SQA Computing blog

Royal Society report on Computing in schools

2012-01-24T15:00:00.001Z

Readers of this blog will be aware of the on-going discussions about Computing in schools. Co-incidentally to the Minister's announcement about the subject, the Royal Society recently produced a report about the issue.

Shut Down or Restart? [PDF] makes 11 recommendations about Computing in schools. Although the report focuses on England, most of the recommendations relate to the entire UK.

It makes interesting reading. Of particular interest is the criticism of "ICT" as a description of the subject, and a recommendation that it is divided into three distinct subject areas: "digital literacy", "Information Technology", and "Computer Science".

The report has potentialy important implications for awarding organisations (such as SQA). For example, one of the recommendations is that every awarding organisation in the UK reviews its portfolio of awards and clearly distinguishes each one using this classification.

SQA is actively considering the recommendations in the report. Look out for more reaction to this report in future blog posts.

NC Computer Games Development

2012-01-20T11:19:00.001Z

The fourth meeting of the QDT for the new National Certificate (NC) in Computer Games Development was held yesterday afternoon in the SQA offices in Glasgow.

The lead developer, Frank Duffy of Motherwell College, presented a draft framework to the meeting. In fact, Frank presented two frameworks: one for a "technical" NC and one for a "creative" NC. He has spent a lot of time since the last QDT meeting in discussion with various individuals and organisations, such as representatives of universities, and came to the conclusion that a single framework would not meet their needs. He proposed two NC awards at SCQF Level 6:

NC Computer Games: Software Development
NC Computer Games: Animation.

We liked this, and plan to proceed on this basis. Seperating the areas means that each award can focus on specific skills. For example, the proposed Software Development award will have programming and mathematics as mandatory units.

We also had an interesting discussion about the optional topics in each award, which could include topics such as enterprise, AI, UI design and games theory. We plan to include Highers in the optional sections of each award. For example, the Animation award will include Art at Higher Level; the Software Development award will include Computing and Mathematics at Higher Level.

We also had good discussions around STEM, core skills and Curriculum for Excellence.

We now need to finalise the frameworks and get down to unit writing, before organising a validation event, which I hope will be held sometime in April or May. We will carry out a public consultation on the draft frameworks once they are firmed-up. Watch this space.

Both of these new qualifications will be available to centres from August. Contact Hilary if you want more information about this development or contact Frank if you want to know more about how the qualifications are shaping up.

Sector Panel and Support Teams

2012-01-18T11:52:00.003Z

We engage with stakeholders in a number of ways, such as the annual Heads of Computing event. But we run two committees that are particularly important in this regard.

The Sector Panel for Computing & IT seeks to get feedback from you in a direct way -- through bi-annual face-to-face meetings. The Sector Panel includes representatives from colleges, schools and industry, including E-Skills UK. The Qualifications Support Teams (there are two - one for non-advanced and one for advanced qualifications) are another channel of communication. The QSTs are responsible for helping us to support centres, and keeping the qualifications up-to-date. They meet once per year and use online communications in-between meetings. The members are drawn from colleges and schools.

The Sector Panel and QSTs are not talk-shops. They make decisions that have a real impact on what we do. For example, in the recent past, the Sector Panel has suggested new qualifications that we have subsequently created. The QSTs suggest support materials to help teachers deliver our qualification, which we then [usually] commission.

Me and my team met yesterday afternoon to discuss the membership of these groups. As a result, we are looking for new members of the Sector Panel and the QSTs. We are particularly interested in representatives of industry to serve on the Sector Panel, and representatives of schools to serve on the QST for non-advanced awards. But we'd be interested to hear from anyone who is willing to give up some of their time to carry out these important roles. I think it's fair to say that the current members all find their membership rewarding. It's not only a great opportunity to have your say but it's also a great way of keeping up-to-date with developments and networking with people with similar interests.

Please contact Caroline for more information about the Sector Panel or the QST for advanced (HN/PDA) awards, or contact Hilary for information about the QST for non-advanced (NC/NPA) awards. Or contact me if you want a more general discussion.

New Internet Safety qualification is coming

2012-01-17T13:48:00.003Z

I mentioned the review of the Internet Safety unit previously. We've fallen a litte behind our original schedule. I met with the lead developer yesterday (thanks to the wonders of Skype) to get a progress report.

The new unit will be validated in mid-February and available to centres from the end of that month. We will also have online learning materials available from the middle of February, including mobile phone materials that will permit learners to undertake the course via their smartphones. The new unit will be assessed via SOLAR and using a blog.

We plan to launch the new qualification on Safer Internet Day, which will be held on 7 February this year.

It will be safe to assume that all materials (teaching, learning and assessment material) will be available well before the start of the new academic year. So, if you currently deliver the Internet Safety award, you should consider updating to the new version for next session.

Contact Caroline for more information about Internet Safety.

Computing curriculum in Scotland

2012-01-11T12:18:00.000Z

You may have noticed the on-going debate in England about the ICT curriculum. There have been criticisms about what is taught in English schools, with complaints that it is boring and only focuses on using software rather than creating it.

This morning the Minister for Education, Michael Gove, spoke about the problem at the BETT conference in London. He described the current offerings as "harmful and dull" and pledged to change the curriculum in England.

Some people have claimed that Scotland does it better. While we also have a number of ICT awards that focus on using the technology, we have maintained a strong focus on the technical side of the subject. The National Courses in Computing have retained their technical emphasis, with computer programming an essential component. More recently, we have introduced new awards in computer games [PDF] that combine programming with engaging content, which have been well received.

There are also new courses in the pipeline. The changes to Computing that will come about as a result of the Curriculum for Excellence will emphasise computer (and information) science, the new HNC Computing makes software development a mandatory component (it was previously optional), and there are new awards in mobile technology, which involve the creation of smartphone apps, about to become available to schools and colleges.

I don't mean to sound complacent. There is always room for improvement, and there are challenges facing Scotland too. But, I think, the Scottish curriculum has something for everyone.

Industrial Advisory Board

2012-01-10T10:05:00.003Z

I was invited to serve on the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) for the School of Computing at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). I attended my first meeting yesterday afternoon, held on the Paisley campus.

The Board serves a similar purpose to the SQA Sector Panel in that it seeks feedback and advice from external people. But the IAB is huge. There are 44 members, representing 40 external bodies (now including SQA). There was a good turnout at yesterday's meeting, with around 30-35 people attending.

The agenda was varied, including an update on the HE Academy and the use of e-portfolios in Higher Education. The discussion included a debate about students' use of social media and it was interesting how many of the employers stated that they expected CVs to be presented digitally (LinkedIn was particularly popular) and how they routinely used social networks (such as Facebook) for background checks on candidates. One of the items on the agenda related to BCS accreditation of their degree courses, and that reminded me that I need to pursue BCS accreditation for the new HN awards.

I had planned to review the membership of the SQA Sector Panel but yesterday's meeting brought this into sharp focus because of the high turnout at the Board meeting compared to the much lower attendance at Sector Panel meetings. The University's Board and SQA's Panel operate similarly so that's not the problem, but I need to increase membership and representation, and improve attendance at Sector Panel meetings. That will be one of my resolutions for 2012.

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about the Sector Panel.

SQA , Oracle and a UK First

2012-01-06T10:26:00.002Z

We are delighted that for the first time an International Oracle Academy event for school teachers and trainers will be held in Scotland.

We have a strong working partnership with Oracle and it will be great to welcome teachers from across the UK and beyond to Scotland. There are well established links to the Oracle Curriculum from Higher , Advanced Higher and through to HNC/D and vocational qualifications SCQF 6-8

The Oracle Academy provides teachers and lecturers with the skills required to successfully deliver the Oracle Academy curriculum in schools and further education establishments, the EMEA Institute is being held in the UK / Scotland for the first time, it has previously run in Belgium, Vienna, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Teachers / lecturers who participate from Scotland will work face-to-face with people from a variety of teaching backgrounds from across Europe, and will have access to personal support and tuition.
The Oracle Academy in Edinburgh will focus on two classes as part of our Introduction To Computer Science course:

Database and Programming with SQL
Students analyze business requirements; create entity relationship diagrams and data models while building collaboration and problem solving skills. Later, students learn SQL using the Oracle Application Express tool; they investigate careers, gain interviewing skills and earn Oracle Professional certification opportunities.

Database Programming with PL/SQL
Students develop PL/SQL programming, project management, and application development skills. In addition, students have the opportunity to gain certification as an "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate."

Virtual training Available (approx. 2 months) April 9 - June 15, 2012
In-class training (5 days) - The Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland - July 23 - July 27, 2012
· Attend daily training - 5 days
· Complete Exit Exam
· Pass Exit Exam within 60 days of the conclusion of the in-class training.
The course is free but candidates must provide their own accommodation and subsistence
To view course curriculum please visit https://academy.oracle.com/pages/prog_offerings_courses_overviews.htm
To view the Institute schedule online visit https://academy.oracle.com/pages/prog_commit_inst_institute.htm

If you want to know more about what is involved please contact mailto:iris.lanny@oracle.com You are also invited to attend a free event in the Teacher Building, Glasgow on Thursday 2nd February, 10am - 12pm to hear more details of the program from existing Oracle Academy members in Scotland at college and Secondary school level. To confirm your place at this event click here .

Happy New Year

2012-01-05T16:51:00.001Z

The team returned to work today. We all had a nice, if wet and windy, holiday.

Last year was a good year for the team. The main development was the HN Review, which culminated in the validation event for HNC Computing in December. We worked hard to develop and promote qualifications for markets outside of Scotland, and we hope that this will bear fruit during the coming year. The annual Heads of Computing event, held in early December, was also a success.

