SACE Stage 2 Information Processing and Publishing key terms

Tasks set and marked by the student's own school, such as assignments, practicals and tests, which contribute evidence of achievement against the subject's performance standards.

Assessment set and marked outside the school, usually by the subject authority, used to compare students against statewide standards and weight the final subject grade.

Published descriptions of the quality of learning expected at each grade level, used to judge how well a student has met the subject requirements.

The specific qualities or features of student work that markers look for, such as accuracy, depth of analysis, or quality of communication.

A scoring guide that lists the criteria for a task and describes the levels of quality for each criterion, so marks are awarded consistently.

A document for assessors that explains how to allocate marks to a specific task, including acceptable answers, evidence required and rules for partial credit.

The process of checking and adjusting marks across classes or schools so that judgments are fair, consistent and comparable between different assessors.

Brief written notes by an assessor on a student's work explaining why particular marks were awarded, providing evidence for moderation and feedback.

Ongoing checks of learning during a unit that give feedback to guide improvement, usually without contributing heavily to the final grade.

Assessment at the end of a learning period that measures achievement for reporting or grading purposes rather than for immediate improvement.

Information given to a student about the strengths and weaknesses of their work, ideally specific and actionable so it can improve future performance.

Acting honestly in assessment by submitting your own work, acknowledging sources, and not fabricating data or helping others to cheat.

Presenting someone else's words, ideas, images or data as your own without proper acknowledgement, whether copied deliberately or by careless omission.

Citing the sources you used in a consistent style, both within the text and in a reference list, so readers can locate the original material.

A list of all sources consulted during research, placed at the end of a document, which may include works not directly cited in the text.

A short in-text reference identifying the source of a quotation, statistic or idea, linking to fuller details in the reference list.

Legal rights over creations of the mind, such as text, images, software and designs, which limit how others may copy or reuse them.

The legal protection that gives creators control over copying, publishing and adapting their work for a set period, subject to exceptions such as fair dealing.

A set of standard public licences that let creators share work while keeping some rights, such as requiring attribution or banning commercial use.

A formal permission setting out how a product, image or piece of software may be used, copied or distributed, often with conditions attached.

How easily and effectively people can use a product to achieve their goals, covering learnability, efficiency, error tolerance and satisfaction.

Designing products so people with disabilities or limited technology can perceive, operate and understand them, for example through captions, contrast and keyboard navigation.

The parts of a product a person sees and interacts with, including layout, menus, buttons, text and feedback, which shape the overall experience.

An approach that studies the needs, tasks and limitations of real users and involves them in testing, so the final product suits its audience.

A simple outline of a screen or page showing the placement of headings, text, images and navigation, without detailed styling or colour.

An early working model of a product built to test ideas and gather feedback before full development, ranging from paper sketches to interactive versions.

A visual representation of a design showing colours, fonts and imagery close to the final appearance, used to confirm look and feel with clients.

A written statement agreed with a client that defines the problem, target audience, purpose, constraints and success criteria for a product.

A detailed list of what a system or product must do, including functional needs, performance limits, constraints and acceptance tests.

A judgment of how well a finished product meets its brief and user needs, supported by evidence such as test results, user feedback and comparison with criteria.

The accuracy, completeness and consistency of stored data over its life, protected by validation, backups and controlled access.

Automatic checking that entered data is reasonable and follows rules, such as a date being in range or a required field being filled.

Checking that data has been transferred or entered correctly by comparing it with the original source or by asking the user to confirm it.

The category of values a field can hold, such as text, number, date or Boolean, which determines how the data is stored and what operations are allowed.

An organised collection of related data stored so it can be searched, updated and reported on efficiently, often managed by database software.

A field or combination of fields that uniquely identifies each record in a table and cannot contain duplicate or empty values.

A field in one table that refers to the primary key of another table, creating a link between the two and enforcing referential integrity.

One complete set of related fields about a single entity, such as all the details held about one customer in a table.

A single item of data within a record, such as a surname or postcode, with a defined name, type and size.