MASTER OF TEACHING (SECONDARY)

PROJECT PARTNERSHIPS
APPLIED CURRICULUM PROJECT - REPORT
Pre-service teachers are required to complete the Applied Curriculum Project (ACP) Report at the end of the
project. Reference should be made to the ACP Plan developed earlier in the year. A brief comment by the
mentor teacher (for the ACP) is also required. Pre-service teachers must submit a copy of the report to the
Praxis Inquiry VU Collaborate space no later than 16 September 2016. This document must be word processed.
This report must:

describe the project and its outcomes

provide evidence of how the aims of the project were met or not met and why with reference to the relevant
educational theory and / or literature or policy cited in the plan
comment on the progress according to the action plan and advise of any changes to the plan and the
reasons for such amendments
evaluate the success or otherwise of the expected measurable outcomes with reference to the evaluation
methodology described in the plan, and
describe how each of the five, or more, professional skills nominated in the plan were used / applied during
the ACP.

PRE-SERVICE TEACHER AND SCHOOL DETAILS

Pre-service teacher name
Stephanie Kondogonis
Student ID

S4539237

VU campus

Footscray Park

ACP title

Year 9 IT Curriculum Structure

ACP submission date

16th September 2016

Partnership school

East Keilor College (East Keilor Campus)

School Partnerships Coordinator

Cassandra Brock

Mentor teacher (for ACP)

Cassandra Brock

VU Praxis Inquiry lecturer

Jo Williams

ADDITIONAL PRE-SERVICE TEACHER ACP TEAM MEMBERS (add more rows as required)
Pre-service teacher name / ID / Campus

Cassandra Brock | East Keilor Campus

Pre-service teacher name / ID / Campus

George Stichioni | East Keilor Campus

Pre-service teacher name / ID / Campus

Elyse | East Keilor Campus

Pre-service teacher name / ID / Campus

Pre-service teacher name / ID / Campus
Additional mentor teachers participating in the ACP (add more rows as required)
Mentor teacher name
Mentor teacher name
Mentor teacher name

Cassandra Brock

Stephanie Kondogonis s4539237

ACP Report Semester 2 2016

Table of Contents
1. Brief Description of the Project and its Outcomes...................4
2. Provide evidence of how project aims were met or not met and
why with reference to relevant educational theory / or literature
or policy cited in the plan..........................................................4
3. Comment on progress according to your Action Plan and advise
of any changes to this plan and the reasons for any changes.......5
4. Evaluate the success or otherwise of the outcomes with
reference to the evaluation methodology described in the plan.. .5
5. Professional Skills Utilised.....................................................6
Section B: Mentor teacher (for ACP) to complete.........................7

Stephanie Kondogonis s4539237

ACP Report Semester 2 2016

1. Brief Description of the Project and its

Outcomes
Whilst on placement at Essendon Keilor College (EKC) I was able to find a major gap in their school curriculum.
There is no formal Information Technology curriculum currently in place. EKC has three campuses, two for Years
7-9 and one that is for the VCE Years 10-12.
For a school that has multiple campuses, teaching the same year levels, it is vital that they have a consistent
cross-campus curriculum, that way when students are merged together at the senior campus from year levels 10
and, they are on a level playing field (they have been taught the same content). They currently do this with all
other core subjects, such as Mathematics, English and Humanities, but not with any of the elective subjects such
as Information Technology or Music. By implementing a formal curriculum, it will allow teachers to be able to
follow a structured plan and know what they are teaching each lesson and how it fits in with the current Victorian
Curriculum at a VCE level. Drawing up an IT curriculum that focuses on teaching students content in which will
aid their learning in the VCE year levels will mean that students will learn and react in a much more positive
manner as they will feel this subject has value and structure, and in turn will ideally draw upon more students
continuing on with studying Information Technology into VCE.
Current IT academic staff are just teaching what they feel like and there is no consistency between campuses
and no relevance to the Victorian Curriculum, this makes it extremely difficult for students wanting to peruse this
subject study at a VCE level as they havent been taught the proper background prior to what is expected by the
Victorian Curriculum once they begin studying it in Year 11 and 12. By implementing a structured course,
students will be more engaged on the whole, and will notice that what they are learning will have some value and
worth for them to continue IT studies, in this era, more so than previously, IT is plays a major role in todays
society and students should be taking full advantage of learning as much about it as possible.
Another benefit of implementing a structured IT cross-campus curriculum will mean if a teacher is absent for a
class, substitute teachers will know what is to be taught, or what topics are on the list to be taught, just like with
Mathematics, English, Humanities, it ensures that no classes are being wasted if teachers are absent from
school there is structure to the class.

2. Provide evidence of how project aims were

met or not met and why with reference to
relevant educational theory / or literature or
policy cited in the plan.
As a result of this Applied Curriculum Project the expected outcome is that Essendon Keilor College will have a
cross campus Year 9 Information Technology curriculum that is consistent with each other.
This newly developed curriculum will be at available and ready for implementation at the commencement of the
school year in 2017. Developing this formal cross-campus curriculum will enable teachers from both campuses
to teach the same content allowing students to be on a level playing field once they move into the Senior
campus in Year 10. It is expected to aid and improve the fluency between the transition of students learning IT in
Year 9 and wanting to continue this subject at the Senior campus in Years 10, 11 and hopefully 12.
By implementing this formal curriculum, it will eventually lead to an increase in the number of students choosing
to study Information Technology at a Year 12 level at Essendon Keilor College.

