The Design technology assessment criteria and requirements have been revised.

A revised
version of the DT guide will be published in early June 2018.

The amendments concern only the requirements of the internally assessed design project.

This new version of the guide is for first teaching August/September 2018 (this new
teaching year) and for first assessment May 2020.

Rationale for change

Despite the introduction of a page count and formatting requirements, the IA design project
remains a large body of work for students to complete, teachers to mark and moderators to
moderate. Despite a rigid maximum page count of 50 pages at HL, students continue to
write a high volume of words, typically 12,000+. Projects regularly exceed 22,000 words.

The large number of words is often in place of design work, for example:
• design sketches demonstrating iterative development of ideas;
• annotated photographs of modelling and testing;
• and clear, detailed drawings with sufficient detail for manufacture.

The large volume of words also means it takes a great deal of time to mark and moderate
students work, while teachers and moderators have a huge amount of information to hold in
their mind while determining a students’ performance.

Therefore, the development team was tasked with modifying the IA design project
requirements by introducing measures that will focus the students’ efforts, encourage more
designerly activity and require their decision making to be concisely presented.
Word and page count
A maximum word count is now in place.
• At Standard level (SL) this is 3000 words.
• At Higher level (HL) the maximum word count is 4000 words (equivalent to an
extended essay).

If the maximum word count is exceeded, the teacher and moderator is instructed to stop
reading and must not award marks for work beyond these limits.

The clarifications of the assessment criteria suggest how these words can be divided across
the evidence requirements effectively.

Aspects of the assessment criteria (strands) where students must not include extended
writing are identified in the clarifications. Students can only use annotations in these
sections.

Annotations of 10 words or less are not included in the word count.

The word count has been established by IB Assessment guidance, using a maximum word
count equivalent to an Extended Essay. The word count for any piece of coursework is not
permitted to exceed 4000 words.

An overall page count remains in place.

• At SL, this is a maximum of 38 pages (no change).
• At HL, this is a maximum of 56 pages (increased to accommodate changes in the HL
only criteria).

If the maximum page count is exceeded, the teacher and moderator is instructed to stop
reading and must not award marks for work beyond these limits.

Appendices are not required; the teacher and moderator must not consider them when
marking/moderating.

The decision to implement a 3000 (SL) and 4000 (HL) word count was made only after
testing and modelling the implementation of these changes based on existing student work.
This was repeated across five samples of student work, leading to an increased page count
for HL design projects, and to a suggestion of how the word count should be allocated
throughout the project.
Overview of changes to the assessment criteria
All assessment criteria have three strands and three bands.

Criterion A-D remain on prototype development and the language has been changed to
consistently refer to a prototype.

Criterion A has been streamlined in terms of required evidence.

• The requirement to summarise the research and develop a marketing specification
has been removed.
• Students will still need to conduct research to justify and explain the design
opportunity, design brief and design specifications.
• Relevant aspects of the marketing specification can be incorporated into the design
specification.

It is important to note student will still need to conduct similar authentic research as they
currently do. The research students conduct needs to be genuine and effective to inform
their decision making and to justify requirements in the brief and specification.

Criterion B remains as in the current guide.

Criterion C remains largely as in the current guide, with some modifications:

• The justification of choice of materials & components is now combined with
manufacturing techniques.
• The prototype must be presented in sufficient detail for a third party to manufacture.
• The use of a template is now required for planning the manufacture of the prototype.

Criterion D is modified as there is no longer a marketing specification, this has been

removed from the evaluation.
• Students are now required to develop a testing strategy for the prototype.
• As before, they also evaluate the success of the prototype against the design
specification and demonstrate how it could be improved.

Criterion E and F have larger changes, focusing on developing the prototype for a
commercially viable production process. E and F can be developed simultaneously as
decisions made for one will impact the other. However, they must be reported separately as
detailed below.
Criterion E requires students to:
 • make appropriate changes (develop) the design of the prototype for a commercially
viable production process.
• present the developed commercial product (annotated presentation drawing), and
• develop accurate working drawings of the commercial product in sufficient detail for a
third party to manufacture.

Criterion F requires students to:

• justify the choice of materials & components
• justify the choice of manufacturing techniques, and
• justify the scale and volume of production.

The identification of a target sales price and discussion of promotional strategies are no
longer required.

Teacher support materials

Four samples of student work have been adapted to the new assessment criteria
requirements. Each sample is within the appropriate word count (3,000 words SL, 4,000
words HL) and page count (38 SL, 56 HL).
The four samples will be published in English in July 2018, and in Spanish in August 2018.
The samples of student work will be accompanied by assessment comments that detail the
marks awarded for each criterion, the reasons why the work achieved that mark, and how
the student could have improved the work to gain further marks.
Following the May 2020 examination session, the samples of assessed student work will be
updated with the number of samples increased to demonstrate a wider range of design
contexts and grades.

Feedback on the changes

The revision of the assessment criteria and requirements are in response to feedback
shared since the publication of the current design technology guide. These changes are
limited in scope to address the key issues stated in the rationale. However, the design
technology curriculum review process continues with the intent to publish a new curriculum
guide in 2022 for first assessment in May 2024.
Therefore, feedback on the changes included in this revision are welcome and encouraged
to inform the further development of this next iteration of the curriculum.
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