We have a lot planned for 2012. We have to complete the HN Review, which will involve the development of five revised or new awards, and a number of existing awards are due to be reviewed this coming year, including PC Passport. Last year we introduced a satisfaction survey, to find out what we were doing right and wrong, and we plan to continue with this again in 2012.

We also intend to continue with our use of social meda to engage with the sector. This blog has established itself as an important commmunication channel, and our Twitter feed is becoming popular (we currently have 330 followers). The final piece in the jigsaw would be a social network, and we plan to look at services such as Google Plus to see if this can add to our existing communication tools.

We live in interesting times. The vocational education sector in Scotland, and beyond, is going through a period of rapid change. We appreciate that you need up-to-date qualifications for your learners and we are here to provide them -- so let us know if we can help you in any way.

We hope you have a good 2012, and appreciate you reading this blog.

Christmas party

2011-12-23T11:18:00.001Z

We had our Christmas party yesterday. It began in the customary way, with a secret Santa in the office, before we headed off to the Merchant City for our Christmas lunch. Some of you may recognise Santa as the man who normally organises examinations in English.

There are a few sore heads today, but everyone made it in to the office. We stop this afternoon until Thursday, 5 January.

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog. Our readership has steadily grown over the years, and it is now one of the main channels of communication between SQA and centres. The team wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Bobby, Caroline & ~~Lois~~ Hilary

NC Computing: Technical Support Arrangements

2011-12-19T12:38:00.003Z

I noticed that the Arrangements for the new NC Computing: Technical Support are now available on the SQA website [PDF]. This qualification is offered at SCQF Levels 5 and 6.

This new NC award is more technical than existing NC qualifications (such as NC Digital Media Computing) and better suited to progression to the more technical HN awards (such as HNC/D Computer Networking).

This NC was developed by City of Glasgow College, with support from the NQGA team in SQA. Since I was not personally involved in the development, I was able to serve on the validation panel.

You can download the Arrangements for any of our NC or NPA awards here.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about any of these non-advanced awards, including the new Technical Support qualification.

Operational planning

2011-12-14T12:32:00.002Z

The team met this morning to discuss our plans for 2012-13. Every year each team in the Qualifications Development Directorate creates an operational plan, which describes the qualifications that we plan to revise or create in the coming year. I know that colleges do something similar, which is why we have the Heads of Computing event around this time of the year to help you create your plans.

A number of awards are due their "quinquenial review". We try to review each qualification every five years. So, next year we will be looking at the National Certificate in Digital Media Computing, PC Passport, and HNC/D IT, among others. We also have some ideas for new qualifications. Of course, me and my team don't just dream up things and then proceed to develop them. Every development goes through a business case process, which ensures that we only spend time and money on qualifications that meet a real need.

We try to listen to what you want throughout the year, but if you have any ideas for new qualifications please contact me directly or leave a comment on this post.

HNC Computing validation

2011-12-12T12:07:00.000Z

The validation event for the revised HNC Computing was held on Friday. The award was validated with some conditions. The development team was delighted with the outcome.

It was a good event and the new award will benefit from the Validation Panel's ideas. You can find out more about the validation event on the HN Review blog. Or contact Caroline for more information about the HN Review.

Awarding Body Forum

2011-12-09T12:12:00.001Z

I attended one of the quarterly Awarding Body Forum meetings yesterday, which was held in the OCR offices in Coventry. It wasn't the best day for flying and my return flight into Glasgow featured in the national news. But I survived.

These meetings are attended by awarding bodies from all corners of the UK, such as OCR, EdExcel, and BCS. The meeting is chaired by Chris Morrow of E-Skills UK.

The agenda covered a range of topics such as ITQs in English schools and Modern Apprenticeships (MAs), which are particularly important for Scotland since we are in the process of updating the current IT User and IT Professional MAs. SQA will host a meeting about this in January.

England is a complex qualification sector, so these meetings are a good way for me to keep up to date with what's happening in the rest of the UK.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about SVQs or Modern Apprenticeships.

NC Computer Games QDT

2011-12-07T16:30:00.000Z

The third meeting of the QDT for the new NC in Computer Games Development, at SCQF Level 6, took place today. The aim of today's meeting was to brainstorm the contents of the new award. So there was lots of talking about the sort of things we want in the award.

I began the meeting by congratulating Frank Duffy, of Motherwell College, for being elected the Lead Developer for this project.

Of course, we don't have a blank piece of paper. There is a Level 5 award already in existence and, of course, this award should articulate with the HNC in Computer Games Development. But we had interesting debates about what should be in this award, core skills and other areas such as mathematics and business skills.

The team felt it important that the award is suitable for technical and creative students, and the framework should not create barriers to either group... so mandatory maths was out!

It was a good meeting. We finished by asking Frank to take away our ideas and turn them into an actual framework. Once the QDT agrees a framework we will carry out a public consultation. Watch this space for more information.

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

Microsoft Partners in Learning Camp Scotland #pilgf #msftpil

2011-12-06T21:19:00.001Z

We've been a partner with Microsoft since 2003 around vocational qualifications but for the last six years this has included learning and teaching development opportunities through the superb programme that is Microsoft Partners in Learning.

There are now three Microsoft Innovative Schools in Scotland

Calderglen High School in East Kilbride,
Stirling High School in Stirling
Tynecastle High School in Edinburgh.

It should not be a secret that the Microsoft Partners in Learning Programme offers Scottish Teachers the opportunity to network in Scotland , across the UK and internationally. Scottish Teachers do really well in competitions like the annual innovative teachers awards - success at UK level can lead to European and Global events. You can read some reports from the recent Global Forum in Washington DC from three of our delegates here

Ollie Bray Is writing his usual full account of proceedings
Ian Stuart An epic with some great photographs
Tony McDaid Some nice reflections from a Head Teacher

There are always opportunities to get involved - it is worth following the Partners in Learning Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/teachers/

In January you could meet some of the team in Scotland !

In January Calderglen High School is hosting a Microsoft Partners in Learning Teaching Camp

Camp Scotland

After the great success of the last three Microsoft Partners in Learning Teacher Camps, we are taking the concept on the road (to Scotland) – this is an open invitation to all Teachers in Scotland. So if you want to spend time with other innovative educators, then this is an ideal event for you.

Camp Scotland takes place at Calderglen High School, starting 10:00am on Thursday 26th and finishing 4:00pm Friday 27th January 2012.

What will I be doing at Camp Scotland?

We will give you training in using free Microsoft software to create teaching and learning resources for the classroom. You will have time to design, create and evaluate those resources and collaborate with others. You will also get the chance to speak to experts at Microsoft about our technology. In addition you will also be learning how to deliver the same training to colleagues in your own schools. These resources will take the form of screen capture videos, which we call Innovids. You can see examples of these on the Partners in Learning YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/innovativeteach

How do I apply?

We don’t want videos or lengthy biographies from you, to apply for this free event, just email three tweet-esque type statements (140 characters or less) to ofrazer [at] calderglen.s-lanark.sch.uk before the closing date Friday 16^th December. These statements should be ideas of how you would, or are using Microsoft technologies to support learning across the curriculum. For example:-

using conditional formatting in Excel to help visual learners in numeracy
using PowerPoint to create animated flicker books
using the Songsmith to create mobile ringtones

Also include details of your school, subject expertise and pupil age range in your application. We will select 25 applicants with the most intriguing and innovative ideas, who will be notified on Friday 13^th January.

I am not an ICT teacher is it worth me applying?

Yes, most definitely, we are looking for classroom innovators in learning, rather than techie whizz kids. This event is targeted at those Teachers in Scotland interested in teaching and learning, and how technology can support that, rather than the technology itself. This event is for teachers in Primary, Secondary and Special school settings.

What will I need to bring?

We expect you to bring some of the tools you are using already:

a headset with a microphone or Headphones and a Microphone
a laptop running Windows Vista or Windows 7,
Office 2007 or 2010 (not essential)
You need to have installed and have working , Community Clips -Freely available at http://www.officelabs.com/projects/communityclips/Pages/Default.aspx
We will send you a list of tools to download and install when we confirm your attendance.

What will I be expected to do?
We hope that you will create two innovid resources. We will collect those resources and post them to our YouTube Channel and GLOW.
In return, we will offer you support if you wish to recreate this course in your school and you will receive a certificate welcoming you as a Partners in Learning Teacher, along with more ideas about how to enhance pupil’s learning through the use of technology.

Heads of Computing event

2011-12-06T10:28:00.001Z

The Heads of Computing event was held on Friday (2 December) but I've not had the chance to update the blog since then.

These meetings have been taking place, every year, for a long time. I remember attending them when I was a Head of Department in the 1990's. Computing is one of the few subject areas to continue with these events but I think that they still serve a purpose since they, effectively, summarise what's been going on for the last 12 months - and what's coming down the line in the future. So, they're a great way to catch up, for busy people.

There was a good turn out on Friday. Fifty-four people attended, from 34 colleges, which represents very good coverage of the Scottish FE sector.

There are some standing items on the agenda, such as the Senior External Verifier's annual report, and my own presentation was a standing item too -- the qualification update, when me, Caroline and Hilary report on what's been developed over the last year and what we're currently working on.

Heads of computing dec 2011

View more presentations from bobbyelliott.

The agenda was pretty varied with presentations about the teaching of Computer Games qualifications, an update on the online learning material that is available to centres, and a particularly interesting discussion about how colleges can work together. We also took the opportunity to update attendees on the HN Review.

All of the presentations from the day are available from Caroline. If you attended the event, please complete a short event evaluation survey to help us make next year's event better.

