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Date	November 2019	Marks available	2	Reference code	19N.1.SL.TZ0.3
Level	SL	Paper	1	Time zone	no time zone
Command term	Identify	Question number	3	Adapted from	N/A

Question

Online learning

TailorEd is a free online learning system that personalizes students’ learning by providing teachers with data about how students are progressing in their courses. Students create a personal profile and work through the assignments at their own pace. Teachers can log in to the learning system to see how the students are progressing. However, concerns have been expressed about the amount of data that is being collected.

The school has found that when students access the course platform, some content is being blocked. The network administrator has been asked to investigate the situation. Teachers believe that it would be more appropriate to train the students to use the platform responsibly, rather than use technology to block their access to certain websites.

Identify two ways how the TailorEd system could provide feedback to students.

[2]

a.i.

Identify two ways how the data collected about students’ academic progress could be used by TailorEd.

[2]

a.ii.

Outline how a firewall functions.

[2]

a.iii.

There are two possible methods for ensuring students use the TailorEd online learning system responsibly. They are:

restricting access to sites that may be considered inappropriate
educating the students about acceptable use.

Analyse these two methods.

[6]

To what extent do the benefits of collecting students’ academic progress data outweigh the concerns of the students, teachers and parents?

[8]

Markscheme

Answers may include:

Graphics/text on the screen
Sent by email to the student
Haptic feedback on correct answers in a mobile version
Notifications in a mobile app
By awarding badges
Chat/chatbot

Award [1] for identifying each way the TailorEd system could provide feedback to students up to maximum of [2].

a.i.

Answers may include:

To send students advertisements of relevant educational material
To ascertain the effectiveness of the lessons
To adapt the tasks to the students’ abilities
To offer tutoring if students fail a particular unit
To share with universities and aid candidate selection
To give opportunities to high scoring students
To keep parents informed

Award [1] for identifying each way the data collected about students’ academic progress could be used by TailorEd up to maximum of [2].

a.ii.

Answers may include:

Monitors incoming and outgoing traffic.
Acts like a filter between the computer and the internet.
Blocks specific ports / IP addresses / protocols / words or phrases.
Either allows traffic to pass through the firewall or not based on a set of predetermined rules.

Award [1] for identifying the basic function of a firewall and [1] for a development of the initial idea up to maximum of [2].

a.iii.

Answers may include:

Reasons for restricting access to sites that may be considered inappropriate:

To stop students going to websites they shouldn’t (power).
To ensure the school’s bandwidth is used for education rather than for other purposes (systems).
To protect students from dangers on the web / some inappropriate sites appear without warning and they are hard to avoid (values).
Parents may be happier knowing the filtering technology is in place as it will restrict access for younger students who cannot filter for themselves (systems).

Reasons for educating students about acceptable use:

The students learn to take responsibility for their actions, as this will be a skill they will need outside school (values).
Students will always find ways to circumvent the filters applied by the school (systems).
Who decides what will be blocked? Learning may be constricted by the use of a white list (power).

Keywords: education, training, relationships, trust, wisdom, judgement, expression, identity, power, systems, ethics, values

Answers may include:

Benefits of collecting students’ progress data:

The data collected can be tailored to provide more individualized learning for the student.
Automation may allow the student’s progress to be reported back to the teacher/parent on a more regular basis and in a more standardized format.
The school is able to use the data to identify trends and patterns that may not be immediately obvious and use this data-driven approach to improve the performance of its teachers and students.
This information can be used by the students when applying for jobs or even for further education.

Concerns of the students, teachers and parents:

They may not know what data is being collected, stored and/or disseminated (values, power).
They may not know the degree to which the identity of the student is anonymized (values).
There may be a purely data-driven / quantitative approach to the use of the student data, which may lead to a narrowing of the teaching to ensure short-term targets are met at the expense of the whole learning experience / the judgement and intuition of teachers is not valued (values, power).
Large amounts of teachers’ time may be taken up with the collection and entering of this data into the TailorEd database (values).
Purchasing the TailorEd system may not be cost-effective, as it may involve staff training costs or the employment of staff to enter the data (values).

In part (c) of this question it is expected there will be a balance between the terminology related to digital systems and the terminology related to social and ethical impacts.

Keywords: education, trust, wisdom, quantitative, qualitative, judgement, accountability, security, monitoring, power, systems, ethics, values

Refer to SL/HL paper 1, part c markbands when awarding marks. These can be found under the "Your tests" tab > supplemental materials > Digital society markbands and guidance document.

Examiners report

[N/A]

a.i.

[N/A]

a.ii.

[N/A]

a.iii.

[N/A]

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Topic 3: Content » 3.1 Data

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