Planning for practice TP 8-2
Effective planning techniques ensure efficient resource management (including the management of materials, time, money, and personnel) and as such are essential for informed and responsive technological practice. Effective planning also considers the physical and social environment where the outcome is to be developed and implemented.
Planning for practice includes a recording aspect to support resource management, enable reflection on past decision making, and ensure vital documentation is maintained.
Achievement objective: TP 8-2
Students will:
- critically analyse their own and others’ past and current planning and management practices in order to develop and employ project management practices that will ensure the efficient development of an outcome to completion.
Indicators
- Critically analyses their own and others’ project management experiences, to identify key factors essential to efficient project management.
- Identifies personal strengths and weaknesses in relationship to project management in technology, and plan learning opportunities to develop and enhance these.
- Critically analyses a broad range of planning tools and select those that would best support their project management practices.
- Develops an initial plan that allowed for extensive exploration of what efficient planning and resource management would require in this environment.
- Employs the use of specifically selected planning tools to support the project management of their work in an efficient and critically reflective manner.
- Ensures decisions about information presented, means of presentation, resources used, and the management of time and resources were informed and critically evaluated in an ongoing manner.
- Justifies past decisions, or provide direction for new plans should the practice result in a dead end or should the development be queried.
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Progression
At level 8, students will draw on previous level knowledge to demonstrate their understanding of project management to support technological practice by:
- establishing a coherent project schedule suitable for the physical and social environment where the outcome is to be developed and implemented, informed by critical analysis of existing project management
- creating and implementing a project schedule, and undertaking reflection at critical review points to revise or confirm schedule, to ensure the effective and efficient completion of an outcome
- undertaking management of the project to provide evidence of the coordination of goals, planning tools, resources and progress review points, and justify planning decisions.
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Teacher guidance
To support students to undertake planning for practice at level 8 teachers could:
- ensure there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur
- support students to critically analyse a range of project management practices and
- explore how project scheduling is used to manage technological practice
- ensure the students' choice of planning tools are flexible enough so modifications can be incorporated and are robust enough to provide clear guidance of “where to next”
- support students to establish and implement a coherent project schedule that allows for the coordination and management of the: regular review of goals, planning tools, all resources required (time, money, stakeholder/s, materials, components, software, equipment, tools and/or hardware and so on), and review points
- support students to provide evidence of effective and efficient planning decisions. Effective and efficient planning decisions ensure that the use of resources is optimised during the development and production of an outcome produced to successfully meet the brief.
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Contexts for teaching and learning
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Provide a range of planning tools for analysis so the student can select tools to ensure record keeping remains relevant to enhancing the quality of the practice undertaken. These planning tools should be selected and/or developed on the basis that they are best suited to the nature of the practice being undertaken, and the communication strengths of the student. Record keeping may include: oral, graphical, written, and/or electronic modes of documentation as appropriate. Technological practice is enhanced when the documentation of planning strategies best meets the needs of all stakeholders, including the technologist themselves.
Planning tools include such things as: brainstorms, mind-maps, idea banks, reflective journals and/or scrapbooks, plans of action, Gantt charts, flow diagrams, graphical organisers, and structuring / diagramming techniques and so on. In order to work most effectively and responsively, specific planning techniques need to be developed as part of technological practice to ensure that all factors key to success are taken into account throughout the developmental work.
- Encourage on-going reflection and evaluation of past and current planning experiences (both one’s own and those of others) to enhance the student’s ability to make informed planning decisions.
- Encourage students to take into account the physical and social environments into which the outcome is to be situated, as well the environment in which the technological practice is occurring. A significant aspect of supporting such planning is the analysis of the impacts and implications (ethical, environmental, political, and so on) of the practice, as well as those that result from the development of the outcome itself. Analysing both historical and contemporary contexts can help identify past planning strengths and weakness and inform future planning decisions.
- Ensure students are aware of resources available to them. These resources may include but not limited to: time, materials, tools and equipment, research information, and community and school-based specialist knowledge and skills.
Literacy considerations
Students will require support and will need clarification of the following:
- Existing practices in project management may include that used by past students, managers, industry mentors, and practicing technologists.
- Project management ensures that all aspects of development are coordinated to effectively manage resources within the physical and social environment where the outcome is to be developed.
- Resources may include: time, materials, tools and equipment, research information, stakeholders and specialist knowledge and skills residing in community, and school experts.
- Technological practice is undertaken to develop an outcome. An outcome for the purpose of this standard is a conceptual design for an outcome and/or a technological outcome itself (prototype).
Students will also need support to develop the skills to:
- analyse planning tools to gain understandings of the potential and evidence that each planning tool provides
- undertake research to determine where, when and why management tools were used and the use of the findings (evidence) to inform their work
- use information to identify critical review points
- create sufficient evidence within their portfolios/journals to support decisions.
Resources to support student achievement
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Assessment for qualifications
The following achievement standard could assess learning outcomes from this achievement objective:
- AS91609 Generic technology 3.2: Undertake project management to support technological practice.
Key messages from the standard
Conditions of assessment
Provide opportunities for students to develop evidence for the standard by:
- encouraging students to critically analyse different approaches to project management and ways of project scheduling to enable them to establish their own project schedule
- supporting students to undertake coherent project scheduling to effectively manage resources and efficiently manage time and materials
- supporting students to develop questioning and self-reflection skills
- conferencing with students and supporting them to reflect on progress and use this to project forward during the development process to ensure the completion of the outcome.
Last updated March 8, 2022
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