Appointment of VMware Cascade Centre

2011-12-05T23:39:00.001Z

A communication went to all College Principals and Heads of Computing today -
Check with your SQA Coordinator for full details.

The SQA and VMware are seeking to appoint a national cascade centre for VMware - to work with SQA and VMware for three years in the first instance.

This is an opportunity to work directly with VMware and play a shaping
role in the development of VMware skills across Scottish Further Education
and the positioning of VMware Certification within the national
qualifications portfolio.

We are delighted to welcome VMware as a DIVA partner.

Second visit to JISC conference

2011-11-25T15:13:00.001Z

I haven't managed to return to the JISC conference since Tuesday morning, but I caught the final keynote presentation this afternoon, which was given by Ewan McIntosh, whose blog is well known.

Ewan spoke about the eight challenges for educators. These included the use of jargon and how to design the curriculum. It was another wide ranging and interesting talk. I was particularly interested in his comments about our failure to really encourage life long learning (he pointed out that only 1% of adults in the UK have a PhD). He also questioned HE's real desire to change since so much of the present system suits the sector.

The entire conference was delivered through Blackboard. The keynotes were all delivered by video. Blackboard supports a range of tools to permit the audience to interact with the speaker, such as online voting, so there was a lot of interaction -- more interaction than you normally get at a "real" conference. I enjoyed the sessions that I attended every bit as much as I would have if I had been there in person. In fact, being online has advantages in that you can immediately check out things, such as references that a speaker provides.

Online learning has fantastic potential for continued professional development.

PDA in Website Design - Now Available

2011-11-25T13:34:00.002Z

The PDA in Website Design at SCQF Level 7 is now available to centres.

The award consists of three single credits all at SCQF Level 7. The Units are:

FW5C 34 Website Design: Planning and Design
FW5D 34 Website Design: Multimedia Content Creation
FW5E 34 Website Design: Development Technologies

The new PDA is based on the official curriculum for the CIW Web Design Specialist (formally CIW Site Designer) qualification.

The Arrangements Document can be downloaded from there SQA website here.

vmware - Towards a Cacade centre

2011-11-22T12:31:00.001Z

Over the last few months we have been in discussion with VMWare and we are delighted that they are going to become a DIVA Partner . We expect to get a communication out to Colleges before Christmas

to College Principal and Heads of Computing to consider working with SQA and VMWare as a national cascade centre.

In partnership we hope to

· Upskill staff in Colleges

· Build capacity across Scotland to deliver qualifications

· Ensure that appropriate recognition is given for VMWare

· Build a sustainable relationship with the global VMWARE community

Innovating in E-Learning 2011

2011-11-22T11:31:00.001Z

I am attending a JISC conference this week, entitled Innovating in E-Learning. It's an online conference, which is ideal since this is a busy week for me and I could not have attended a "real" conference due to work commitments. But an online conference allows me to pop-in to the conference when I have time.

I "attended" today's keynote presentation by David Puttnam entitled "Towards a digital pedagogy". Through the miracle of technology, his presentation is already online. It was a wide ranging, interesting talk, which covered globalisation and the effect of digital technology on learning. He made the observation that a surgeon from 1911 would be completely lost in the 21st Century operating theatre but the school teacher would be familiar with the 21st Century classroom: "Technology has not been permitted to make an impact". He asked "Why are we making such heavy weather of transforming learning?". He also said that "we should not simply digitise current practice" but use technology in new and innovative ways. He emphasised the importance of continued professional development for teachers. He concluded by stating that "The 1960's approach to teaching and learning cannot be sustained".

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more about pedagogy, and some fundamental questions were not addressed -- such as "Is technology simply a tool or does it fundamentally change pedagogy?". But it was very interesting to listen to someone with such a interesting background and commitment to education.

The conference continues until Friday.

Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Training Opportunity

2011-11-22T10:08:00.001Z

In June 2011 our first batch of Linux trainees enjoyed a week of staff development from Forth Valley College. Here are some happy smiling faces from the Scottish Further Education Computing Sector. The group of 12 included lecturers from across Scotland.

We are delighted that there is now another opportunity to build Linux expertise and capacity across the sector. The Linux awards like those of other DIVA partners are going through SCQF credit and levelling and will where needed sit inside HNC and HND Awards.

Forth Valley College, in conjunction with LPI (Linux Professional Institute) are running a CPD opportunity for staff wishing to deliver the LPI-1 qualification within their own Centre. The training will be offered on 13th– 17th February. The course is free to any FE College. All courses run at Forth Valley College, Falkirk Campus . The 5 day training course will prepare participants for the Linux Professional Institute examinations LPI- 101 and LPI- 102 which when successfully achieved give LPIC-1 certification. For more information please contact Tony Dyer on 01324 403158 or e-mail tony.dyer@forthvalley.ac.uk

To book a place please contact Gillian Culbert Gillian.culbert@forthvalley.ac.uk

HN review

2011-11-21T15:20:00.001Z

When we undertake a major development we sometimes create a separate blog for it, to save this blog from becoming "poluted" with a single development. So, around a year ago, we created a blog for the HN Review, which is a large project that aims to update five popular HN awards in the Computing area. The HN Review blog, we hope, has permitted ordinary lecturers to keep up-to-date with those developments so that they are fully aware of what is coming next year.

I updated that blog this afternoon and thought it might be a good time to remind readers of this blog about its existence. I won't repeat here what I wrote there since you can check the HN blog if you are interested in how things are coming along. Suffice to say, things are progressing OK, with the usual speed-bumps along the way!

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about the new HN awards.

Heads of Computing Event - Last Call

2011-11-21T12:23:00.001Z

The Heads of Computing Event will take place on Friday 2nd December 2011 in the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow.

We have limited places left so if you have not yet registered and plan to come along please click on the following URL:

http://headsofcomputing2011.eventbrite.co.uk/

Look forward to seeing you then.

Validity theory

2011-11-14T10:17:00.001Z

I attended one of SQA's occasional research seminars on Friday afternoon about the validity of assessment. It was presented by Paul Newton of Cambridge Assessment, part of Cambridge University.

Paul's talk was entitled: "Controversy surrounding modern validity theory". The validity of an assessment is a measure of its appropriateness. For example, assessing driving skills (solely) through a writing test would not be very valid.

The "controversy" relates to arguments surrounding classical validity theory versus modern validity theory. Classical theory focuses purely on the appropriateness of the test for its intended purpose; modern theory extends this to include all possible uses of the test. For example, a Higher question paper might be appropriate for its intended purpose (to measure students' knowledge of the associated curriculum) but not valid for some of its actual purposes (such as selection for university). Classical assessment theory would consider this examination valid (it's OK for what it was designed for), whereas modern theory would not (it's not OK for what it is used for).

It was a complex but interesting lecture. Classical validity theory creates lots of different types of validity (such as content validity, construct validity and predictive validity) whereas modern theory only has one (construct validity) but requires this to be tested for all possible uses. At the end of the presentation, my sympathies lay with classical validity theory since the complexities of measuring all of the possible effects of a test were too great.

These research seminars are presented by experts in the subject area, and are intended to keep SQA staff up-to-date with the latest developments in assessment and qualification design.

Putting Learners at the Centre

2011-11-11T13:41:00.001Z

There was an internal SQA meeting this morning to discuss the implications for SQA of the recently published pre-legislative report on post-16 education in Scotland. Putting Learners at the Centre, published by the Scottish Government in September, covers key areas for post-compulsory education in Scotland, particularly issues relating to improved efficiency and articulation between college and university.

"Regionalism" is a key theme in the report, whereby groups of colleges and universities can work together, in a local region, to make efficiency savings and improve the service to learners. The other key theme is articulation between college and university. The report notes the successes in this area that have already been achieved, such as strong links between many HNC/D programmes and degree courses, but makes clear that more could be done to strengthen these links and make them more successful.

We had an interesting conversation around three questions:

Do we have the right qualifications to meet the needs of employers, learners and the economy?
How can we improve progression and articulation between our qualifications and degrees?
How can we work more closely with employers?

We've worked hard over the years to forge links between HN awards in Computing and associated degree programmes and, as a result, Computing is one of the subjects with the strongest articulation links between colleges and universities. The current HN Review aims for strengthen these links. It is the main reason that we elected an examination for the Graded Unit in the HNC, rather than a project. This report emphasises the importance of these links.

Sector Panel meeting

2011-11-08T15:45:00.002Z

The Sector Panel for Computing & IT met today in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The Panel meets twice per year. The basic job of a Sector Panel is to provide advice to the SQA team about external developments to ensure that the qualification portfolio is relevant to the needs of stakeholders. Members include representatives of colleges (such as Forth Valley College), employers (such as Microsoft) and national agencies (such as Education Scotland). I was pleased to introduce two new members tday - a representative of the British Computer Society and a representative of Skills Development Scotland.

We had a busy agenda, which included the HN Review, the update to Internet Safety, and the progress with the new NPAs in Mobile Technology.

Members were impressed with how the new HNs are shaping up. The draft frameworks include lots of new units, such as Computer Forensics, Online Collaboration, Mobile Technology and Cloud Computing, which should make the new awards very up-to-date.

Two members of the Panel had produced a report on how best to measure performance, and they reported on their findings today. Measuring success is not simply a case of working out what percentage of the intake actually achieve an HNC or HND in a given year. Many students leave courses early or return to complete a course they started some years before, so it was interesting to discuss how best to measure the "true" success rates. One of the presenters noted that the number of students doing HN awards in Computing had remained largely stable, in spite of significant falls in number of students studying Computing at university and, to a lesser extent, schools.

