PLANNING FOR PRODUCTION (CRITERION 5) 

Learners need to provide all the information that would allow a skilled person to produce the final, developed design idea. This should include an effective order for the full sequence of operations, working drawings and a list of the materials required.

Working drawings need not necessarily be orthographic projections but they must be fully dimensioned and provide all the information required for the complete final product. 

The sequence of operations does not require learners to give detailed information on basic procedures such as marking out, cutting, simple shaping, etc., but they should include information on the more complex operations especially if these are new to them. 

You must remind learners that they have ownership of their coursework – including the manufacture of the product. Any external help outside of usual teacher / technical assistance must be acknowledged, and the marks adjusted accordingly. 

PRODUCT REALISATION (CRITERION 6) 

This is the opportunity for learners to show how they can manipulate materials to produce usable high-quality products. Clearly the product will be based on the drawings for the final developed design idea but if modifications need to be made as the manufacture progresses, these can be referred to in the final section of the folder. 

Learners should be encouraged to design products that give them the opportunity to demonstrate a range of constructions and techniques. However, in the marking of this section you will need to balance the standard achieved and the complexity of the construction being attempted. 

TESTING AND EVALUATION (CRITERION 7) 

It is important that learners test their made product in the environment for which it was designed. This can be evidenced by information and records from the testing and through photographs with comment. 

Learners must also refer to the design specification during the testing process and record comments as appropriate. A list of the specification points with ticks or crosses serves little purpose unless these are commented on in some way. 

Where the learner has worked closely with a client it is very helpful for them to be involved in the testing and evaluation stage. Their feedback is very important to the learner and will help them to formulate a final evaluation and draw meaningful conclusions for improvements or modifications. Questionnaires can serve some purpose but comments from them need to be collated and referenced to the specification and the product. 

The evaluation should include the identification of strengths and weaknesses and proposals for modifications. Modifications should ideally be demonstrated in the form of sketches and notes. Learners should avoid the temptation to use this section to comment on the project overall and describe the problems they had with materials, construction, etc. Evaluation must be of the product in use, as it performs against the specification .

Along with continuous evaluation, your learners will also need to understand how to create an evaluation of the final product. Final evaluations could include: 

• Third party feedback: Learners can gather responses from the target market, through physically testing the product, gathering opinions using social media or creating a survey. Websites like https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/ enable the learner to create a survey that they can send out via email. 

• Testing in the environment: The product should be tested in the environment for where it was intended. Learners should be able to evaluate if it is fit for purpose or needs modifications. 

• Testing against the specification: Every point of the specification should be considered with the learner explaining how they have met it, or why they have not. This could be recorded in a table. 

• Further developments: Suggestions could be made as to how the product could be developed further, either for commercial manufacture or as a response to the evaluative feedback. 

DEADLINE DATE FOR FULL SUBMISSION: on or before Friday 30th MARCH 2024