how is your teacher/class for this sub? (1 Viewer)

[p4e81]

im kinda worried about this subject as i find it as the least productive out of all my electives ~_~

for most lessons, my teacher just give us some seems-like-useless activities with vb6 (eg. make a program that counts the number of words u put into a textbox etc) and rarely teaches us theory stuff. and when we actually start to learn something useful in the lesson, it only takes about 10 to 20 minutes till we are congratulated for our 'good work' and free time is given for the rest of the period.

many ppl say sdd is a sub where students must have the ability to learn independently but the way my teacher is "teaching" is freaking me out.

how's your sdd class like? i hope im not alone here.

 

[hypernewbie]

no man, you're not alone.

sdd is a total waste of time. over the 2 years i spent on it, my time would be better spent smelling bricks. the actual stuff you learn over that time you can get over 5 mins reading tutorials on the net. the rest?

i can write a whole essay about how bad this topic really is. sdd and it are corrupt. face it.

but look on the bright side, your teacher actually does something with vb6 for you guys.

its not about programming at all. its just a competition of who can buzztalk the best. The advanced implementation of this systematic system of user systems has a systematic synergetic feel of web 2.0 with advanced seamless integration into blah blah blah blah...

as the actual programming, it counts NOTHING. for the big project, some team made quizmaker 2006. hardcoded.

cout<<"whats 1+1?";cin>>a;if(a==2){cout<<"good";}else{cout<<"bad";}

and me, my friend+me, made a tankwarz game. it was in complete 3d using OpenGLwith textures, simple lighting, basic height mapping, basic models, and in fact towards the end it was even networked (although buggy...damn i suck at networking). guess what? yep, the quizmaster got a better mark because they had better "documentation".

i think i'll stop ranting now.

edit: oh yeh...the tankwarz also had a particle engine and simple physics

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8599/untitledma2.jpg

 

[philz]

my sdd class rocks.

all i do is download crap onto my usb so i dont use my bandwidth at home, and play my psp while waiting for them to dl.
i love those 1mb+ download speeds =)

oh, i still got 93 for my yearly mark, so dont think i suck at sdd or anything .. its just that listening to the teacher drone on about 'how make a bubble sort algorithm IN PSEUDOCODE' is kind of dull after already having done that two years ago.

oh, and i rate the teacher about 8/10 due to the fact that he has the mentality 'you may do whatever you want in class, but remember, if you fail, its not my fault that you didnt listen'. that is seriously the best logic ive heard from any teacher.

 

[ricometa]

my software teacher sucks crap !!!
he cant teach and he talks all lesson and he sends us out and shit for no reason
cause hes a fag and takes it up the ass

 

[bishoujosamurai]

You do know that 50% of class time should be dedicated to your Major Assignment. It's up to you if you want to use that time or not...
It seems like a total waste of time, but it's really not.

My teacher is weird...

 

[live.fast]

sdd

 

[Foxtel]

My teacher doesn't teach at all -- well, he knows his stuff, tries to teach, but nobody listens anyway. My class is full of dumbasses.

See my problem?

 

[Gecko]

My teacher is pretty decent - the guy who wrote the Excel text book (which is great for when we find mistakes in there....).

 

[bboundy]

Our teacher is awesome. He knows heaps about mysql (we did php and mysql) so whenever we have problems, it takes him about 20 seconds to fix them.
He is also the radio unit CO (we do cadets) of which i am a part of, and he again knows what he's doing. Probably the only guy I know that will explain amazon.com in terms of whiteboard markers.

 

[daz89]

Programming is really the only thing that your teacher needs to teach you. In terms of the theory in SDD all of it is pretty easy and can be self-taught. With that said, a good teacher will still take you through it, and go over tricky parts, for example the various diagrams and option topic stuff.

My class of 4 is very laid back. We have a great teacher, although he has neglected a lot of the simple theory instead focusing on tricky things, particularly the hardware option. It hurt in the pre-trials where the lack of knowledge really showed in our marks marks, but come trials we all realised its not difficult to read through the textbook and understand the theory on our own and as a result we all did pretty well.

