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1 | > **DRAFT** — under teacher review. |
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| 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | # Activity — Design a Hot Cross Bun Matrix |
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| 4 | ||||||||
| 5 | The Hamilton and Alexandra College · Year 12 · 2026 |
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7 | The fastest way to learn how to *design* an evaluation matrix — and then decide **which elements of the winning design need to be developed further** — is to build one for something real and edible. CHOICE rates hot cross buns with the same discipline it rates headphones; in this activity, so will you. By the end you'll have designed, run, defended a matrix *and* produced a "further develop" list — the exact deliverable for **C4-2** and **Unit 4 Outcome 1**. |
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| 9 | [CHOICE's actual hot cross buns review-and-compare](https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/bread-cereal-and-grains/bread/review-and-compare/hot-cross-buns) is the reference matrix you're learning from. |
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| 11 | {{Video|src=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7m04xW0fzk}} |
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| 12 | ||||||||
| 13 | **🎯 Watch first:** notice the panel scores against *agreed criteria*. Your job today is to decide those criteria — and defend them. |
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| 14 | ||||||||
| 15 | --- |
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| 16 | ||||||||
| 17 | ## The challenge |
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| 18 | ||||||||
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19 | We're comparing two real CHOICE-reviewed buns — **Woolworths Bakery Chocolate** vs **Coles Finest Luxurious Fruit**. Working as a review panel, you will: |
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| 21 | 1. Design an evaluation matrix. |
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| 22 | 2. Use it to crown a winner. |
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| 23 | 3. **Decide which elements of the winning bun design need to be developed further** — including elements your matrix did *not* score. |
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| 24 | ||||||||
| 25 | That third step is the headline skill for [C4-2](/sd/C04/C4-2%20Checkpoint%20-%20Evaluation%20Matrix). It's the harder one — and the one most students skip. |
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26 | |||||||
| 27 | --- |
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| 28 | ||||||||
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29 | ## Step 1 — Pick a persona, then design the matrix *before you taste* |
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| 31 | We're not starting from scratch. CHOICE ran an actual review in March 2025 — a blind taste test of 19 supermarket and bakery buns. Two of their top picks are on the bench: |
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33 |  |
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35 | | Product | CHOICE Rating | Type | Toasted | Fresh | Buns/pack | Price/bun | |
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| 36 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |
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| 37 | | **Woolworths Bakery Chocolate** (Cadbury chips) | 95 | Chocolate | 97% | 93% | 6 | $0.73 | |
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| 38 | | **Coles Finest Luxurious Fruit** | 85 | Traditional | 83% | 87% | 4 | $1.38 | |
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| 39 | ||||||||
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40 | *Source: [CHOICE Hot Cross Buns review and compare](https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/bread-cereal-and-grains/bread/review-and-compare/hot-cross-buns), last updated 20 March 2025. Card layout, data and product photography reproduced from CHOICE for educational analysis.* |
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| 42 | Before you taste anything, notice what's already obvious: **these aren't the same product**. One is chocolate, one is traditional fruit. One is **$0.73 per bun**, the other **$1.38** — nearly double. CHOICE's Expert Rating crowns Woolies Chocolate (95) over Coles Fruit (85). But that ranking came out of *CHOICE's* matrix for *CHOICE's* view of "best hot cross bun" — and your persona is not CHOICE. |
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44 | Criteria come **first**, never invented afterwards to crown the bun you happened to like. Working from the [seven design decisions](/sd/C04/Designing%20an%20Evaluation%20Matrix), agree on: |
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46 | - **Who you're recommending for** — the persona drives everything. *"Best bun for a family's traditional Easter breakfast"* and *"best bun for the kids' lunchbox snack"* will not pick the same winner. |
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| 47 | - **Your criteria** — the handful that decide it for that person. Watch out: some criteria (like *"traditional fruit & spice flavour"*) really only apply to one of these two buns. Decide upfront whether you score that as 0–1 for the chocolate bun, or exclude it because your persona doesn't demand it. |
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| 48 | - **How each is measured** — blind panel rating for the eating qualities. The CHOICE data above is legitimate input for *value*, *price*, and a *sanity check* on toasted/fresh. |
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49 | - **Weights, justified** — where your point of view lives. |
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50 | - **A scale** (use 0–5). |
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| 51 | - **What you deliberately exclude, and why** — *flag these now; they come back in Step 4.* |