The discussions will continue on the online forum for Panel members. The next meeting will take place in Spring 2012.

We're looking for new members so please contact Caroline if you are interested in serving on the Panel.

NC Computer Games Development QDT meeting

2011-11-04T16:20:00.001Z

The QDT for the new National Certificate in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6 met this morning in the SQA offices in Glasgow. This was the second meeting of the team. There was a good turn-out, with 10 members attending, representing colleges, schools, and industry.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the existing awards and to begin the debate about the nature of the new award. There are a number of existing qualifications in this area and it's important that this new award "fits" with what's already there. So we had a good look inside the existing NPAs, NC and HNC in this area.

My presentation focused on the process of creating new qualifications and the timescales that we are working to.

Nc computer games qdt#2

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We aim to have the new qualification available to centres from May next year, when we will conduct a launch event to showcase all of the games-based awards available to centres.

The QDT had interesting discussions about a wide range of issues, such as the balance between mandatory and optional units, the core skills that should be covered, and how this award fits with the philosophy of the Curriculum for Excellence. One thing everyone agreed about was the importance of qualifications like this for making learning engaging and productive.

Our next step is to select a Lead Developer, which we hope to do in the next week or so. This person plays a key role in driving the development forward. I'll keep you posted about this.

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

Internet Safety update

2011-11-03T15:06:00.002Z

I met with Ted Hastings yesterday afternoon to discuss progress with the review of the Internet Safety qualification. Ted had been at a meeting in the morning in Edinburgh with various agencies with an interest in this area, including the Scottish Government and Education Scotland.

I was pleased to hear that his proposed changes to the existing qualification were well received. Over the last couple of months, Ted has been consulting widely on the contents of the updated unit.

So, we're now at the stage where we can confidently proceed with writing the revised unit. A draft version will be available by the end of this month, with a final version available to centres from January 2012. We will also update the support materials, which will include an assessment exemplar and online teaching materials, including a mobile phone version. These materials will be available to centres from March next year.

We plan to launch the revised qualification at Safer Internet Day 2012, which will be 2 February next year.

Contact Caroline for more information about our Internet Safety award.

Updated team chart

2011-11-01T15:35:00.000Z

I recently updated the qualification portfolio diagram, and today I updated the team chart to show which Qualifications Officer (QO) is responsible for what awards.

You should download and print this diagram, and use it when you contact SQA.

External Verifier meeting

2011-10-31T11:17:00.000Z

There was an EV meeting on Saturday in Glasgow. Once a year, all of the EVs meet to discuss quality related issues. The meeting is led by the Senior Verifier for my subject area, David Drennan.

It's a long day, commencing at 9:30am and finishing around 4pm, but it covers a lot of issues. The topics at this meeting included CPD for EVs, the new online system called EV+, and e-assessment. David also took the opportunity to discuss his annual report with the team.

Me and my team work closely with the EVs and it's great to have an opportunity to meet them face-to-face rather than the online contact that dominates normal communications.

I give a qualification update at every meeting, which covers all of the changes that have taken place over the last year. It's important that EVs are aware of new qualifications that they may come across in centres. In fact, knowing about qualifications is part of the new system of "competency" that EVs will be required to satisfy, which David described to his team.

Ev update oct 2011 (1)

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Qualifications development played a particularly large part of Saturday's meeting. The person leading the HN Review, Gerry Mackie, provided an update on this development, and June McCamlie updated EVs about qualifications available outside of Scotland, such as our new Computer Games awards that are available in England.

Being an EV is a great way to get a feel for standards across Scotland, and is fantastic CPD. Contact Allison Paterson if you want to know more about becoming an EV for Computing.

300 followers on Twitter

2011-10-28T15:12:00.001+01:00

I noticed that we passed the 300 threshold on Twitter this morning. We've been adding around 5-10 followers per week for the last few months. It would be great if that figure was 600, and included every Computing teacher and lecturer in Scotland.

We don't use Twitter for trivia. So, if you choose to follow us, I promise that we won't bore you with our personal opinions or what we had for breakfast this morning. But we do use it for short, sharp updates. Sometimes it's something important (such as a new qualification) and sometimes it's not so important (such as one of the team being on leave). But, I hope, it's always potentially useful to you.

You can get Twitter on your PC, smartphone and tablet, so it's a simple and convenient way of keeping up-to-date with what the team are doing. I hope you choose to follow us. If you do already, please encourage others to do so.

Effective assessment workshop

2011-10-28T10:27:00.000+01:00

I attended a workshop about assessment yesterday. It was organised by JISC and held in Glasgow. There was an excellent turn-out, with around 60 people attending from the HE and FE sectors. The title of the workshop was Effective Assessment in the Digital Age, and its key purpose was to generate ideas about how to change [assessment] practice in college.

I've had a professional interest in how technology affects assessment for a long time. My paper on modernising assessment generated some interest a few years ago. Interestingly, the event opened with the statement: "You won't here us talk about 'e-assessment' or 'computer-assisted assessment', only how technology can assist assessment". The implication being that technology is assistive, not transformational. I'm not sure that I agree.

The event was very practical, with few presentations and lots of round-table discussions. There were also a couple of case studies about how centres have used tools such as blogs and e-portfolios for assessment. The JISC publication Effective Assessment in a Digital Age [PDF] was referred to throughout the event, and it's a publication that I recommend you download and read.

There are lots of challenges around the use of technology for learning and assessment. We need to modernise teaching methods to take advantage of the new learning environment. And research has shown that we don't assess online writing consistently or, on many occasions, fairly.

JISC events are invariably good, and yesterday's event was no exception. You can get a taste of it from its Twitter feed.

Microsoft Partners in Learning

2011-10-27T21:26:00.000+01:00

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There are lots of opportunities for school teachers to see good practice in ICT. We now have three Microsoft Innovative Schools in Scotland and each year Microsoft holds their Partners in Learning Conference. We have had Scottish Innovative teachers flown to European and Global destinations as part of the Partners in Learning Innovative teachers competition.

If you know someone who is working wonders in the classroom using ICT please pass this message on.

The 8th Microsoft UK Partners in Learning Forum is a one-day conference, free of charge to all teachers and educators who wish to attend. The workshops and keynotes this year have a STEM ‘flavour’ and address the theme of ‘Teach more, learn more, inspire more.’

This year the Forum is being held at the Microsoft Headquarters, Thames Valley Park in Reading on the 24^th Nov 2011.

We have a rich agenda that includes as Keynote speakers, the world renowned Ian Livingstone OBE, Life President ofEidos , Alex Bellos, the author of the popular science bookAlex's Adventures in Numberland and Ollie Bray, the National Adviser for Emerging Technologies at Education Scotland

In addition, delegates will be able to choose from a range of workshops. I would suggest that you sign up as soon as possible as places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Using the Kinect SDK/Kodu in the classroom	Classroom Teachers Ray Chambers from Lodge Park Technology College & Nicki Maddams fromHartsdown College, give hands-on practical guidance on how to programme and create games in the classroom
Everyone is a Maths genius, can computer science/technology prove it?	Dr Chris Imafidon – is one of the “World’s foremost scholars on leveraging informatics for learning and exceptional achievement. This workshop will discuss how computer science/technology exposed the myths of natural Intelligence, genes, gender, IQ, age, background, post-code.
Computing: The Science of Nearly Everything?	Dr Tom Crick, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), looks at the big question: How are we developing and encouraging the next generation of technology innovators in the UK?
Be a Maker: learn to build gadgets with .NET Gadgeteer	Dr Scarlet Schwiderski-Grosche from Microsoft Research.Do you like computer gadgets? Would you like to learn how to build and program gadgets to your own design? Then this workshop is for you!
Medicines and innovation – the missing link	Kandarp Thakkar - STEM Ambassador Programme - This workshop will introduce the STEM programme and give some ‘real-life’ case studies of successful use of this programme in delivering high quality university admissions.
Guerrilla Teaching & Learning	Daniel Raven-Ellison is a guerrilla educator, co-founder of The Geography Collective and creative director of Mission:Explore. Join this workshop to receive initial training in how to be a guerrilla teacher and learner.
Who’s afraid of the big bad ‘network’	Dan Roberts from saltash.net community school, presents light-hearted perspective and interactive & engaging discussion which considers the challenges & issues of schools using social networking, how these can be overcome?

Also, find out who are the recipients of this year’s Microsoft UK Partners in Learning Teacher Awards.The awards will be presented to Teachers who have submitted projects that illustrate the innovative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Not only will they receive award recognition, but have the chance to be invited to the next Partners in Learning Forum and win a Xbox 360 and Kinectpackage for their school. These projects will be on display at the event.

Don’t miss out, register today – Registration now open

Heads of Computing event

2011-10-25T11:30:00.002+01:00

I recently posted about the planned Heads of Computing event, which will be held on 2 December in Glasgow. The team met this morning to firm-up our plans and finalise the agenda.

The event will take place in the recently refurbished Central Hotel in Glasgow, commencing at 10:00am and finishing at 4:00pm. We are accepting online registrations now. There are 70 places available but it's a popular event so please book soon.

It should be an interesting day. In addition to the usual standing items - my qualifications update and the Senior EV's annual report - we will also talk about:

HN Review
case study in delivering Computer Games qualifications
college partnerships.

There will also be an update on the e-learning materials available to support Computing awards, including a demonstration.

A detailed agenda will be sent to every centre in the near future. Please contact Caroline if you want to know more about this event. You can register here.

Presentation to Croatian delegation

2011-10-24T14:20:00.001+01:00

From time to time, I get asked to talk to international visitors to SQA. This morning I gave a presentation to a group of educationalists from Croatia about SVQs.

