot guarantee status or content of linked pages beyond this date.
 computer programs
● storing data in variables and constants (or a range of data types)

Understand that the cost (or ● if/else/elseif conditions and associated logic
computational complexity) can differ
between two iterative algorithms for ● for loops and while loops
the same problem size
● storing and accessing data stored in collections (lists, arrays, etc)
Demonstrate learner agency and
● modular programming (if time allows).
persevere when things fail

Anticipate and find solutions to Class activities teach students to design algorithms to solve problems (breaking down problems into smaller parts) and that not all algorithms have
problems the same level of efficiency.

Use appropriate strategies to manage Students learn strategies to find and debug common errors in programs.
time and resources for completing a
project Students learn about how to check and validate user input to avoid errors.

Learning covered supports development of skills and knowledge toward AS 92004 (1.1) Create a computer program.

Course Outlines up to date as at 22/12/2023. Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga cannot guarantee status or content of linked pages beyond this date.