C03 Resources — Software Requirements Specification & Critical Thinking
Criterion scope: SRS document (functional/non-functional requirements, scope, constraints — economic/legal/social/technical, user characteristics, technical environment, analytical tools), critical thinking (data analysis questions, follow-up questions).
C3-1: SRS Document
Existing Materials (CriterionXX/)
Criterion03/ is well-resourced: step-by-step SRS creation (steps 1-6), full SRS compilation, SRS reflection, NiceQuiz SRS exemplar, and SRS 2.0 writing test preparation. Strong existing coverage.
External Resources
| Resource | Source | Format | VCAA Mapping | Why It's Useful |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeeksforGeeks — Software Requirement Specification (SRS) Format | GeeksforGeeks | Reading | SRS structure, functional/non-functional requirements, constraints, scope | Well-structured overview of SRS format and components. Good reference for understanding the industry-standard SRS structure that VCAA mirrors. |
| Perforce — How to Write a Software Requirements Specification | Perforce | Reading | SRS document structure, requirements, constraints | Professional perspective on SRS writing. Helps students understand that SRS is a real industry practice, not just a school exercise. |
| IEEE — Software Requirements Specifications | IEEE Computer Society | Reading | SRS — industry standard | The professional standard that VCE SRS documents are based on. Good context for students to see the real-world origin. |
| Vermont SC — Applied Computing: Software Development | Vermont Secondary College | Reading (PDF) | SRS, constraints, scope — VCE-specific | VCE-specific course overview document. Shows how another school approaches the SRS requirement. |
| VCAA Teaching and Learning — Software Development | VCAA | Reading | All C3 topics — official teaching guidance | VCAA's own teaching guidance for software development. Essential reading for teachers. |
| FUNCTIONAL VS NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS. JUST WATCH THIS | YouTube — Jelvix (US) | Video (≈5 min) | C3-1: functional vs non-functional requirements (5–6 band) | Concrete side-by-side walkthrough of both requirement types with software examples. Embedded in the Functional vs Non-Functional Requirements wiki page. Addresses the most common C3-1 mislabelling error. |
| Functional and Non-functional Requirements — What is the difference? | YouTube — PMC Lounge (US) | Video (≈6 min) | C3-1: functional vs non-functional requirements | Clearly structured explainer with multiple worked examples showing the performance/quality distinction. Good second watch if Jelvix video above doesn't click. |
| What is MOSCOW Analysis? Project Management in Under 5 | YouTube — Online PM Courses (UK) | Video (≈5 min) | C3-1: MoSCoW scope, solution boundaries | Brisk walkthrough of the four MoSCoW categories with worked examples. Covers scope priority decisions; pair with the Scope vs Constraints wiki page to distinguish scope from constraints. Origin is UK/agile; adapt "business" examples to school software context. |
| Design and Implementation Constraints in Software Engineering | YouTube — Gate Smashers (US) | Video (≈7 min) | C3-1: constraints (technical, economic, social, legal) | Walks through multiple constraint categories specifically in a software engineering context — closer to VCE scope than generic project management videos. |
| Australian Privacy Principles from the Privacy Act 1988 | YouTube — IILPM (AU) | Video (≈10 min) | C3-1: legal constraints — Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) | Explains the Australian Privacy Principles in plain language. Essential background for students who skip legal constraints or write one-liners. Directly addresses the AU legislation relevant to most school software projects. |
| What is a User Persona? Explained in Five Minutes | YouTube — Beyond Design (US) | Video (≈5 min) | C3-1: user characteristics — who, skills, needs | Covers the key dimensions of a user profile (goals, frustrations, tech skills, context). Maps directly to the five-column user characteristics table required at 7–8 band. Translate "persona" to "user characteristics" for VCE framing. |
Wiki pages for C3-1
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Functional vs Non-Functional Requirements | Side-by-side table of both requirement types for the same project; most common mislabelling errors; how to make NF requirements measurable (DRAFT) |
| Scope vs Constraints | Why budget is a constraint not a scope decision; MoSCoW and constraints table side-by-side; how a 9–10 band response links them (DRAFT) |
| Analytical Tools Template Guide | How to use the pre-labelled Excalidraw file (UCD / Context Diagram / DFD skeletons); notation quick reference; what to check when updating diagrams from C02 (DRAFT) |
Gaps — C3-1
- Technical environment documentation — students often struggle to describe the technical environment adequately. A worked example showing hardware/software/network requirements for a typical SAT project would help. No strong external resource found. Teacher-recorded walkthrough recommended.