 

[Tomotron]

sdd is based on common knowledge except for algorithms and if u think its a waste of time start looking at the past papers when it asks u to do an 8marker on an algorithm

fair enough, but this course is f**ked up. i thought we would actually make programs... forgive me if i'm wrong, but Software Design & Development comes across as creating programs.

yeah there's a lot of theory to it, but it doesn't mean there is no practical work, which is what happens with our class. we have made like 2 VERY SIMPLE programs in the 2 years we have done the course. one of those times, we had to be given the code to put in, because after a year and a half, still no-one knew how to make one simple program.

SDD SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Crowella]

Unfortuantly, I seem to be in the same boat as some here, and I have a teacher that seems to have no clue as to what he is doing. We simply read the text book, and just do the exercises at the end. It's pretty embarrasing when we have to explain what things are to him.

Doing programs are frustrating, as he knows nothing about Visual Basic 2005, and we (only a class of 3), are often left stranded for help on the internet. Thankfully, I scraped together my minor assignment fairly well, and want to keep it going for my major. Only problem is, he still won't speak to the IT guys at school about our constant security nags that prevent us from making software in the first place on the PC's at school, so our assignments are almost completely done from home.

I will say though, that even without a good teacher, the course is simple to follow, and to get 91% in my Preliminary exam, I do feel quite content. Also, after looking at previous HSC exams, the theory doesn't seem too challenging.

 

[BlazifeX]

Its kinda hard when it comes to my class seeing as its so damn big for an SDD class. It would be fine if the majority of people were actually interested in doing to course, but only about 4 of the 15 or so students in the class actually enjoy it :S

My teacher is cool though, he makes sure the ones that actually want to learn get what they need, and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to coding as well, so it all balances out in the end really.

 

[Knowingnothing]

Worst HSC decision I've made, picking SDD.

 

[BlazifeX]

Worst HSC decision I've made, picking SDD.

Figured you'd make an account just to bag out SDD without any reason behind what you said eh? Good stuff manses.

 

[Knowingnothing]

Figured you'd make an account just to bag out SDD without any reason behind what you said eh? Good stuff manses.

Actually it was just an irony that was my first post. Made for other reasons too.

SDD is boring as hell, not exactly the type of subject that most people in the class expected and our teacher is so lifeless. Most of us would've wanted to change to Economics and we have like no idea how to programme. Only thing our class can hope for us most of us get around the 80 zone for the test.

 

[Deadly-Bagel]

My teacher is pretty decent - the guy who wrote the Excel text book (which is great for when we find mistakes in there....).

Mr Lancaster(sp?)? He's currently teaching at our school. He's not my teacher, but he's supposed to be checking in on a few of our classes.

And who said you're supposed to spend 50% of your time on your major assessment? The BoS recommends to teachers to spend 20% of lessons on practical and 80% on theory. Your major project is supposed to be done in your own time. The fact that we actually get 50% practical lessons, most of which are spent on our project, is irrelevant =P

I've got a pretty sweet teacher. SDD is my favourite subject, and looking at the rest of you, I'm probably going to go quite well in it.

 

[Sandchairs]

I think the actual syllabus for SDD is the most confusing part. i was trying to make notes but it couldn't be much more vague than it already is.
Its also too theory based and doesn't give the people who excel at programing a chance to shine. for example every programing assessment we have had i got 99 or 100 every theory assessment i get about 70-80 on a good day.
the major project should be more programing and less analyzing why you chose to make whatever as your major and its effects on society.

 

[kennyboy93]

SDD is alright, as long as you have a decent teacher, or at least one that doesn't restrict you to what is in the syllabus.

And with the major assignment, I agree with the guy who posted above me.
The major project focuses far to much on everything around the project itself, and no matter how much work and brilliance you put into it, you will always get crap marks if you don't analyse every insignificant detail around it.

*stops self from writing massive post*

-ken

 

[sbhandula]

My SDD teacher sucks, she doesn't know anything, I haven't learnt anything all year and she is super disorganised, and then she lies. She marks us down for things she hasn't told us to do! And my whole SDD class is failing! BAH, does any one have an SDD tutor or something they can offer us? Cos at this rate i see myself failing the HSC.