← QCE Digital Solutions Unit 1

Personal impacts of a digital solution

An effect a digital solution has on an individual user, such as their wellbeing, privacy, time saved, skills or independence. It can be positive or negative.

Part of: QCE Digital Solutions Unit 1 — Understanding Digital Problems — Module 61

Understanding Personal impacts of a digital solution in QCE Digital Solutions Unit 1

What it does: Paying a bill online instead of queueing saves the user time, which is a positive personal impact. Relying heavily on a digital solution is dependence. It can reduce a person's own skills and independence. A solution can help one user (saving time) and harm them too (poor sleep from late-night screen time). Personal impacts focus on the individual user. Server numbers are a technical detail, not an effect on the user. Students must judge both the benefits and harms of a solution for an individual user.

Common mistakes: A step counter's effect on one student's health is a personal impact, not a community impact. The line should be type <- "personal". An app that shares where a user is affects their privacy, which is why the effect is negative. The line should be impact <- "privacy".

Class: _____________________  ·  Name: _____________________  ·  Date: _________

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 60–81) and word search (Modules 1–81).

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Learning
Duo
A fitness app reminds a user to move and sleep. Which personal impact is this?
Wellbeing and health: it supports the user's healthCommunity impact: it changes how a whole town works
Matches
personalImpact = "cost to the company"
↓
A personal impact affects an individual user, not a business. Costs to a company are an economic impact.
Applying
Meanings
Term
personal impact
Meaning
An effect a digital solution has on an individual user, such as their wellbeing, privacy, time saved, skills or independence. It can be positive or negative.
Practice
Personal impact: Screen time app
Testing
Gaps
A impact affects one user.
Check Answer
Spots
3impact <- "wellbeing"
4type <- "community"

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Quick Questions

1. A fitness app reminds a user to move and sleep. Which personal impact is this?
A. Community impact: it changes how a whole town works
B. Wellbeing and health: it supports the user's health ✓
A personal impact affects an individual user. Health reminders affect that one person's wellbeing.
2. Which statement describes a personal impact?
A. A company's profit rises because it sells more apps
B. A student feels less stressed because an app organises their homework ✓
Personal impacts are effects on an individual user. Company profit is an economic impact.
3. A social media app shares a user's location with strangers without them realising. Which sub-theme is affected?
A. Privacy ✓
B. Convenience and time saved
Sharing personal information without the user's knowledge is a privacy impact, and it is a negative one.
4. Online banking lets a user pay a bill in seconds instead of queuing at a branch. Which personal impact is this?
A. Convenience and time saved ✓
B. Dependence
Saving the user time and effort is a convenience impact, and it is a positive one.
5. A student can no longer find their way around town without a map app. Which personal impact is this?
A. Dependence: the user relies on the solution to do things ✓
B. Privacy: the user's data was leaked
Relying heavily on a digital solution is dependence. It can reduce a person's own skills and independence.

Match the Pairs

screenTimeAlert = true → A wellbeing feature that warns the user when they spend too long on their phone
shareLocation = false → A privacy setting that stops an app from telling others where the user is
Convenience and time saved: a digital solution lets a user finish a task faster → onlineBanking.pay(bill) // 5 seconds, no queue
Dependence: a user relies so much on a solution that they struggle without it → if (appOffline) { canNavigate = false }
personalImpact = "cost to the company" → A personal impact affects an individual user, not a business. Costs to a company are an economic impact.
personalImpact = "always positive" → A personal impact can be positive or negative. For example, saving time is good, but losing privacy is bad.

Key Term

personal impact
An effect a digital solution has on an individual user, such as their wellbeing, privacy, time saved, skills or independence. It can be positive or negative.

Fill in the Blanks

1. A personal impact affects one user.
Hint: Type the word for an effect on one individual rather than a group.
2. Sleep tracking app: impact on wellbeing
Hint: Type the word for a user's overall health and mental state.
3. Sharing location data affects user privacy
Hint: Type the word for keeping personal information from being seen by others.
4. Online banking saves time for the user
Hint: Type the resource a user saves when a task becomes quicker and more convenient.
5. Relying too much on GPS creates dependence
Hint: Type the word for relying too heavily on a system to do things yourself.

Spot the Error

Question 1
A solution <- "Step counter"
B user <- "Year 11 student"
C impact <- "wellbeing"
D type <- "community"
Line D — A step counter's effect on one student's health is a personal impact, not a community impact. The line should be type <- "personal".
Question 2
A solution <- "Friend tracker"
B impact <- "convenience"
C effect <- "negative"
Line B — An app that shares where a user is affects their privacy, which is why the effect is negative. The line should be impact <- "privacy".
Question 3
A hours <- 7
B IF hours > 6
C OUTPUT "Dependence risk"
D ENDIF
Line B — An IF statement must end with THEN so the program knows where the condition stops. The line should be IF hours > 6 THEN.
Question 4
A minutesBefore <- "thirty"
B minutesNow <- 5
C timeSaved <- minutesBefore - minutesNow
D OUTPUT timeSaved
Line A — Time saved is found by subtracting numbers, but "thirty" is text and cannot be subtracted. It should be minutesBefore <- 30.
Question 5
A solution <- "Smart watch"
B impact <- "health"
C effect <- positive
D OUTPUT effect
Line C — Text values need quote marks. Without them, positive is read as a variable that does not exist. It should be effect <- "positive".

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