Critique a Tech Outcome's Design

Undertake a critique of a technological outcome’s design 

GENERIC Technology | Level 3 | AS 91617 (3.10) | 4 Credits 

This is a Digitally submitted report. It needs to be submitted to NZQA by Wednesday 29th of October 2025

This Level 3 NCEA standard is all about looking closely at how a technological product has been designed and judging its quality. Students explore what “good design” means, how design ideas and values have changed over time, and what criteria people use to decide whether a design is successful.

By choosing a specific product, students learn to evaluate its design using clear criteria such as functionality, aesthetics, sustainability, or accessibility. The focus isn’t just on describing the product, but on thinking critically about the design decisions behind it and justifying their own judgments.

This standard helps students develop higher-level thinking skills, preparing them to analyse and communicate ideas about design in ways that are relevant to real-world technology, culture, and society.

From the NZQA 91617 Assessment Specifications 2025:

Reports must not exceed the equivalent of ten single-sided A4 pages but reports of fewer than ten pages are strongly recommended. Only the first ten pages will be marked if a submission exceeds this limit.

For both hard copy and digital submissions, a typeface is not prescribed but font size must be set at the rough equivalent of Arial 12. Margins should be set at roughly 2.5 cm all around (top and bottom, left and right).

--- MATERIAL IN THE REPORT ---

The material included should clearly communicate the your understanding and could include material such as:

• annotated photographic evidence of: a process, or processes, an outcome, or outcomes (including mock-ups and prototypes)

• annotated illustrations (e.g. graphics, design sketches, drawings, photographs, screenshots)

• written descriptions, explanations, and discussions

• material from research sources

• any combination of the above.

Where evidence of a your technological practice or outcome helps to demonstrate understanding, then evidence of the outcome or practice can be included. Evidence of the practice or the outcome in itself is not sufficient to demonstrate understanding.

Evidence from practice or evidence of an outcome can assist a candidate to demonstrate understanding where it is the basis for a reflection on what was done and why it was done.

Why you should look at the Assessment Report

Every year an assessment report is released to support teachers and students understand how the exam was marked. Whilst there are three distinct bullet points that are required to be met to achieve the standard, it is important that the report content should reflect the title of the Standard. The emphasis should be on the critique of a technological outcome.

We recommend reading through the whole report yourself. These are found under the different years below but here are some of the key points:

• Candidates should focus on critiquing the outcome, rather than suggesting changes, and avoid relying on overused case studies. All work must be original and distinct.

• Candidates who achieved with Excellence explained why they chose specific criteria and how the criteria fit the product, context, and target market. Candidates should avoid replacing contemporary criteria with others unless justified, as this limits opportunities to achieve higher grades.

• An understanding of contemporary judgement criteria is required for higher achievement levels. For example, addressing how such criteria reflect current societal values, ethical considerations, sustainability, user needs, or advancements in technology.

Assessment Reports, Assessment Schedules, Exemplars 

In the drop downs below you will find the Assessment Report, the Assessment Schedule and any exemplars NZQA provided

Task 1 - Read through Slides 3 - 32

Work through these slides to get an understanding of what Good Design is along with different views and judging criteria.

Task 2 - Decide on the 'product' you will critique

Ideally you will critique something that you have made this year. If you are going to chose an existing product make sure you chose something that you know very well and can write this report about in depth, more than just technical information.

Task 3 - Open the Writing Frame

This will support you with the structure of the report, it will give you some ideas of how to get started and the language you could be using. 

Task 4 - Start writing your report

You will have been given a doc to write your report in. It has some basic headings. Use this alongside the Writing Frame and the Slide Show to help you complete

Task 5 - Submit your Report

You need to export it as a PDF

Get your NSN number, just 9 digits - remove the 0 from the start if you have 10 digits

Make sure your file name is correct 0319-yourNSN-91617.pdf e.g. 0319-123456789-91617.pdf 

Open the PDF and check it looks all good and is no more than 10 pages

Upload your correctly name PDF to NZQA by

Term 4 Week 4

Monday 27th October during class period