Internal assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for both SL and HL students. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations. The internal assessment should, as far as possible, be woven into normal classroom teaching and not be a separate activity conducted after a course has been taught.
The internal assessment requirements at SL and at HL are the same. However, these requirements contribute to a different percentage of the overall mark. Students are required to produce a solution that consists of a cover page, the product and the documentation. The focus of the solution is on providing either an original product or additional functionality to an existing product for a client.
The internal assessment component (solution), as well as being practical and productive, forms an important part of the assessment of the computer science course. It is imperative, therefore, that the teacher provides appropriate guidance to students.
The solution submitted for internal assessment must be the student’s own work. However, it is not the intention that students should decide upon a title or topic and be left to work on the internal assessment component without any further support from the teacher. The teacher should play an important role during both the planning stage and the period when the student is working on the internally assessed work. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that students are familiar with:
Teachers and students must discuss the internally assessed work. Students should be encouraged to initiate discussions with the teacher to obtain advice and information, and students must not be penalized for seeking guidance. However, if a student could not have completed the work without substantial support from the teacher, this should be recorded on the appropriate form from the Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme.
It is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that all students understand the basic meaning and significance of concepts that relate to academic honesty, especially authenticity and intellectual property. Teachers must ensure that all student work for assessment is prepared according to the requirements and must explain clearly to students that the internally assessed work must be entirely their own.
As part of the learning process, teachers can give advice to students on a first draft of the internally assessed work. This advice should be in terms of the way the work could be improved, but this first draft must not be heavily annotated or edited by the teacher. The next version handed to the teacher after the first draft must be the final one.
All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher, and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed malpractice. Each student must sign the coversheet for internal assessment to confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work to a teacher (or the coordinator) for internal assessment, together with the signed coversheet, it cannot be retracted.
Authenticity may be checked by discussion with the student on the content of the work, and scrutiny of one or more of the following:
The requirement for teachers and students to sign the coversheet for internal assessment applies to the work of all students, not just the sample work that will be submitted to an examiner for the purpose of moderation. If the teacher and student sign a coversheet, but there is a comment to the effect that the work may not be authentic, the student will not be eligible for a mark in that component and no grade will be awarded. For further details refer to the IB publication Academic honesty and the relevant articles in the General regulations: Diploma Programme.
The same piece of work cannot be submitted to meet the requirements of both the internal assessment and the extended essay.
The development of the solution must be undertaken by the student on an individual basis. Collaborative or group work may not be undertaken by students.
It is recommended that a total of approximately 30 teaching hours for both SL and HL should be allocated to the work.
This should include:
Additional time may be needed outside normal class time for students to work independently, such as acquiring additional skills required for the project and consulting with other people.
Teachers and students will need to discuss issues relating to the design of the product, the collection of data and consultations with others. Students should be encouraged to initiate discussions with the teacher to obtain advice and information, and will not be penalized for seeking advice.
Given the nature of the project, students must take into account ethical problems and implications for undertaking research and developing the solution, for example, ensuring the confidentiality and security of data. Wherever possible, original data should be used or be collected by the student.
The following guidelines must be applied.
Teachers should refer to the Ethical practice in the Diploma Programme poster for further guidance.
Schools are advised to follow local best practice in health and safety for research linked to the development of the solution. Each school is ultimately responsible for the health and safety of students.
Students must produce a solution that includes supporting documentation up to a maximum of 2,000 words. If the word limit is exceeded, the teacher’s assessment of the documentation must be based on the first 2,000 words.
Work that falls significantly beneath the stated word count is unlikely to fully meet the stated requirements of the task and is likely to receive low marks.
For internal assessment, a number of assessment criteria have been identified. Each assessment criterion has level descriptors describing specific levels of achievement together with an appropriate range of marks. The level descriptors concentrate on positive achievement, although for the lower levels failure to achieve may be included in the description.
Teachers must judge the internally assessed work at SL and at HL against the criteria using the level descriptors.
Duration: 30 hours Weighting at SL: 30% Weighting at HL: 20%
The requirement of the internal assessment is to develop a solution for a specified client to a specified problem or an unanswered question.
The solution is assessed using five criteria.