Although I focussed on the role of my own Sector Skills Council (E-Skills) and the development of my own SVQs (IT User and IT Practitioner), the presentation was pretty generic, so I thought you might like to see it.

Around 20 people from Croatia are visiting. The planned presentations include the full range of SQA awards in a number of subject areas.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about SVQs in IT.

Moodle training

2011-10-21T09:58:00.001+01:00

I attended a workshop on the latest version of Moodle yesterday afternoon. It was held in the JISC offices in Glasgow.

Moodle 2 was released a few months ago and includes lots of new features. This latest version looks nice. It has a clean interface, and is simple to use. I particularly liked its new filing system, which works well with a host of Web 2.0 services, such as Dropbox and Google Docs.

I don't teach any more, so my reason for attending this event was simply to keep up-to-date with what modern VLEs can offer, so that our support materials "work" with them. This event was well organised, and it refreshed my knowledge of Moodle.

SQA uses Moodle for our SQA Academy, which runs on it. And Moodle is the most popular VLE in the UK. I have a personal interest in the evolving VLE versus Web 2.0 debate. Some people think that there is no need for VLEs -- that we should simply use the free (and, often, superior) tools that are out there. Others like the formality and rigour that VLEs provide. Most people, including me, sit in the middle -- VLEs can't compete with the dynamic nature of Web 2.0 tools but can provide a useful administrative "glue". I think Moodle 2 goes some way along this road, with its excellent Web 2.0 integration.

We have a wide range of e-learning materials to support our awards. We've previously posted on the HN materials and the NC materials that you can download and host on your own VLE.

Updated qualification portfolio

2011-10-17T16:21:00.001+01:00

I've spent some of today updating the diagram that shows the qualifications in my portfolio.

The recently added awards are in bold. You might want to download and print this diagram if you want to see the range of awards available to your centre.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about non-advanced (SCQF 6 and below) awards (and all SVQs) or contact Caroline for advanced awards (SCQF 7 and above).

Oracle Academy & ThinkQuest Information Seminars and the ThinkQuest Competition 2012

2011-10-14T23:37:00.001+01:00

We partner with a number of global vendors through the Digital ICT Vendor Alliance

Oracle have asked us to highlight the following competition and workshops running across Scotland.

The ThinkQuest International Competition 2012

Think with us and you'll be ready

Find out more about the ThinkQuest International Competition and the Oracle Academy at this year's free 1/2 day Information Seminars:

Dundee - Wednesday 9 November 2011
Glasgow - Thursday 10 November 2011
Glasgow - Thursday 2 February 2012

To register your FREE place visit:

http://www.registerforevent.co.uk/tqoa2011_12/

The ThinkQuest International Competition 2012 officially opened on 14 September! Watch our amazing launch video here.

The ThinkQuest International Competition 2012:

Has amazing prizes - trips to the USA, laptops, cash and every entrant receives certification
Is for students from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities
Has three separate entry categories - ThinkQuest Projects, Digital Media and Application Development
Is open to a wide age range of students from 12 & under to 22 years old
Allows students to stand out from the crowd through working with one of the world's most recognised organisations, the Oracle Education Foundation
Is not limited to ThinkQuest members only

Please visit our website for further detail, including how you can help your students to enrol in the Competition, by clicking here.

Find out more about the ThinkQuest International Competition, how ThinkQuest is helping students to achieve Curriculum for Excellence and the Oracle Academy at this year's free 1/2 day with lunch information seminars which take place on:

Wednesday 9 November, 10am-12pm - Dundee, Discovery Point

Thursday 10 November, 10am-12pm - Glasgow, Teacher Building

Thursday 2 February, 10am-12pm - Glasgow, Teacher Building

To register your place for the free information seminars please click here.

IT trends

2011-10-14T13:00:00.000+01:00

I came across an interesting article yesterday about IT trends over the next five years. Some of them are predictable (mobile, social and cloud computing) but the others were interesting. We've covered some of them in the HN Review (such as mobile and cloud) but there are other areas that we should think about. I guess five years is the most anyone can predict in this fast moving sector. I plan to include a discussion about what you would like to see SQA offer in the forthcoming Heads of Computing event.

Online materials for NC/NPA awards

2011-10-13T13:45:00.001+01:00

Me and Hilary met with Graeme Clark, of the E-Assessment & Learning team, this morning to discuss electronic support materials for non-advanced awards.

Over the last couple of years, through the TranSETT programme, a range of e-learning and e-assessment materials have been produced to support NCs and NPAs, such as the NC in Digital Media Computing and the NPA PC Passport.

The purpose of the meeting was to update us about what's coming. New materials, for awards like the NPA in Computer Games Development, are coming soon.

I was impressed with the quantity of materials available to support my awards. But we agreed that many centres did not know exactly what was available or where to find it. So Graeme is going to speak at the forthcoming Heads of Computing event, and Hilary is going to write a letter to centres to let you know what's available and where to get it. She will also post a message on this blog, with links to the materials.

Contact Graeme if you want to know more about TranSETT. Contact Hilary if you want to know more about non-advanced awards in this area.

Heads of Computing event

2011-10-12T09:56:00.003+01:00

My recent update letter mentioned that the Heads of Computing event will take place on Friday, 2 December. The team organises one of these events every year. Last year's event, in Edinburgh, was badly effected by the weather. This year's event will be held in Glasgow.

One of the main reasons for having the meeting is to meet you face-to-face, rather than the more usual virtual communications.

We're currently working on the agenda. So please let us know, via the comment facility on this blog, if there are any specific topics you want included. I've already received a suggestion to include a discussion about college partnerships and collaboration, which sounds worthwhile. And we always include a qualification update session as a standing item so that we can summarise all of the changes that have taken place in the last 12 months.

You can register for the event here. We'll be sending an e-mail invitation, via our Heads of Computing mailing list, in the near future. The attendance is normally excellent, with just about every college in Scotland represented. I hope you can makes this year's event. If you can only make one SQA event this year, this one should be it.

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about this event or register directly here.

Curriculum for Excellence

2011-10-10T16:38:00.001+01:00

The team took some time out this morning to meet with Derek Middleton to discuss the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) programme. Derek is a Qualifications Development Manager (QDM) with special responsibility for Computing and Information Systems.

Derek gave us an update on progress to date, and provided us with an opportunity to ask him questions about how the new Computing qualifications are shaping up. The big change is that the current separate courses (in Computing and Information Systems) are being combined into a single course (Computing & Information Science), which will be offered at SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6 (there will also be Access provision).

The draft course and unit specifications are available on the SQA website, and the programme is currently seeking feedback on the proposals.

When Derek left the meeting, the team discussed our views on the current proposals. We liked them, but recognised the challenge will be matching the aspirations of the programme with the more pragmatic demands of national examinations. The new qualifications will have a big impact on vocational awards since many students coming into NC/HNC/HND programmes will possess the new awards.

We plan to make a formal response. You should too.

Contact Derek if you want to know more about CfE.

Learning and teaching materials for NPA Computer Games Development at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6

2011-10-07T13:56:00.003+01:00

We commissioned online learning and teaching materials to be hosted on SQA Academy to complement these awards. The material was supposed to be ready for August this year, however there have been some delays and estimated availability is now the end of October.

I get a lot of enquiries asking when this material will be ready, and it would appear that many centres are postponing offering the NPAs until learning and teaching support is available. I must stress that everything needed to deliver these Group Awards is available NOW and has been since August 2010. The online material was commissioned because our eAssessment Team had some extra funding that could be utilised, however we would not ordinarily be able to offer additional resources like these.

Many schools have been delivering the NPAs in Computer Games Development using the Unit specifications and Arrangements document, and the Assessment Support Packs for each level exemplify tasks and give excellent guidance on the standard required.

Please use the Unit search facility on SQA's website to download Unit specifications
Arrangements here
SQA Coordinators can download ASPs from SQA Secure

There is a plethora of useful resources for games qualifications outwith SQA - the Consolarium hosted by LTS links to the NPAs and many other links can be found in the Arrangements. We will continue to develop support material and CPD courses for these Awards as they grow and more centres deliver them, but there is no reason for schools and colleges not to offer them now.

If you would like more information on these qualifications please contact me.

For an update on the status of online learning and teaching materials please contact Ayson Craig.

Changes to HN Unit Interactive Media Composition

2011-10-04T12:37:00.000+01:00

There have been some significant changes (including removal of outcome) to the HN Unit Interactive Media Composition over the Summer and as a result we have added to the HND Interactive Media (G9AY 16) framework a revised version of this to run alongside the existing F6BW 35 Interactive Media Composition. Unfortunately we were unable to implement any changes before the start of the new session so we were unable to include this in our batch notification update in July.

This means that centres can choose to deliver F6BW 35 Interactive Media Composition OR FW2V 35 Interactive Media Composition. Both are at the same SCQF Level and are single credit Units.

A finish date of 31st July 2013 has been attached to FW2V 35 so any centres choosing to continue to deliver this Unit will have to ensure their candidates are certificated by this end date.

A new exemplar pack has been developed for FW2V 35 and should be published over the next couple of months.

NC Computer Games Development (Level 6) first meeting

2011-09-30T14:18:00.000+01:00

The first meeting of the QDT for the new National Certificate in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6 was held this morning, in the SQA offices in Glasgow.

Ten people attended, representing colleges, schools and employers. There was a good geographical spread (colleges from Dundee to Kilmarnock were represented) and a good gender mix (unusually for this subject area, more women than men). It was particularly pleasing to see a school representative on the team.