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52 | |||||||
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53 | **CHOICE's review surfaces four columns of data — but only three are criteria.** |
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55 | > 1. **Toasted score** — *Flavour* 50% · *Appearance* 20% · *Aroma* 15% · *Texture* 15% |
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| 56 | > 2. **Fresh (untoasted) score** — same four weights, scored untoasted |
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| 57 | > 3. **Price per bun** — pack price ÷ buns per pack |
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| 58 | > 4. ~~**Buns per pack**~~ — **not a criterion**. It's a fact that feeds *Price per bun*; it doesn't independently decide which bun is better. |
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59 | > |
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| 60 | > *Source: [CHOICE Hot Cross Buns review and compare](https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/bread-cereal-and-grains/bread/review-and-compare/hot-cross-buns).* |
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| 61 | ||||||||
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62 | CHOICE's matrix serves "the general hot-cross-bun shopper". *Your* persona is more specific — so you can split, drop or add criteria, but every row of *your* matrix should still trace back to one of CHOICE's three real criteria (or be a clearly-flagged new one). |
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64 | A worked design for the persona *"a family buying for traditional Easter breakfast"*: |
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66 | | Your criterion | Weight | Method (0–5) | |
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| 67 | |---|---|---| |
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| 68 | | **Under CHOICE *Toasted score* →** | | | |
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| 69 | | Flavour (toasted) | 30% | Blind panel rating — *Flavour* sub-element | |
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| 70 | | Traditional fruit & spice profile | 20% | Blind panel rating — your own sub-judgement; chocolate bun caps near 1 | |
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| 71 | | Texture (toasted) | 15% | Blind panel rating — *Texture* sub-element | |
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| 72 | | Aroma (toasted) | 10% | Blind panel rating — *Aroma* sub-element | |
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| 73 | | Appearance | 10% | Rating — *Appearance* sub-element | |
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| 74 | | **Under CHOICE *Price per bun* →** | | | |
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| 75 | | Value | 15% | Price → 0–5 (Woolies $0.73 ≈ 5/5; Coles $1.38 ≈ 2/5) | |
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| 76 | | **Under CHOICE *Fresh score* →** | | | |
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| 77 | | *(dropped — persona toasts)* | — | — | |
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| 78 | | **Under CHOICE *Buns per pack* →** | | | |
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| 79 | | *(not a criterion — never makes the matrix)* | — | — | |
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| 80 | ||||||||
| 81 | Total weight: 100%. Four moves to notice: |
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| 82 | ||||||||
| 83 | 1. **Unpacked *Toasted score*.** CHOICE collapses Toasted into one number; we broke it into its four sub-elements (*Flavour*, *Texture*, *Aroma*, *Appearance*) so each earns its own weight — and added a *Traditional fruit & spice* sub-judgement the persona demands. |
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| 84 | 2. **Kept *Price per bun* in, as *Value*.** CHOICE shows it but doesn't fold it into its Expert Rating. For a family buying for breakfast, $0.73 vs $1.38 matters. |
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| 85 | 3. **Dropped *Fresh score*.** This persona toasts the buns; fresh appeal isn't the deciding factor. |
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| 86 | 4. **Never used *Buns per pack*.** It isn't a criterion — it's already inside *Price per bun*. Don't let raw data columns sneak into your matrix as if they were criteria. |
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88 | *Deliberately excluded:* packaging — it doesn't change how the bun eats, so it can't help one bun beat the other on this matrix. (Hold on to this — Step 4 picks it back up.) |
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90 | Look at what the persona just did. Weighting *traditional flavour* at 20% — *and* dropping CHOICE's fresh score, *and* pulling value into the rating — compresses CHOICE's 10-point lead (95 vs 85) into a contest the panel's own scores will decide. **Different persona, different shape of decision — same data.** |
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| 92 | --- |
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| 93 | ||||||||
| 94 | ## Step 2 — Taste blind, score independently |
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96 | Two habits that are real evaluation skills, not just fairness: |
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98 | - **Blind it.** Label the brands A, B, C with the names hidden. If you can see the brand, the brand scores it for you. |
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| 99 | - **Score alone first, then compare.** If everyone just agrees with whoever speaks loudest, you've measured confidence, not buns. |
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| 101 | Apply your weights to each brand's scores to get a **weighted total**. |
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| 102 | ||||||||
| 103 | --- |
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| 104 | ||||||||
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105 | ## Step 3 — Crown the winner |