- Excalidraw template file — the wiki page (Analytical Tools Template Guide) is ready; the actual
C03-Analytical-Tools.excalidrawfile still needs to be created by Jeremy and distributed to students.
C3-2: Critical Thinking
Existing Materials (CriterionXX/)
Criterion03/ has critical analysis question-writing guidance (steps 1-4), a simulation exercise with examples, and Census@School NZ data for practice. Good coverage.
External Resources
| Resource | Source | Format | VCAA Mapping | Why It's Useful |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How I Conduct a Requirements Gathering Interview as a Business Analyst | YouTube — Stefano The Agile BA (US) | Video (≈12 min) | C3-2: writing client-facing data-gathering questions (not meta-questions about the document) | Shows what real requirements interview questions look like — aimed at extracting information from a client, not at evaluating a document. Useful contrast for students who write meta-questions ("Did I write my SRS correctly?") instead of client-facing ones. |
| Requirements Gathering 101 — My Secret to Asking Great Questions | YouTube — Angelo the BA (US) | Video (≈10 min) | C3-2: writing effective data-gathering questions | Focuses on question quality — open vs closed, probing follow-ups, avoiding leading questions. Directly addresses the question-quality judgment required at 7–8 band in C3-2 Indicator 2. |
| Probing in User Interviews | YouTube — NNgroup (US) | Video (≈3 min) | C3-2: writing follow-up questions that add new information (not restatements) | Demonstrates two forms of probing follow-up: questions that prompt elaboration, and questions that probe a specific detail already mentioned. Maps to the C3-2 9–10 band expectation that follow-up questions "clarify collected data" rather than repeat the original question. Context is UX research, not VCE SRS — translate "participant" to "client/user" and "researcher" to "you." |
Gaps — C3-2
- Evaluating your own questions (High/Medium/Low) — C032-Step-3-Evaluate-Questions.md requires students to rate each question's effectiveness honestly. No external resource models this self-assessment process in a VCE context. A teacher-recorded walkthrough of a real evaluation table with one High, one Medium, one Low decision argued would close this gap.
- SRS 2.0 — tracing the impact of a new scenario across all SRS sections — C031-SRS-2-0.md is VCAA-specific. No external resource models how a single constraint change ripples into scope and non-functional requirements. A teacher-annotated walkthrough is the only suitable resource here.
Recommended Actions
- New wiki pages — Functional vs Non-Functional Requirements, Scope vs Constraints, and Analytical Tools Template Guide address the highest-frequency C3-1 pain points.
- Legal constraints gap — the Australian Privacy Principles video (IILPM) is the best available resource for the Privacy Act angle; students commonly skip this entirely.
- Excalidraw template file — the Analytical Tools Template Guide wiki page exists, but requires Jeremy to create and distribute the actual
C03-Analytical-Tools.excalidrawfile. Teacher action required. - Technical environment documentation — no suitable external video found for a 4-min annotated walkthrough of all five categories. Teacher-recorded walkthrough is the only viable solution.
- C3-2 self-assessment and SRS 2.0 — no suitable external resources found for evaluating questions (High/Medium/Low) or SRS 2.0 tracing. Teacher-recorded walkthroughs are the only viable solution for these VCAA-specific tasks.