The purpose of this first meeting was to set the scene and provide background information on the development.

NC Computer Games QDT

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We discussed how this development fits with existing qualifications, the role of the QDT, and the planned timescales. I hope to have this new award available to centres from August 2012.

It was a good, productive meeting, which, I hope, achieved its goals. There were lots of useful contributions from people. The popularity of computer games with learners was apparent, as was the educational merits of this subject area.

It's not too late to volunteer to serve on the QDT. Contact Hilary for more information. We hope to have the second meeting some time in October.

Once complete, this new award will sit alongside a comprehensive portfolio of qualifications in computer games.

NPA Mobile Technology

2011-09-28T13:53:00.001+01:00

I've mentioned the NPA in Mobile Technology a couple of times in passing, but I thought it was time to give it its own post.

The NQGA team in SQA is leading this work. The qualification is being developed by a consortium of colleges led by Anniesland College. The qualification is designed around the use of mobile technology, such as smartphones and tablets, and also the production of software ("apps") for them. There will be two awards at SCQF Levels 4 and 5. The Level 4 award will contain two units, and the Level 5 three units. These new awards should be available to centres from January 2012.

Of course, all of this is subject to the validation going well. The validation will take place around late October or early November.

I think these new awards will be appealing to schools and colleges. Contact Joe Spencer, of the NQGA team, for more information.

Annual update letters

2011-09-28T11:56:00.004+01:00

I've been working on my annual update letters over the last few days. They are now about to be dispatched to centres. Once per year I write two letters, one for non-advanced (NC/NPA) awards and one for advanced (HN/PDA) awards.

The NC/NPA letter (see below) contains information about a number of non-advanced awards, including recently developed NC qualifications. It also includes important information about the forthcoming NC in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6.

The HN/PDA letter (see below) contains information about the HN Review plus the latest changes to existing awards.

There is nothing in the letters (in fact, a lot less) that regular readers of this blog will not already know, but I am aware that there are teachers and lecturers who don't read blogs or use social media.

I plan to write a third letter about SVQs (to training centres and colleges) in the near future.

Scottish Learning Festival 2011

2011-09-23T10:55:00.002+01:00

The team attended this year's SLF, at the SECC in Glasgow, at various times during the two day event. It was the 11th Festival.

I managed to catch a couple of keynotes and some workshops. The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell, gave an interesting talk on the future of Scottish education. He placed particular emphasis on the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), describing it as "the most important education reform for a generation", which was taking place "at one of the most exciting times for Scottish education". He reminded the audience that CfE began in 2002, with the "national debate", which was instigated by the Scottish government of the time. He asked everyone to get involved in the current consultation on the new qualifications coming as a result of CfE.

His wide-ranging talk included CfE, Glow, and the recent report on post-16 education, Putting Learners at the Centre, which proposes a guaranteed learning or training place for every young person between 16-19.

One of the workshops I attended was the NC/NPA workshop presented by Elda Fleck of SQA. Elda and her team gave a presentation on the range of National Certificates (NCs) and National Progression Awards (NPAs) now available to centres. She pointed out that there are 87 NCs and 197 NPAs either available or currently in development (40). The full list is available on the NQGA website. A college lecturer provided a case study on the development and implementation of the NPA in Geographical Information Systems at SCQF Level 6, which was validated in June 2011. The team emphasised their potential to broaden the curriculum in schools and colleges, engage learners, and raise attainment.

There are lots of Computing/IT NCs and NPAs, with more on the way, ranging from PC Passport to Computer Games. Contact Hilary for more information.

NC Computer Games Development QDT meeting

2011-09-20T15:38:00.001+01:00

The first meeting of the Qualification Development Team (QDT) for the new NC in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6 will meet on 30 September, between 10am and 2pm, in the Glasgow office.

This first meeting is a kick-off meeting where I outline the role of the QDT, and the nature and scope of the development. It's an open meeting, from which we choose the core QDT members. Please contact Hilary if you are interested in attending.

College University Subject Partnership meeting

2011-09-17T11:49:00.004+01:00

There was another in the series of CUSP (College University Subject Partnership) meetings yesterday afternoon, at Caledonian University. Anne Russell, formerly of Central College now City of Glasgow College, convenes the Computing CUSP.

These CUSPs are funded by the Greater Glasgow Articulation Project (GGAP), which supports a number of CUSPs for various subjects. Their purpose, as the name suggests, is to smooth the transition from college to university.

The meeting began with an interesting presentation from Touleen Boutaleb, of Caledonian University, who updated member of the planned changes to their BEng in Network & Security Engineering. The interesting thing for me was the emphasis on maths and the importance of examinations, both of which have implications for the current HN Review. Chris Deegan, the Qualification Leader for the HND Computer Networking, was present at the meeting, and was particularly interested in this new degree.

Margaret Millan, of Motherwell College, provided an update on a current GGAP funded project, which involves staff from Motherwell College and Caledonian University exchanging for a short time. Anne invited members to think about other initiatives, linked to articulation, that could be supported. From my own point of view, it would be great if some of these projects were linked to the new HNs.

Anne plans to hold a couple of information/workshop events later this year, open to all members, and invited SQA to participate, which, of course, we would be delighted to do.

Awarding Body Forum

2011-09-15T16:35:00.001+01:00

I attended an Awarding Body Forum today. These are held quarterly, in locations across the UK. Today's meeting was held in the Pearson offices in London (Pearson is the parent company of EdExcel).

These meetings are convened by the Sector Skills Council (E-Skills) and their main purpose is to update awarding bodies on relevant developments. They also provide awarding bodies with an opportunity to raise issues with the SSC.

While much of the agenda is mainly of operational interest to awarding bodies, such as changes to funding rules, there are always some items of general interest. At today's meeting we discussed the Royal Society's study into falling uptake of Computing in schools. Awarding bodies have been invited to make submission to the study.

There was also discussion about Modern Apprenticeships (MAs). Modern Apprenticeships are "owned" by the Sector Skills Council (not awarding bodies) but they include an educational element, which normally provides apprentices with nationally recognised qualifications, such as SVQs. E-Skills has been working on updated MAs for IT User and IT Practitioner/Professional apprentices. The IT User MAs should be available soon, and the IT Practitioner/Professional ones early next year.

NC Computer Games Development

2011-09-13T12:18:00.001+01:00

Scotland has a strong reputation in computer games, and we've tried to reflect that with a world leading portfolio of national qualifications in this area.

We began development of an HNC and HND Computer Games Development in 2008, and these were available to centres in August 2009. In that same year we began development of NPAs in Computer Games Development and these were available from August 2010. In 2010, a group of colleges began development of a National Certificate (NC), and this is now available to centres (the Arrangements will be available shortly).

The NC qualification is at SCQF Level 5, and there has been a lot of interest in developing a more advanced NC award at SCQF Level 6. This morning, I met with Genevieve McCabe, of our NQGA team, to take this forward.

The Level 5 qualification was developed under SQA's Specialist Collaborative Development system, which is intended to be used when a small group of centres want to create a new qualification. This new development, at Level 6, would be a Consortium Development, which is a model we use for larger developments that will interest a high number of centres. Consortium developments are led by my team.

We agreed to take this forward at this morning's meeting. We hope to have the new NC in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6 available to centres from August 2012. Hilary will work with me on this project.

Please contact Hilary if you are interested in finding out more about this development.

Curriculum for Excellence

2011-09-08T13:42:00.000+01:00

I've tried to find a little time this week to look over the draft course arrangements that have recently been published by SQA. Of course, I was particularly interested in the details about the proposed Computing courses. I also read through the Framework for Assessment.

These changes are very important for Scottish education. Many students who progress to HNCs and HNDs in the future will possess these new qualifications so it's important that we build on them. The current HN review has kept an eye on this development to ensure that the new HN awards "work" with these new awards. Similarly, the new National 4s and 5s will form the basis of progression to a number of the vocational NPA and NC awards.

The current proposals are only drafts so you have an opportunity to contribute to the development.

Contact Derek Middleton if you want to know more about Computing within the Curriculum for Excellence.

CPD courses on SQA Academy

2011-09-07T15:28:00.003+01:00

For the last few years SQA Academy has run a set of CPD courses for lecturers in partnership with Scotland's Colleges. Some of these have focused on NQ subjects that are taught in colleges while others have been more general eg innovative uses of assessment or preparing for a verification visit.

They will be running joint courses again this year and I met with Fiona Saxby, one of SQA's Learning Technologists and Aileen Duffy from Scotland's Colleges to discuss new subjects the courses might focus on. As they are hoping to roll out to schools as well, I have suggested the NPAs in Computer Games Development at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6 as I get lots of enquiries particularly from schools interested in offering this qualification but who feel they need more support regarding delivery.

It would be good to hear if you have suggestions as to what should be included in a course, from the perspectives of centres already running it or what areas of guidance you feel are required before you would consider running Computer Games Development.

There is only a short time frame to develop material so please respond to me as soon as possible.

Proposed HNC/D Computing Frameworks

2011-08-31T16:06:00.001+01:00

Information posted on the HN Review Blog on the latest versions of frameworks.

Software Development in Scotland

2011-08-29T17:07:00.001+01:00

The Chairmain of Google, Eric Schmidt, delivered the MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh on Friday. He criticised British education in general but specifically the teaching of Computing: "Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it's made."

Scotland has avoided that. Software development has always been a key part of the Scottish curriculum. At a time when computer science and programming was being reduced in the UK, the Higher Still programme protected "pure" computing, while reacting to pressure (which existed at the time) to introduce a "softer" course by creating a new suite of courses in Information Systems. The Curriculum for Excellence continues that tradition through the proposed Computing & Information Science courses, which also feature software development as a key part of the curriculum.

