Coursework

Design Portfolio Tips

Teachers and students should make use of the following tips when completing the Design Portfolio portion of the coursework:

Prompt Sheets
Teachers should support and guide students by creating structured prompt sheets. These pre-printed sheets should outline the process of designing and also provide specific prompting. The sheets can assist students greatly in meeting all aspects of the assessment criteria and help them produce the best results.
The Brief and Specification
Students should state their intentions (the design brief) and produce a simple, but comprehensive, set of specifications. By doing this, the quality of the student’s evaluation will improve, as they will be able to refer to their specification when testing/evaluating the product.
Using Technology
  • Using ICT and digital photographic evidence enables many students to:
    • access the marks available;
    • overcome some considerable difficulties; and
    • enhance their design folders.
Additional Suggestions
  • Students can also improve their design portfolio by:
    • creating a project time plan;
    • developing initial designs before selecting the final one;
    • developing the Design Development section and ensuring that they include samples and test pieces or prototypes for assessment;
    • using colour in the Communication (sketches) section;
    • including a more critical evaluation to include modifications; and
    • attempting each section of the marking criteria.