Present a summary of developing a digital outcome

Digital Technologies | Level 2 | AS 91899 (2.10) | 3 Credits 

*** In 2025 this DCAT will only be available to run in Term 3 Week 9; between Monday 8th and Friday 12th September 2025 ***

This DCAT requires students to present a summary of developing a digital outcome, including the outcome its requirements and implications along with decisions made in the development process.

Giving an overview of the whole process whilst giving some specific examples is key to being sucessful. 

From the NZQA 91899 Assessment Specifications 2025:

This external is a Digital Technologies (DT) common assessment tasks (CATs) and is completed online. This DCAT asks you to respond to a series of prompts or questions drawn from the achievement standards.

You should aim to write between 800 and 1500 words in total, in about 1.5hrs.

In each following year, the questions, prompts and range of samples may change.

Candidates must present a summary of developing a digital outcome. The digital outcome must have been developed by the candidate, within the past 12 months.

Except as stated below, only work directly keyed by the candidate into their computer or device during the assessment session will be used in the assessment response.

The candidate will not use hard-copy course resources or online resources, or notes of any type, to complete this assessment. The candidate will not access internet resources, except the CAT and the outcome (if the outcome is web-based or saved on the internet).

Digital outcomes developed in an electronics context: in addition, candidates may access digital copies of schematics and digital images of the outcome produced during the development of the outcome.

Questions will require the candidate to discuss:

• the process of developing the digital outcome, including researching, designing, testing, getting and using feedback, and evaluating

• decisions made during the development of the digital outcome, which may relate to:

  • • the choice of tools and techniques

    • consultation with subject-matter experts

    • testing and trialling with particular people or groups.

• the digital outcome that was developed, and what could have been different based on experiences. 

• (Explanatory Note 4).

The discussion will require candidates to focus on how the aesthetics, functionality, cultural and / or ethical, sustainability and / or future-proofing, usability, and end-user considerations were considered during development of the digital outcome.  

• (Explanatory note 5).

Candidates must prepare THREE images in advance to include in the assessment:

• a single image of the digital outcome (e.g. a website, a magazine spread, an electronic device)

• a single sample image showing a relevant digital component of the outcome in the software used to create it, for example: o the HTML / CSS for a website in a text editor (e.g. VS Code, Notepad++)

  1. • the ‘layers’ view of a vector or raster graphic (e.g. in Inkscape / Illustrator, GIMP / Photoshop)

     • the source code for controlling an electronic device (e.g. in Arduino C, PBasic) o the CAD / CAM file for a 3D model (e.g. in Blender, Fusion 360, SketchUp)

     • the source code for an application in a suitable text editor (e.g. VS Code, Replit). 

• a single image of their development process (e.g. agile development, a planning chart). 

The school may be required to provide a link to the candidate’s digital outcome.

By saving an assessment response at the end of the assessment session, the candidate verifies the work is their own. NZQA may digitally sample the candidate’s work to test its authenticity. 

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. For the DCATs there is some quite specific detail which is worth reading through to help support students with not only this exam but their level 2 project. 

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 be working at Level 7 of the curriculum, and in their projects they need to do more than simply use existing online generation tools and platforms to put together an outcome. They should, for example, be writing their own code, creating their own logos, taking their own photographs, and creating their own media content. They are not expected to create the whole digital outcome from scratch but some component of the project should be authentic.

• Candidates who completed a digital outcome at this level were able to find success in this standard and those who attained a higher grade had a project that had depth that allowed them to show their knowledge, understanding and process to meet the requirements. Repetition was often seen where projects were not at this level.

• Candidates who worked as part of a team / group should ensure their report focuses clearly on the digital component they individually contributed to the project.

• When the candidate has produced a physical outcome, they need to make sure they discuss the digital component of it.

• The development process can include research, design and the development, or just the ‘sprints’ of the development. 

• Some candidates wrote about a project that mainly covered the requirements of the standard. The project should have a range of aspects and the achievement standard criteria should fall out of the project if done the right way

• Candidates need to write specifically about the digital outcome, especially the requirements, rather than simply generalising in regards to conventions, testing, feedback etc. without giving specific information about what eventuated and the decisions that were made.

• Teachers and candidates need to understand what is meant by “explain”, “address”, “discuss” and “evaluate”.

Assessment Reports, Assessment Schedules, Exemplars (and the blank exam)

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

Task 3 - Sort out your Images (required)

You need to prepare THREE images in advance to include in the assessment and make sure they are READABLE:

• a single image of the digital outcome (e.g. a website; a 3D model; an electronic device, the dinosaur toy etc)

  If you have an outcome with multiple pages put together a montage with 2/3 pages i.e. home & gallery page

• a single image of the planning process (e.g. agile development; a planning chart)

  pick a key stage or like above a montage

• a single image of the digital components of the outcome (e.g. the HTML / CSS for a website; the “layers” view of image editing; the code for an electronic device, the working file of a 3D model like Blender/Inkscape/Fusion360).

as above pick some of the key parts, don't put pages and pages of code

Should be saved as JPG or PNG file formats

How to do this

If you need to show a couple for each:

• Use this google Slide to help you make a montage (read the help comments and then make a copy)

• Insert the images in

• Snipping tool each 'montage' giving you a total of 3 files

Once you have the images:

• Save these images (3 max) in your H-drive in a folder called DCAT Images

• At the start of the exam you will drag and drop this folder onto the desktop