Software development has been a key part of vocational qualifications in Scotland. We recently developed a suite of NPAs in Computer Games Development, perhaps the first national qualification of their kind in the world. And there is a dedicated HND qualification (HND Software Development [PDF]) that focuses on programming. The current HN Review consolidates the place of programming by making it a mandatory part of the new HNC award, and every one of the new HNDs.

All of that might explain why Scotland punches above its weight when it comes to software production, with 25% of the UK's jobs in the video games sector being located here. The country has established an international reputation in computer games production and SQA has supported this through an extensive range of qualifications in this area.

Contact Hilary for more information about NC/NPA Computer Games Development or contact Caroline for more information about HND Software Development or HNC/D Computer Games Development. Contact Derek if you want to know more about the role of programming in the Curriculum for Excellence.

E-Assessment Scotland Conference 2011

2011-08-26T11:00:00.000+01:00

I attended the E-Assessment Scotland Conference 2011 today at the University of Dundee. It was my first time at this event. I really enjoyed it. Although most attendees came from the university sector, the college sector was well represented, with 13 Scottish colleges in attendance. I didn't see any school representatives on the list of attendees.

It followed the usual conference template of keynote speakers and seminars and workshops. The keynotes were uniformly good. The first keynote - from Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University - focussed on the potential of ICT to provide feedback to students. His key message was that UK education focusses on surface learning -- learning that is easy to measure rather than learning that people need to survive and prosper in the 21st Century. He criticised the lack of feedback given to learners: "I got more positive feedback from E-Bay than in 14 years of education."

A recurring theme during the conference was people's preference for Web 2.0 tools and services rather than VLEs and e-assessment systems. Several presenters pointed out that teachers and students preferred to use the same tools for learning that they use as part of the "normal" lives, and found VLEs to be alien.

The afternoon keynote, delivered by Donald Clark, was particularly challenging. Donald argued that assessment is not keeping up with external changes. He criticised the "obsession with factual knowledge" rather than "real learning", and emphasised to importance of learning by doing. He, too, was unimpressed with VLEs and e-portfolio systems. Donald argued for "less assessment, more use of formative assessment, more peer assessment, and greater use of simulations and games-based assessment". He was particularly critical of the lecture system in Higher Education, which, he argued, was only good for knowledge transfer, and ineffective for deep learning.

I was invited to participate in the panel session at the end of the conference, which I enjoyed. One of the questions asked was about trends in e-assessment. I expressed my view that we are in the middle of a technological revolution in society but only at the start of the corresponding educational revolution. Education is conservative and moves slowly, but radical change is coming.

Qualifications Development Forum

2011-08-23T08:10:00.000+01:00

The team work within the Qualifications Development directorate within SQA, and every year the whole directorate attend a forum event. There was an event yesterday afternoon, held in Glasgow.

These events are a collection of workshops, from which each person chooses to attend three. I attended one about the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), another about research in assessment, and one on the design of qualifications.

It was particularly interesting to catch up with what's happening with CfE. This is an important national initiative that will effect all of education, not just schools. I noted that draft course rationals, structures and unit specifications will be published later this month, and final arrangements this time next year (apart from Advanced Higher).

My favourite workshop was the one about research in assessment. We spent most of the time discussing the need to modernise education in general, and assessment in particular, but recognised the barriers to change. One particularly interesting piece of research related to giving adults credit (within HNC/Ds) for their previous work experience -- but most respondents (learners and employers) emphasised the academic value of HN qualifications and didn't want to "miss out" on any part of these programmes.

The workshop of "product architecture" (that's qualification design to you and me) was also interesting because SQA is looking at ways of changing the way we design and define awards.

It's great to get away from e-mail and telephone for an afternoon and catch up with the bigger issues facing SQA.

Follow us on Twitter

2011-08-22T13:55:00.000+01:00

I mentioned in a post last week that I would write something about our use of Twitter. The team has been using Twitter for a year, and around 250 people now follow us. That's not bad, but we would like it to be much higher.

Twitter is a "micro-blog", which means that it's used for small messages. We use it for updates and other bits of information that we think you want to know. Not everything in this blog is "tweeted" and not everything we tweet is blogged. For example, the blog permits us to write longer posts and explain things more fully than Twitter. Twitter permits us to share "tit-bits" of information -- such as one of the team being unavailable or a link to an educational website. The blog is a diary of what the team is doing; our tweets are little messages. It's best to follow both - the blog and our tweets.

Twitter has evolved into a powerful educational tool. Most organisations now have a Twitter feed. You can follow national organisations and nearly every educationalist of note has a Twitter account. For example, we follow large organisations such as E-Skills UK, individual centres such as the Computing Department in Lasswade High School, and individuals such as Alex Salmond. Many teachers use Twitter for teaching.

So, I hope you chose to follow the SQA Computing team. It's a simple, convenient way to find out what's happening within the team and what we're working on. Simply click the "Follow" button on the right.

Using the right unit specification

2011-08-19T16:29:00.000+01:00

I spent most of this afternoon proof reading the annual reports from the Senior Verifiers for my subject areas. I'll post something about these reports later, but one comment seems particularly appropriate at this time of the year.

The Senior Verifier for Computing commented that "there were several instances of centres not using the latest versions of unit specifications". It's pretty fundamental that you are using the latest unit spec. You should download the current version of unit specifications from the SQA website. You can search for HN units here or NC units here. We also maintain a list of changes to HN units here. Please check you're teaching the right unit!

The EV reports are published later in the year.

Following this blog

2011-08-19T09:55:00.003+01:00

This blog has been around a long time, since 2004 to be precise. It has gradually built-up a pretty good readership, with around 100 visitors each day. The recent survey showed that it was the second most popular communication channel, after the SQA website.

There are various ways to follow this blog. You can, of course, simply visit this web page from time to time. You can bookmark the URL (http://sqacomputing.blogspot.com/) and add it to your favourites. But that means that you have to remember to come back regularly to check if anything new has been posted.

A better way is to be alerted when there is something new. You can do this via e-mail or via an RSS feed. If you add your e-mail address to the box on the right, you will receive a copy of every message via your inbox. Alternatively, you can add the feed to your favourite newsreader. Google Reader is an excellent, and easy to use, newsreading service.

The blog is mobile-enabled, which means that it renders nicely on most mobile phones or tablets, so you can check the blog "on the move". If you set up an RSS feed, your mobile phone will also be able to access it via that route since there are lots of nice newsreaders for smartphones. I use Feedr.

You can also follow us on Twitter but not every message on this blog is tweeted so you might miss something if that's all you use. I'll say more about Twitter in a future post.

While this blog has been successful in terms of the number of readers, it hasn't been successful as a way of getting feedback from you. Every post has a comment facility and it would be good to see more feedback this year.

Communicating with centres

2011-08-17T15:11:00.001+01:00

The recent satisfaction survey exposed two criticisms of the service we provide: (1) the way we recruit people to help us; and (2) the way we communicate with centres. I'll say more about recruiment another day, but I would like to discuss communications today.

The specific criticism about communications was that we use too many different ways of communicating with you, such as our website and Blogger and Twitter. A frequent comment was: "Why don't you put everything in one place?".

Well, we do. We put everything on the SQA website. But there are controls about the sort of thing that can be shared on the website. It's fine for documentation (such as Arrangements) but it's not designed to keep you up-to-date with daily developments. The Computing pages are as complete as the pages for any other subject area -- but we also use social media to communicate with you.

For example, this blog is ideal for recording day-to-day developments. It's what blogs are for. You don't have to follow the blog but, if you do, you will know exactly what we're doing and, more importantly, what's coming. It also provides an opportunity for you to feedback to the team using the comment facility. Similarly, Twitter has a unique purpose. It's great for short, frequent, specific messages. For example, we use it when one of the team is unavailable (perhaps on holiday), which might be important if you are waiting for a reply. These services can be accessed from various devices, such as PCs, smartphones and TVs, meaning that you can always keep up-to-date.

So we plan to continue to use the full range of communication tools that we have been using. You won't miss anything important if you stick with update letters and the website, but we will also continue to use Blogger and Twitter and, perhaps, new social media tools when we think they will improve communications.

SQA has a long tradition of working with centres in a transparent, consultative and collaborative way. Social media is a great way of continuing that tradition.

Welcome back

2011-08-15T11:14:00.002+01:00

Many lecturers and teachers return to school and college today to commence academic session 2011/12. Welcome back! We hope you have a good year.

If you scroll through this blog, you'll see what the team has been doing over the summer months. The main development has been the HN Review, which is reviewing five popular Higher National Qualifications. There was a little slippage in assigning unit writers but we are now pushing ahead. Internet Safety has went into a review phase. And we took the opportunity, during the relative quiet of the summer months, to update a number of units. There was a particularly good meeting with Scotland's Colleges, when we agreed a number of actions that should improve the service that we provide to you. In fact, it was so successful that we plan to hold similar meetings, between SQA and Scotland's Colleges, every summer.

It's that time of the year when I remind you who we are and what we do. Please download and print the team organisation chart and keep it handy. You will get a much faster response if you contact the right person.

Just before you left for holiday, we carried out a satisfaction survey and although the results were very positive, there are a couple of areas we plan to concentrate on during the coming year. One of these areas is communications. We've been using social media to keep you up-to-date for some time, and we plan to work on this during the coming year. I'll post something about this later this week.

The results of the survey were good, but the most pleasing aspect, for me, was that you consider the team friendly, visible and approachable.

