HNC/D Computing Launch Event

We are officially launching the following HNC/D Computing awards on Wednesday 19th June 2013 at 1000-1530 hours in the Jury's Inn, 80 Jamaica Street, Glasgow:

HNC Computing (GE3F 15)
HND Computer Science (GG7D 16)
HND Computing: Networking (GG7C 16)
HND Computing: Software Development (GG7E 16)
HND Computing: Technical Support (GG7F 16)

We are busy organising this event and hope to have a range of items for presentation and discussion.

To register, please click on the URL below:

http://hncdcomputinglaunch.eventbrite.com/

As places are limited, please ensure you book early to secure your registration.

A maximum of two places can be reserved by each registered delegate.

Look forward to seeing you then.

Working with the British Computer Society

The British Computer Society (BCS) is one of a number of national and international IT bodies that SQA works with. Readers of this blog will know that we recently formalised our relationship with BCS through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). An MoU is a high level agreement so we have to turn that into real action.

That process began yesterday, when me and my team attended a BCS event in Glasgow, and continued this morning with a private meeting in the SQA offices in Glasgow. At the public meeting both parties (BCS and SQA) signalled our intention to work together; at this morning's meeting we got down to what that really means.

There are a number of potential areas of development, including joint promotion and joint development of qualifications. Today's meeting was very productive. One of the concrete outcomes was that all students who undertake the new HN awards will be eligible for Student Membership of the BCS. We also agreed to serve on one another's committees. The BCS already has representation on the Sector Panel but we agreed further collaborations like that.

It's early days in our relationship but look out for more news about SQA/BCS initiatives on this blog in the coming months.

Contact me if you want to know more about how SQA and BCS collaborations.

Teaching JAVA Programming Free Learning Materials from Oracle Academy

This will be of interest to schools and colleges -

The Oracle Academy is pleased to announce that the Getting Started with Java Using Alice Workshop, V2, which supports Alice 3.1.60 and higher, is now available from the Curriki.org website.

Use the following steps to access the materials:

1.

Paste the URL listed below to quickly display the workshop materials.

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_TheOracleAcademy/GettingStartedWithJavaUsingAlice

Use the following steps to download all of the workshop materials:

1.

From the Oracle Academy collections page, open the Workshop Resources folder.2. Download the zip file of the entire workshop. Exercise patience while downloading.

#CampusParty Campus Party Europe

I met Martyn Wallace from 02 recently and he highlighted this big educational engagement event in London.

I did highlight this would be week most Colleges in Scotland will be busy with induction - but this is an event that many students particularly transitioning from HNC - HND should be interested in . I think some teaching staff will be interested too.

As long as they don't mind sleeping in a tent inside the 02 Arena in London

See details below

SAVE THE DATE ** Campus Party Europe, 2^nd – 6^th September 2013, London ** SAVE THE DATE

The world’s biggest digital entertainment festival comes to the UK

This year the Telefonica UK will play host to Campus Party Europe - a week-long, 24-hours-a-day celebration of the latest in digital technology.

Campus Party Europe will give young digital enthusiasts the opportunity to hone their digital skills; give budding entrepreneurs the chance to turn their ideas into reality; and help businesses find the talent they need to grow. 

The festival will also feature some of the world’s most inspirational science and technology communicators. Speakers at previous events include Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; and astronaut Neil Armstrong. We’ll be announcing this year’s line-up of speakers soon.

For many ‘Campuseros’, the festival will be a key part of their journey into the world of work.  To ensure your students don’t miss out on this unique opportunity, we would be grateful if you could alert them and your colleagues to the date and location of Campus Party 2013 at your earliest convenience. Similarly, if your University signs up as a partner your students will get 20% discount. 

Please check out the website for more information: http://www.campus-party.eu

For any questions please respond to CampusParty@telefonica.com

Thanks,

Campus Party Team

Group Award Codes - HND Computing

I am currently operationalising the following HND Computing awards and awaiting the Group Award Codes for each of these:

1. HND Computer Science
2. HND Computing: Networking
3. HND Computing: Software Development
4. HND Computing: Technical Support

As soon as the award codes are received and added to the Group Award Specifications (formally Arrangements Document) these will be published to the website and a link will be posted on the blog to each of the documents.

In the meantime, if you have any queries relating to these awards, please contact me direct.

Support Materials for HNC/D Computing

The new HNC/D Computing awards are heavily support by a number of Assessment Support Packs (ASPs) as well as e-Learning materials for the mandatory units within the HNC Computing award.

