Information Technology in a Global Society subject report · May 2018

May 2018 extended essay reports Page 1 ITGS Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0-6 7-13 14-20 21-26 27-34 The range and suitability of the work submitted The ITGS extended essays submitted for the May 2018 session covered a wide range of research topics. The chosen topics were generally suitable, lending themselves to appropriate primary and secondary research, although they were not always properly explored. They were generally appropriate, if they were locally focused with candidates having access to personnel in the businesses investigated, but they were weak w here access was not possible or the investigation was too broad. There was a change in pattern noticed this session in terms of selection of areas of research and a large number of students were found to be selecting topics pertaining to latest technological innovations that are making an impact to the society. Some of these topics included 3D printing technology in the field of medicine/organ transplantation, cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, M- wallet serv ices, use of drones in countering terrorism, robotic surgeries, etc., which is a good indication in terms of increase in the level of the thought processes of the ITGS students who looked to be more focused towards exploring the unexplored domains than sti cking to conventional and overly explored topics, such as social networks, online gaming, Internet piracy, etc. On the negative side, some essays were peripheral to ITGS and some were very vague, indicating a failure to grasp the purpose of an extended es say in the subject being studied. In many cases, students used only a limited number of sources to write their Extended Essays; obviously, those essays were very far from being successful. In other situations, there was a lack of appropriate secondary sour ces and an over reliance on primary sources, in most cases extrapolating the results of a small sample to a much larger universe. Worse than that was when candidates wrote their essays based solely on observat ion, opinions, and speculation. While it was go od to see students choosing topics from the areas of new technological developments,