General
Are students allowed to submit group work for internal assessment (solution)?
No.
Are students allowed to do work in groups?
No.
Can the students in a computer science class work on different parts of a larger IT development? For example, where a number of students are working on different sections of a school website or database.
Yes, but the students must be working on independent and non-communicating parts of a larger development. For example, it is acceptable for two students to develop unrelated utilities in an open source project, but not for two students to develop different web pages as part of a single website.
How much assistance and guidance should I give the students?
It is important that the solution is the student’s own work, although a first draft may be submitted and informal discussions between the teacher and student can occur.
Is it necessary for the students to have all the skills required for the development of a solution, especially the product, before they start?
No. The student may have a basic understanding of the software and project management techniques required to complete the solution at the start. However, he or she will acquire additional skills during the duration of this activity.
What if the student does not know the software they need or want to use?
The student will either need to learn to use the software or adjust his or her proposed product. This is also the reason why criteria A and B should be approved before the student begins to develop the product.
Can the same student reuse an extended essay title and a topic for the solution?
No, this is not allowed, and in any case the extended essay is significantly different from the solution.
What is the difference between the solution and the product?
The solution is the complete internally assessed work of the student and consists of three components: the cover page, the means of accessing the other two components of the internal assessment the product, the software solution developed by the student for the client documentation, the supporting documents, including a video of the product functioning, linked to the development of the product.
What preparatory work is needed with the zip file?
Teachers should download the zip file into a shared area on the school network and unzip it.
It is advisable to test the zip file by opening up the documentation files (either as .rtf or .odt) and then saving them as .pdf. The links are designed so that if the file name is not changed, they will function with .pdf extensions (with the exception of the video, which has a default extension of .avi).
The zip file can be used for Microsoft or OpenOffice files. The student should delete the files that are not required.
What is a product?
This refers to the software solution (for example, website, database, programming construct) created following the design cycle, which addresses the problem the student has identified. The product is a single item created using one or more applications that can be tested by the moderator.
Can the student make several products to satisfy the requirements for the solution?
No. Only one product must be submitted, although students may integrate more than one software type within it. Examples include a website that uses underlying data from a database or a website using applets developed in Java.
Does the product have to address a real problem?
Yes. The product must be real, current and able to be implemented.
Do ideas for the product have to be related to the school?
No. Furthermore, clients and/or advisers can come from businesses or other sources outside of the school environment.
When choosing an idea for a product, is it sufficient that it only benefits the client?
Yes.
Can the student justify just one possible product?
Yes.
What do you mean by the term adviser?
The term adviser is used to describe the third party used by the student to assist him or her