Over the last year we have developed a large number of packs that cover a selection of mandatory and optional units in the revised HNC/D awards.  The following ASPs are our Phase 1 developments - published ASPs are available on the SQA secure website (access via your SQA centre co-ordinator):

Computer Hardware: Hardware Installation and Maintenance (Published)

Computer Networking: Fundamentals (Published)
Computer Networking: Practical (Under Development)

Computer Systems Fundamentals (Published)

Computing: Graded Unit 1 (Exam) - Version 1 (Published)
Computing: Graded Unit 1 (Exam) – Version 2 (Published)
Computing: Introduction to Project Management (Published)
Computing: PC Hardware and Operating Systems Essentials (Published)
Computing: PC Hardware and Operating Systems Support (Published)
Configuring a Desktop Operating System (Published)
Convergence Technologies (Under Development)
Databases: Introduction (Awaiting Publication)
Developing Mobile Web Based Applications: An Introduction (Published)

Developing Software: Introduction (Published)
Handling Information as a Resource (Under Development)
Human Computer Interaction (Published)
Intrusion Prevention Systems (Under Development)
Mail Server Management (Under Development)
Managing a Web Server SCQF 7 (Under Development)
Managing a Web Server SCQF 8 (Under Development)
Mobile Technology (Published)
Network Concepts (Published)
Open Source Operating Systems: Basic Server Administration (Awaiting Publication)
Open Source Operating Systems: Introduction to Command Line Administration (Published)

Professionalism and Ethics in Computing (Published)
Relational Database Management Systems (Under Development)
Software Development Programming Foundations (Under Development)
Software Development: Data Structures (Published)
Software Development: Developing Small Scale Standalone Applications (Published)
Software Development: Developing Websites for Multiplatform Use (Under Development)
Software Development: Object Oriented Programming (Published)
Software Development: Systems Foundation (Published)
Systems Development: Object Oriented Analysis & Design (Published)

Team Working in Computing (Published)
Technical Support: Supporting Users – Hardware (Published)
Technical Support: Supporting Users – Software (Published)
Troubleshooting a Desktop Operating System (Published)

Troubleshooting Computing Problems (Published)

In addition to the above, we have contracted writers/vetters for a 2nd batch of ASPs (Phase 2) which have started development now.  Most of these Units are part of our International frameworks but many cross-over into the revised HND Computing awards which will give us a larger pool of support materials to support the awards.   All of the packs below will be available by September 2013 with some arriving in June/July:

Client Operating Systems

Cloud Computing

Computer Forensics: Fundamentals

Computer Networks: Building Local Area Networks

Database Design Fundamentals

HND Computing: Networking Graded Unit 2 (Project)

HND Computing: Software Dev. Graded Unit 2 (Project)

HND Computing: Technical Support: Graded Unit 2 (Project)

HND Computer Science Graded Unit 2 (Project)

Internetworking Technology

Network Server Operating Systems

Network Technology & Data Communications

Networking Technology

Providing Technical Support to Users

Routing Technology

Scripting for Interactivity

Security Concepts

Self Describing Data (XML)

Server Administration

Software Development: Rapid Application Development & Prototyping

SQL: Introduction

Switching Technology

Web Development: Producing a Data Driven Website

Please contact your SQA centre co-ordinator for access to any of the published materials listed above.

PC Passport review 2013 - survey

As you may know a Qualification Design Team has been set up to carry out a revision of PC Passport at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6.

The QDT has proposed a new structure and Outcomes for the new awards and we are in the process of consulting with practitioners and stakeholders in the sector to find out what they think of the proposals.

If you wish to have a say in how the new qualifications are shaped please help by completing the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QSB8QDG


Some members of the QDT will also be carrying out telephone interviews.  If you are willing to be interviewed about PC Passport and its replacement please e-mail me in the first instance.

Review of the National Certificate

As readers will know, we are currently reviewing the National Certificate in Digital Media Computing at Levels 4, 5 and 6. We recently selected Lead Developers (LDs) for each Level and there was a meeting today involving the LDs and the SQA team.

The Lead Developers are:

Liz Allum of Cathkin HS for Level 4
David Renton of Reid Kerr College for Level 5
Gillian Dobry of Adam Smith College for Level 6.

Today's meeting was a brain-storming session, when we discussed the ideas that came from the first meeting of the QDT and tried to turn these ideas into a qualification structure. It was a good meeting. We discussed many things including:

• the title of the award
• the mandatory and optional split
• the inclusion of the new National Courses in Computing Science
• the inclusion of PC Passport (or its successor)
• core skills
• the inclusion of a project unit in all of the awards.
• the role of programming.

There was a lot of agreement about these things, and some good ideas came out of the meeting. For example, we discussed embedding [the new] PC Passport into the awards; we also discussed including the new National Courses within structure; and the possibility of including a project in all three awards. We intend to use NC Computing as a working title for the new awards.