Stephanie Kondogonis s4539237

ACP Report Semester 2 2016

3. Comment on progress according to your Action

Plan and advise of any changes to this plan and
the reasons for any changes.
Task / Sub Task

By Whom

By When

Actual Completed
Date

Check current curriculum in place - Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

15th May 2016

15th May 2016

Interview current IT academic staff and note what

they are dissatisfied with and what changes they
would like to see within the current teaching plan for
Year 9 Information Technology - Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

30th May 2016

30th May 2016

Gather sub data from current IT academic staff

what they have taught in previous years, what they
are teaching currently - Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

25th June 2016

27th June 2016

Compare this data to current IT Victorian Curriculum

standards and what is expected of students by the
VCE levels and create a relevance table, what is
relevant keep, what is not, exclude from implementing
into the new curriculum - Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

5th July 2016

5th July 2016

Make a brief plan of the overview of the content in

which you wish to include for the semester over which
Information Technology is taught at the EKC Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

15th July 2016

18th July 2016

Set up a meeting with current academic staff to

demonstrate the new curriculum content to which you
think should be taught, gather any views, opinions on
what staff think of this new curriculum and take not of
their opinions ensure they understand what they are
to be teaching as well. Incomplete I was unable to
set up a meeting with them.

Stephanie
Kondogonis

1st August 2016

Nill

Go back to writing up the new curriculum according to

the Victorian Curriculum standards and include or
remove any wanted or unwanted content by current
IT staff according to our previous meeting.
Completed instead of IT staff input I used my
mentor teachers input instead as I was unable to
meet up with IT staff.

Stephanie
Kondogonis

15th August 2016

15th August 2016

Final meeting with my mentor instead of IT staff as

they were still unavailable, I showed my mentor the
final Year 9 Information Technology cross-campus
curriculum developed. Completed

Stephanie
Kondogonis

5th September 2016

6th September 2016

Stephanie Kondogonis s4539237

ACP Report Semester 2 2016

4. Evaluate the success or otherwise of the

outcomes with reference to the evaluation
methodology described in the plan.
There are a number of ways in which I evaluated the success of my project. The project needed to meet a
number of criteria along the process stages and that ultimately decided whether the project met its aims.
My project was successful with respect to drawing up a plan for the content in which is to be taught over one
semester to Year 9 students studying IT. I was able to clearly write up a curriculum plan that directly related to
VELS and what is expected of students at that level. The content I included in the curriculum plan allowed
students to be better prepared for what they would learn if they were to continue IT at a VCE level. The only part
of my project that didnt go according to plan was the issues I had directly contact IT staff members and getting
their input and approval in relation to the content I was putting together. The project was aimed at being
implemented within the curriculum as of 2017, so this meant that I was unable to test how well what I had placed
together worked, as well as not being able to speak directly with those IT teachers meant that I am unsure as to
whether the content will be implemented into the teaching curriculum as of 2017, but apart from this, I know from
my mentors point of view and mine that the curriculum content I placed together for this project would be very
beneficial to the students wanting to study IT in year 9.

5. Professional Skills Utilised

Describe how each of the 5, or more, professional skills nominated in your plan were used / applied during the ACP.
Tick box

Professional skill

Action

Planning

I was able to plan with the current IT staff how they wanted to proceed in
regards to the implementation and development of the IT curriculum. Working
as a group we were able to decide on certain aspects that needed to be
included from the current IT Victorian Curriculum and what they felt were the
necessities to include in the one semester block Year 9 students had in taking
IT as an elective subject.

Negotiating

I was able to negotiate with the current IT teachers at EKC in relation to what
specific IT content should be taught during the teaching of Year 9 content.
Negotiating was a little difficult at times as certain teachers werent confident
with teaching various aspects of the IT curriculum where as other teachers
were competent at this, so there were times where we had to meet in the
middle in order to satisfy teachers education needs.

Project management

I needed to ensure I have thoroughly thought through the various process in

developing and implementing this new curriculum.

Problem solving

Team work

I was unable to work with IT staff as they were very rarely available and onsite,
this made my work quite difficult, I was able to work with my mentor closely as
she understood how hard I was finding it to communicate with IT staff to get
their insights into the project. Together we were able to come up with content
for the project and finish the project by working together.

Time management

I had to time manage my tasks and the project in order to get it done in time.
Even though I wasnt able to meet up with IT staff and get their opinions on the
project as it went along, I was able to still hit my goals in relation to getting the
project done on time.

Evaluating

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ACP Report Semester 2 2016

Communicating

I had to communicate with certain staff members in relation to what contents

were needing to be covered throughout the Year 9 IT curriculum. This ended up
not being possible due to teachers being unavailable to talk with, so I had to
look at current content and what VELS recommends and mould the two.

Researching

I needed to research what the Victorian curriculum recommends of students

achievement for year 9 level (there are no specifics but general) and then what
they are expected to learn in year 11/12 and then I had to mould those
concepts into the year 9 curriculum at EKC.

Reporting

Section B:

Mentor teacher (for ACP) to complete

Please comment on the professional skills displayed by the pre-service teacher in the completion of the project.

SIGNATURES
Pre-service teacher: Stephanie Kondogonis

DATE
12th September 2016

Mentor teacher (for ACP): Cassandra Brock

8th September 2016

School Pre-service Teacher Coordinator: Cassandra Brock

8th September 2016