The Technological Practice Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Outcome Development and Evaluation
Key Ideas
The successful result of technological practice is the realisation of a technological outcome (that is, a technological product or system) that is fit for purpose as described in the brief. While there are many situations where development work may end before this point, this component is focussed on development and evaluation practices involved in the creation of a conceptual design for a potential technological outcome, and the production and testing of that outcome.
This will involve the creative generation and testing of design ideas, the refinement of concepts to communicate an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of its potential to be fit for purpose, and the production and evaluation of an outcome to establish its fitness for purpose prior to its acceptance for use in-situ. This is achieved through such things as:
- research – including accessing published research findings and carrying out one's own research through such things as the analysis of existing technological outcomes;
- experimentation – particularly for the purpose of enhancing knowledge and skills surrounding the communication of design ideas, the working of materials, and safe and competent equipment usage;
- functional modelling – to test design ideas prior to them being realised; and
- prototyping – to provide evidence of the outcomes fitness for purpose or need for further development.
Initial testing of design ideas through a range of functional models provides evaluative data to help refine a conceptual design. Evaluation of design ideas through functional modelling should be undertaken extensively to identify if conceptual ideas communicate an outcome that is potentially fit for purpose and to ensure stakeholder opinion is a key part of this evaluative process.
Outcome development is enhanced through the effective presentation of conceptual ideas to others, including key stakeholders, using a range of graphical and other visual communication techniques. Stakeholder feedback needs to be accessed regularly and critically analysed to ensure that it informs the development work in an effective manner.
Exploration of the performance properties and/or aesthetic impact of possible materials, alongside their current and future accessibility, availability and disposability, allows for informed material selection to support the resultant outcome as fit for purpose in the traditional sense as well as in its broadest sense. The establishment of context specific material knowledge and skills and equipment usage is essential for outcomes to be developed that are of a high quality.
Trialling a prototype provides data for evaluating a technological outcome’s fitness for purpose. Accessing feedback from stakeholders is essential to all evaluations.
All evaluations should feed directly into planning for practice and will often provide the basis for changes to initial plans and resource projections. Such evaluative data is also used to inform the development and/or refinement of the brief where it is identified as being necessary.
To support the production of an outcome that can be deemed fit for purpose in its broadest sense:
- functional modelling should seek to explore the outcome's suitability with reference to both the outcome itself and the practices used in its development; and
- prototyping should attempt to evaluate the outcome in keeping with the wider context within which the brief resides, including both physical and social environment influences and impacts, both now and in possible future scenarios.