The term “solution” refers to all the work submitted by the student for the internal assessment; the term “product” refers to the completed software only. The product is a subset of the solution.
The terms “developer” and “student” are synonymous.
The term “client” refers to the person for whom the product is being developed. The student may also be the client.
The term “adviser” refers to a third party the student must identify to assist him or her in the development of the product.
There are three scenarios for the development of the product.
In identifying a problem, students can select any topic that interests them. It does not have to be directly related to the specified themes in the syllabus or to the option studied.
Students should undertake a challenging task using appropriate techniques to showcase their algorithmic thinking and organizational skills.
The solution may take one of these forms:
It is essential that whatever form the solution takes it ensures the student can explicitly demonstrate and document his or her algorithmic thinking skills.
Examples are illustrated in the teacher support material.
It should be noted that products created using templates that show no evidence of modification in their structure, design or functionality are not permitted. Examples of inappropriate products include:
Students will need to work closely with the adviser throughout the development of the solution. Therefore it is recommended that wherever possible, students select an adviser who is known to them or their family. This could include members of the school community, local clubs or businesses.
The internal assessment consists of three parts:
1. A cover page
3.1 The video must be in a commonly used format such as .avi or .wmv. All three of these must be submitted digitally for moderation.
Instructions for the submission of student work can be found in the Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme.
Students should aim to develop a product that uses appropriate (complex) techniques, is fully functional and allows the moderator, if possible, access to its complete internal structure.
The moderator must be able to see the product functioning as a video. The video should address the success criteria stated in the planning criterion.
Any text within the product is not included in the overall word count for the solution.
This information must be read in conjunction with that in the “Organization of documentation” section.
A zip file is available on the OCC that contains the cover page and templates required for submitting the solution.
The final documentation consists of:
• Information added to the Record of tasks form and in the information linked to the design overview
The information added must be in the following style(s):
– other styles of non-extended writing or diagrammatic representation such as flow charts, Gantt charts or spider diagrams where appropriate.
Internal assessment
If the student includes extended writing, the words will be included in the word count and the student will self-penalize if the total number of words in the documentation exceeds 2,000.
The Record of tasks form in the zip file must be used.
• A series of documents that use text (extended writing) that:
This should be the only information that is included in the word count and it must not exceed 2,000 words. It is recommended that the blank files in the zip file are used for the documentation.
• Appendix/appendices that show, if appropriate, any additional information such as:
Organization of documentation The documentation must be located in the Documentation folder. It is associated with assessment criteria A—E and any additional material in the appendices of this guide.
The table below indicates the content and nature of each of the files and the criterion that it relates to.
Document | Method of submission | Criterion |
---|---|---|
Description of scenario | Extended writing | A Planning |
Rationale for the proposed product | Extended writing | A Planning |
Success criteria for product | Bullet points | A Planning |
Record of tasks | Record of tasks form | B Solution overview |
Design overview | Design overview document, for example, screenshots, flowcharts, tables, diagrams | B Solution overview |
Developing the product | Extended writing with screenshot evidence | C Development |
The functioning product | Video (2–7 minutes in length) demonstrating the product | D Functionality and extensibility of product |
Extensibility of product | Assessed through design overview and developing the product | D Functionality and extensibility of product |
A Record of tasks form in the zip file must be used for the product proposed in criterion A.
The record of tasks form addresses:
The student must submit final versions of the Record of tasks form and the design overview. However, the teacher will need to see earlier versions to determine whether the product proposed is appropriate and feasible.
The product must be compatible with the information in criterion A and criterion B.
The student must present a list of the techniques used in developing the product.
The techniques may include algorithmic thinking, data structures, software tools and user interface. This list need not be exhaustive but should illustrate how the major components of the product were developed.
The student must provide evidence of algorithmic thinking.
The information in the development documentation must provide a detailed account, using extended writing and other appropriate information, to explain the following.
Any reference material such as templates, program code, applets or other materials that have been used or modified must be acknowledged in this criterion. The code used in the product can be included in the appendix.
Criterion D: Functionality and extensibility of product
This criterion should be completed as two parts and does not require any additional written documentation.
The student must use the video to demonstrate the product functioning. This evidence will be supported, where possible, by the product on the CD-ROM/DVD or USB.