Software Design and Development (2 Unit) - Course will be discontinued at the end of 2024 (replaced with 2 Unit Software Engineering)

General Overview

Teacher - Mr Michael Cusack

Software Design and Development focuses on the whole process of designing and making software. This involves studying aspects of:

• Defining and Understanding: where we establish what is required and what the software should achieve
• Planning and Designing: determining how to solve the problem, how to make the software and how it will look
• Implementation: where the program is actually built using a chosen programming language
• Testing and Evaluating: where we carefully test the solution to ensure that it meets requirements
• Maintenance: where necessary fixes, changes and enhancements are dealt with.

Students will learn about computer systems, how they relate to software and how people are affected. Students learn about a number of documentation and modeling tools, associated with project management. Students will be introduced to the Visual Basic Express programming environment (as a beginner) and apply it both to theoretical concepts as well as practical projects.

The Preliminary course deals with these topics and includes two practical projects which make up 20% of the Preliminary assessment mark.

The HSC course expands on these topics in more detail and includes two practical projects that make up 50% of the HSC assessment mark.

The course involves substantial amounts of reading, attention to detail, note taking and logical thinking. The programming component takes up approximately 25% of your time.

In this online learning environment you will need to be very organised and self motivated. The course requires you to spend approximately seven hours per week (including time at school and at home).

At the conclusion of the HSC course, students should be able to:
•    Progress into university Information Technology/ Computing or Software Engineering courses with a good foundation for further study.
•    Progress into TAFE with credit in some courses.

Students will have gained project management and problem solving skills that will enable them to adapt to new software and hardware systems as they evolve in the future as well as create software to solve real world needs. They will also be able to reflect on the social and ethical implications of software development and implementation.

How will I be assessed?

In the Preliminary Course: assessment includes weekly assignments and quizzes as well as formal tests and practical projects.

In the HSC Course: assessment involves a series of formal tests, the trial HSC exam and practical projects which contribute 50%.

To view the formal course structure and syllabus, please visit the NESA website:

Career Options

How will this course help me in the future?

On completion of this course you will have advanced skills and knowledge to approach university or TAFE computing and many other computing courses leading to career options such as:

• Web Designer
• Database Analyst
• Application Designer
• Sotware Architect
• Computer Systems Analyst
• Programmer

The analytical, logical thinking and teamwork skills developed are applicable to many other areas of work and research.

The additional experience gained in an online learning environment will enable you to work in similar environments in the future and you will have acquired valuable independent learning skills.