The LDs were asked to turn these ideas into frameworks, which we will share with the wider QDT (and then all stakeholders) once they have been firmed-up.

Please use the comment facility if you want to provide feedback to the team, or contact Hilary directly if you want to know more about this development.

Qualifications Support Team

The Qualifications Support Team (QST) for this area met this morning. This was the first time that we combined the teams for both non-advanced and advanced, having previously organised separate meetings. We did this because of the overlap between topics, which often span the advanced/non-advanced divide. It seemed to work well. Fifteen people attended the meeting. There were representatives of colleges, schools and training providers.



QSTs are there to support qualifications. This includes recommending support materials to develop or advising on changes to qualifications. We have one face-to-face meeting per year but we also keep in touch, and make decisions, between meetings via an e-group.

One of the key functions of the QST is to consider proposals from centres for changes to units or awards, and the meeting today consider four such proposals. In the majority of cases, we approved the suggested changes.

QSTs illustrate how SQA works with centres to continually monitor and improve awards. We are looking for more members from the school and training sectors so please contact Hilary if you are interested in serving on this committee. Or complete a comment form if you want to suggest changes to awards or propose new support materials.

Computer forensics

We're always looking for good ideas for new awards, and some time ago a centre proposed a qualification in the area of computer forensics. This topic already features in the new HND awards (there are units in forensics and hacking), but this proposal was for a separate qualification.

As a result, we are considering creating a PDA in Digital Forensics, which would be a small(ish) award at SCQF Level 7 or 8. This qualification would focus on this specialist area and compliment our existing suite of PDAs.

I have already had discussions with special interest groups, such as the police who were supportive of the idea, but Jacquie Campbell, a Business Development Manager, would be interested to know if there is interest from centres so please let Jacquie know if your centre would be interested in offering an award like this.

Renaming the subject

Some time ago, I mentioned a report [PDF] from the Royal Society of Engineering, entitled Shut Down or Restart?, about computing in schools, which made a number of recommendations about the subject.

It's first recommendation related to terminology. The report criticised the vague and inconsistent use of terms such as "ICT" and "digital skills" and recommended that the subject was divided into three areas:

1. Computer Science
2. Digital Literacy
3. Information Technology.

Computer science covers the more rigorous, academic and theoretical part of the subject, including topics such as software development and computer architecture.

Digital literacy covers the basic computing skills required to use computers and function in the modern world, and includes such things as office skills, using the Internet, and digital photography.

Information technology is the more practical, application focussed, informatics, social side of the subject, including topics such as project planning, designing information systems, information skills, and the social implications of the subject.

I said at the time of the publication of the report that I planned to adopt this terminology in my own portfolio, and this process began a few weeks ago when I met with people from the Assessment Standards team to look at renaming the External Verification groups in my area. This process has now commenced.

But the terminology will affect more than Verification Groups since I plan to use it for all future developments.

Computer Basics learning material

I recently posted a message about a new National Unit entitled Computer Basics that I hope, in time, will become the new Introduction to Computers for the 21st Century. The unit specification was recently published on the SQA website.

I got notification today that the e-learning material to support this new Unit is complete. In fact, we haven't checked it yet, but on the basis that 100 pairs of eyes are better than two (Hilary's) please feel free to preview the draft material, and let Hilary know if you spot any errors or omissions.

We are also in the process of producing an assessment support pack for this Unit, so any centre that offers it should have little or no preparation.

Although the title of the Unit is uninspiring, I think the contents are interesting, spanning a range of fundamental online and offline skills, and featuring the latest technologies (such as smartphones and netbooks). It is designed to be a modern, general purpose, introduction to the world of contemporary computing.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about this Unit.

Updated portfolio

I updated the portfolio diagram this morning to reflect a number of new or revised awards. You might want to print and keep this diagram. You can download a PDF version here.

As you will see from the diagram, we are going through a period of huge change. Computing never stands still, but even by our standards this is an exceptionally busy time. Of particular note are the new HNDs (including the brand new HND Computer Science), the revisions to PC Passport, and the new National Unit entitled Computer Basics.

Behind each of these qualification titles there are a range of support materials, such as assessment support packs and, sometimes, teaching and learning materials. You can find out more about what's available by contacting Hilary for non-advanced awards (up to and including SCQF Level 6) or contacting Caroline for advanced awards (SCQF Level 7 up).

I hope you consider offering some of the new or revised qualifications since we think that they are up-to-date and include some exciting contents.

