Implementing the Victorian Curriculum F–10
The following information outlines curriculum area advice to schools to support remote learning and continuity for students in
F–10 Design and Technologies. This advice should be read in conjunction with broader advice provided to schools regarding the Victorian Curriculum F–10 on the
VCAA and
Victorian Curriculum F–10 websites.
Delivering F–10 Design and Technologies remotely and flexibly
Keep in mind
- Schools can review and adapt their teaching and learning program for Design and Technologies to enable the curriculum to be delivered at home via remote learning.
- Teachers are best placed to make teaching and learning decisions and assessment modifications that are appropriate to their own circumstances. Teachers need to take into account their access to remote learning tools (such as online learning platforms) and the strengths and limitations of their student cohort.
- A weekly program of teaching and learning, based on the original teaching and learning program, can be developed for students to complete at home. This should include learning activities that enable students to demonstrate aspects of the relevant achievement standards in Design and Technologies.
- Practical activities requiring production of a product in Design and Technologies are likely to require the use of tools and machines that, by their nature, present a higher risk than in other curriculum areas. Schools need to refer to the Department of Education and Training's
Use of Machinery in Technology Teaching for further information about Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Part 3.5 – Plant).
Ideas and connections
- Schools and teachers can select teaching and learning activities that integrate several Technologies Contexts or the Design and Technologies learning area with another learning area and/or capability to enable efficiency of curriculum delivery.
- Teachers may review the sequence and balance of theoretical and practical activities in Design and Technologies. Not all practical activities in Design and Technologies need to be production-based activities. Schools may provide templates that scaffold students' design thinking or provide strategies for practical activities at home that focus on investigating, generating, planning and managing, and/or evaluating products, services and environments.
- Teachers may select practical activities that can be undertaken safely with tools, machines and materials readily available in students' homes and as a part of students' everyday home life, such as using glue, staplers, scissors, needles and threads, and cardboard boxes to replace activities included in the original teaching and learning program for Design and Technologies.
- To deliver curriculum content safely, teachers may need to consider alternative practical activities to what was originally planned, for example, simulations, modelling, prototyping, or analysis of data, case studies or products/systems/environments. The focus is on the generation and/or use of primary data with the planned activities.
Useful resources
In addition to
VCAA resources, teachers may consider
Assessment and achievement standards
- Schools should assess student learning, including evidence from practical activities, against the relevant aspects of the achievement standards in the Victorian Curriculum F–10.
- Depending on the resources available at home and the aspect of the achievement standard being assessed, students may draw, graph, photograph, annotate, label, create a podcast using audio and/or video, create a prototype or electronic system, and/or write a response to communicate their findings.
- Teachers can select and use a variety of assessment types to provide timely feedback to students and to monitor learning progress. Schools can review the range of assessment tasks to achieve a balance between short inquiry-based activities that focus student attention on specific skills and understanding and more open-ended, rich assessment tasks that can be completed over a longer period of time at home.
- On the resumption of face-to-face learning, schools may need to undertake a variety of assessments to determine students' actual progression of learning, considering the original teaching and learning program and making the necessary adjustments to this program as required.
For more information
Leanne Compton, Design and Technologies Curriculum Manager
Phone (03) 9032 1698 or email the Design and Technologies Curriculum Manager