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| 107 | - **Explain** which bun proceeds, citing at least two criteria and their scores. |
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108 | - **Justify** by **naming the rival**: what does your winner give up compared with the runner-up, and why is that trade-off worth it for your persona? |
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109 | |||||||
| 110 | --- |
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| 111 | ||||||||
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112 | ## Step 4 — Decide what to develop further |
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| 114 | You now know *which* bun wins. The harder question — **the C4-2 deliverable** — is: *which elements of that winning design need detailed design work next?* |
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| 116 | The matrix on its own doesn't answer that. Look in **two** places: |
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| 118 | **(a) Where your winner scored weakest.** If your winner beats the rivals overall but only got a 3 on *texture*, that is a development priority. The detailed-design task isn't "is the texture good enough?" — it's "*how* will we improve texture in the next version?" |
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| 119 | ||||||||
| 120 | **(b) Requirements the matrix didn't score.** This is the bit students miss. The matrix scores criteria *the persona uses to choose between options* — taste, value, freshness. But your project has requirements that don't decide *one bun over another*, and so don't earn a matrix row, yet absolutely affect the final product. **Packaging** is the classic case: |
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122 | > The requirement *"attract more customers to consider buying it"* is real — but packaging doesn't change how the bun eats, so it stays out of the matrix. It still has to be designed properly. It belongs on your "develop further" list anyway. |
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| 124 | A quick test for any candidate element: |
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| 126 | > *"If two designs tied on this, would it show up in the matrix?"* If **no**, but it still has to be **designed properly**, it goes on your develop-further list. |
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| 128 | **Now produce three things to develop further** — at least one from **(a)**, at least one from **(b)**. |
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| 130 | > [!NOTE] |
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| 131 | > In C4-2 this is the headline output. The matrix names the winning *idea*; the deliverable is which **elements** of that idea become detailed designs. Packaging-not-in-matrix is your worked example of source (b). |
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132 | |||||||
| 133 | --- |
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| 134 | ||||||||
| 135 | ## Your scoring sheet |
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137 | | Criterion (weight) | Method | Woolworths Bakery Chocolate | Coles Finest Luxurious Fruit | |
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| 138 | |---|---|---|---| |
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| 139 | | | | | | |
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| 140 | | | | | | |
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| 141 | | | | | | |
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| 142 | | **Weighted total / 5** | | | | |
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144 | **To develop further:** |
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| 146 | 1. *(from (a) — a matrix-scored criterion the winner is weakest on)* |
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| 147 | 2. *(from (b) — a requirement the matrix didn't score, e.g. packaging)* |
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| 148 | 3. *(your call — either source)* |
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| 149 | ||||||||
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150 | --- |
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| 151 | ||||||||
| 152 | ## Why this matters |
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154 | The buns are a stand-in. The design decisions are **identical** when you evaluate your own software design ideas in [C4-2](/sd/C04/C4-2%20Checkpoint%20-%20Evaluation%20Matrix). The matrix tells you which idea proceeds; the develop-further list tells you what your detailed design has to *do*. Both come out of this one activity. |
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155 | |||||||
| 156 | --- |
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| 157 | ||||||||
| 158 | ## See also |
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| 159 | ||||||||
| 160 | - [Designing an Evaluation Matrix](/sd/C04/Designing%20an%20Evaluation%20Matrix) — the seven design decisions in full |
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161 | - [CHOICE Headphones — Spotting Efficiency and Effectiveness](/sd/C04/CHOICE%20Headphones%20-%20Spotting%20Efficiency%20and%20Effectiveness) — the same matrix discipline applied to a software-flavour example |
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162 | - [C4-2 Checkpoint — Your Evaluation Matrix](/sd/C04/C4-2%20Checkpoint%20-%20Evaluation%20Matrix) · [Efficiency vs Effectiveness](/sd/C04/Efficiency%20vs%20Effectiveness) |
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163 | - Reference: [CHOICE hot cross buns review-and-compare](https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/bread-cereal-and-grains/bread/review-and-compare/hot-cross-buns) |
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| 165 | --- |
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| 166 | ||||||||
| 167 | ← Back to [C04 Home](/sd/C04/C04-home) · [VCE Software Development Hub](/sd/VCE%20Software%20Development%20Hub) |
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