SQA and BCS

The DIVA project forged links with a number of IT vendors and organisations, one of which is the British Computer Society (BCS). SQA and BCS recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cement our relationship. The MoU signals both parties' intentions to help each other in a variety of ways.

Since then, I've had a couple of meetings with BCS people to  turn these good intentions into concrete actions that will benefit the users of SQA awards. We already have a number of exciting ideas that we plan to develop in the coming months. Look out for more news on this blog.

SQA has been a leader in the way it links its qualifications to industry standards, and the SQA/BCS relationship typifies the way that we seek to work with UK and international partners to make our awards as relevant as possible to learners.

Contact me directly if you want to know more about the SQA/BCS partnership.

Computer Basics

Bobby recently posted a message about the new Computer Basics Unit at SCQF level 3.  This has now been coded H3LJ 09 and is available [PDF] on NQ Unit Search.

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/controller?p_service=Front.searchNQ&g=0&t=nq_unit&q=&r=&pContentID=3&pMenuID=133

Qualification toolkit for centres

I received notification this morning that the toolkit for centres to devise qualifications has been updated.

SQA has a long tradition of working with centres to develop qualifications. I've previously mentioned how we capture your ideas. This resource provides all of the guidance, forms and tools you will need to develop SQA awards.

I'll put a link to it in the sidebar ("Useful links") so that you can find it.

QRT meeting

The Qualification Review Team (QRT) met yesterday, in Glasgow, for its third meeting. As mentioned previously, the QRT aims to design alternative assessments (for HN awards) that better match the sort of assessments students face at university.

We're now at the "sharp end" of the project, getting down to actually producing things. Two members of the Team (Anne Russell and Cameron Walker) have been asked to develop assessment specifications for these alternative assessments.

Anne and Cameron will produce a number of university-type assessments. One of these will be a combined assessment that will integrate the practical outcomes of a number of HNC units to produce a much larger, more holistic, assessment activity. Another will be a new examination for the HND awards that will combine the theoretical outcomes of a number of HND (year 2) units, which will look like the sort of assessment students face at university.

Another aim of the project is to improve college students academic skills, such as their study skills and their critical thinking. This has been a long standing issue for universities, which have reported that college students are sometimes weak in these areas. The QRT for Computing hopes to address this by profiling these skills, which will highlight to teachers where they can be taught.

We hope to have these new assessment designs by the middle of April, so that pilolt centres can offer them next session.

Contact me if you want to know more about this project.

Standards colloquium

I attended a "standards colloquium" in the Grand Central Hotel, in Glasgow, yesterday. It was a full day event and this is a busy time of the year for me and my team but it was time well spent. These events are great for giving you a broader perspective on education.

There were some top notch speakers at the event, including the Director of Qualifications from Ofqual, the body responsible for standards in England. There was also an interesting talk from Aileen Ponton, the CEO of SCQF, about qualification frameworks throughout the world. Rob van Krieken, of SQA, gave a talk about how SQA tries to monitor the standards of qualifications over time, to ensure comparability of standards.

I learnt a lot from the event, particularly about international developments in qualification frameworks, which Aileen described as "an international phenomenon", and how SCQF compares to other frameworks, particularly the European Qualification Framework (EQF).

New community on Google+

The team has explored the use of social media to communicate with you since 2004 when this blog was started. Over the years, some worked (Blogger and Twitter) and some didn't (Facebook). We get around 50 page visits per day to this blog, and our Twitter account has almost 500 followers.

Although Blogger and Twitter have been great for communicating information to you, they're not so good for generating discussions, which was why we tried using Facebook around a year ago. That didn't work well but today I created a Google+ community to see if that helps to stimulate discussions about Computing qualifications.

I've made it a private group so you have to request to join but it's a very, very simply process. If you already have a Google account it will take (literally) two seconds, and if you don't it will take two minutes.

Please visit this web address and ask to join:

https://plus.google.com/#communities/114450677610595766746

There is only one community so it's a one-stop-shop for all the qualifications. I hope you choose to give it a try. Me and my team will be on it, and many of your fellow teachers will (hopefully) join to give you peer support for everything from the new Computer Basics unit to the HND in Computer Science.

Computer Basics

We've been working on a new introductory computing unit for some time now, and I am pleased to say that I carried out my final edits on it this afternoon.

The unit has still to be validated but I don't think much, if anything, will change so this version is pretty much the one you will see on the SQA website in the near future.



It's an interesting unit. It's firmly aimed at beginners, and it's very up-to-date, covering desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. It's the first qualification to mention the Raspberry Pi.

The aim of the unit is to provide a modern, interesting and enjoyable introduction to computing in the 21st Century, covering essential skills and foundation knowledge. I hope it does that.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about this new qualification.