We're living through a revolution in teaching and learning, caused by the Internet, mobile technology, and social media. It's a great time to be involved with education.

Internet Safety review commences

2011-08-12T15:29:00.001+01:00

I wrote in this blog in April that we were would review the Internet Safety qualification at some point in the coming financial year. Well, that review commenced this morning with the first meeting of the Qualification Development Team.

The review is being led by Ted Hastings, who created the original award, which has been very well received by thousands of learners in schools and colleges since its introduction in 2006. SQA was the first awarding body in the UK, and perhaps Europe, to develop a national qualification in this area and it has subsequently been adopted by the E-Skills Sector Skills Council as the basis of their own E-Safety qualification.

We have already carried out some research into the changes that will be required, so we're pretty clear about what needs to be done to update the qualification and harmonise it with the E-Skills version.

We will also be updating the support materials for the qualification, including the "smartphone" materials that can be used to undertake the award using a mobile phone. Our research revealed that the existing teaching and learning materials were a little dry so we will be endevouring to make them more engaging this time around.

We hope to have the new unit, and the associated support materials, available to centres from January 2012. The launch event will take place on Safer Internet Day 2012.

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

Changes to HN Unit Specifications/Materials

2011-08-09T10:54:00.000+01:00

The following changes have been made to HN materials over the summer break so please make sure that you have downloaded the most up-to-date versions before delivery (please refer to the History of Change section within the documents for more information on the reason for change):

F1W0 34 Project Management for IT (update to HN Unit Specification)
F1VV 34 User Interface Design (update to HN Unit Specification)
F1VY 34 Manage Database Systems (update to HN Unit Specification and HN Exemplar)

There have also been some significant changes to HN Unit Specifications which have resulted in new unit codes being allocated. The following Units have been revised and as a result added to the relevant group award frameworks as 'either/or' alongside the previous version. Finish dates have been placed on the Units marked 'Old' below - if you have any candidates registered for these Units, please ensure that they are completed by the finish date below to ensure certification:

F6C1 35 Self Describing Data (XML) - Old (Finish date 31st July 2013)
FM97 35 Self Describing Data (XML) - New

F6V6 35 Interactive Media: Graded Unit 2 - Old (Finish date 31st July 2013)
FP25 35 Interactive Media: Graded Unit 2 - New

DF9Y 35 Routing Technology - Old (Finish date 31st July 2012)
FR22 35 Routing Technology - New

DG09 35 Switching Technology - Old (Finish date 31st July 2012)
FR23 35 Switching Technology - New

DF9X 35 Networking Technology - Old (Finish date 31st July 2012)
FR24 35 Networking Technology - New

DG0A 35 Internetworking Technology - Old (Finish date 31st July 2012)
FR25 35 Internetworking Technology - New

In addition to the changes to the above Units, there have also been updates made to the group award frameworks within the following Arrangements Documents:

HNC Computing (G7GL 15)
HND Computing: Software Development (G7TT 16)
HND Computing: Technical Support (G7TR 16)
HND Interactive Media (G9AY 16)
HNC Computer Networking (G7DX 15)
HND Computer Networking and Internet Technology (G7DY 16)
HNC Information Technology (G857 15)
HND Information Technology (G8CX 16)

These documents can be accessed directly through the SQA website or by clicking the document links above.

Using social media for teaching and learning

2011-08-08T13:56:00.001+01:00

I came across 85 Resources: Educator Guide for Integrating Social Media today, which looks like an excellent resource for teachers who want to use social media. The site includes lots of useful links and resources for teachers.

Impact of IT on learning

2011-07-28T10:04:00.003+01:00

I attended one of SQA's occasional research seminars yesterday afternoon. This one was about learners' use of IT. The research was carried out (by SQA) between April and May 2011, and focussed on school pupils and college students in Scotland. The main points I noted were:

9 in 10 used their own technology for learning
just over half felt "very comfortable" using technology for learning
2 in 3 used technology for assessment purposes
3 in 4 used some sort of virtual learning environment
9 in 10 felt technology helped them to learn.

Although students themselves used social media (such as Facebook) for learning, this was pretty limited (such as setting up a Facebook group to discuss homework) and they didn't think social media had a lot of potential for learning.

Teachers were also positive about learners' use of technology, expressing the view that it improved engagement (particularly with less able students), provided access to up-to-date information, and improved learners' IT skills, which they will need for their working and adult lives. Both teachers and learners enjoyed using technology.

It wasn't all positive. Some teachers were concerned about the "cut and paste" mentality among some learners. Teachers also expressed some concerns about students' different levels of access to technology - and the implications for fairness. And they were also a little worried about students' ability to differentiate between the quality of information on different websites. Blocks on access to "useful websites" was also commented on.

Although one of the advantages of using technology in school and college was the new skills students acquire, only 30% of students felt that they were well prepared for using technology in the workplace. Half the students felt "very comfortable" using technology - meaning that half did not. And although 9 in 10 felt technology helped them to learn, only 4 in 10 said it helped them to a "great extent". So there is clearly room for improvement.

We plan to publish the report in the near future. Contact Simon Allan if you want more to know more about this research.

SVQ IT Professional Survey - Your help required

2011-07-27T15:45:00.002+01:00

Please find below link to a survey on proposals to replace the current SVQ IT Practitioner and Professional qualifications which form part of Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PJTR5KY

Your feedback is much appreciated.

AGM

2011-07-25T10:12:00.001+01:00

Our meeting with Colin and Gerry from Scotland's Colleges last Thursday was part of the team's "AGM". Once per year we try to find a day to get away from our e-mails and telephones to discuss more strategic issues.

Our relationship with Scotland's Colleges is clearly one such issue, but we also discussed other things. We reviewed the membership of committees. We run three committees: the Sector Panel for Computing & IT; and the Qualifications Support Teams for NC/NPA and HN/PDA awards. The Sector Panel and the QST for HN awards are OK, but we need more members for the QST for NC awards so please contact Hilary if you are interested in joining.

We make a specific effort at these meetings to review our use of technology. For example, at our AGM in 2009 we decided to use Twitter to communicate with centres (there are now almost 250 followers). In 2010 we decided not to use something -- we felt wikis were not ready for serious use as a collaborative writing tool (at least for our purposes). At this year's meeting we looked at video communication, such as Skype, and agreed to try to use this more often to communicate with stakeholders. We can review the success of this idea at next year's AGM!

Contact me if you have any ideas about how the team can work more effectively with you.

Meeting with Scotland's Colleges team

2011-07-21T16:41:00.000+01:00

Me, Caroline and Hilary met with the corresponding team from Scotland's Colleges this morning. Colin and Gerry came through to the SQA offices in Glasgow. The purpose of the meeting was to update each other on our respective plans, and explore ways of working together.

It was a productive meeting, with lots of good ideas coming out of it. One of the things we discussed was teaching and learning materials for the new HNs that will be produced as part of the on-going HN Review. SQA will produce assessments for the mandatory units within these awards, but we recognised that centres may need additional support to implement these new qualifications.

We also discussed the problem of "information fragmentation". One of the findings of the recent satisfaction survey was that you found the different sources of information (the SQA website, this blog, Twitter, etc.) confusing. So we agreed to look at ways of bringing this together (including information provided by Scotland's Colleges).

SQA and Scotland's Colleges already work together in various ways. For example, Colin is a member of the Sector Panel for Computing & IT, and Caroline is a member of the Subject Network for Computing provided by SC. But we agreed to strengthen these links.

Pedagogy is an important part of the SC role, and we spent some time discussing ways that teaching and learning could be improved.

Good meetings have good outcomes, and we agreed lots of actions to be taken after this meeting. Hopefully, you will see some of these actions reported on this blog in the coming months. We also agreed to have future meetings like this one, perhaps including other national agencies, such as the new Education Scotland.

Summer tasks

2011-07-11T14:23:00.000+01:00

Things are a little quieter in SQA over the summer months, at least for those people not directly involved in the examination diet. But there is plenty going on in the vocational area. We are currently working on a number of tasks including the HN Review, which is developing five new HN qualifications, a review of Internet Safety, which is a popular National Unit, updating Modern Apprenticeships in the IT Practitioner/Professional area, customising awards for markets outside of Scotland, writing support materials for a range of awards. and updating item banks with new material. We also help centres to develop their own SQA awards, and there are a couple of projects involving me and my team, which will be announced once the awards are ready. A quieter phone and smaller inbox gives us time to get a lot of work done that was put on the back-burner during the busy academic year.

The following document shows who is responsible for what inside the team. You might want to download and print it.

Don't forget to contact the right person if you want a quick reply to your enquiry.

Modern Apprenticeships

2011-07-04T12:10:00.002+01:00

Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) are becoming an important part of the UK training landscape. There are currently three IT-related MAs offered in Scotland. There is one MA in the IT User area, at Level 3 (SCQF 6), and two in the IT Professional area, at Levels 2 and 3 (SCQF Levels 5 and 6).

An important part of any MA is the "educational" component, which is normally an appropriate SVQ. For example, the IT User programme includes SQA's SVQ IT User award at SCQF Level 6.

There is a small development team within SQA, dedicated to MA developments. We've been working with E-Skills to update and extend the MA programme in Scotland. The MA relating to IT User has already been updated (it contains the latest SVQs in this area) but we have still to update the IT Professional MAs with the latest knowledge and skills. We're working on this and hope to have refreshed MAs in the near future.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about Modern Apprenticeships.

Reviewing the satisfaction survey

2011-06-30T17:20:00.000+01:00

The team met this afternoon to look over the results of the recent survey we carried out to find out your satisfaction with the service we provide.

As previously noted, the results were re-assuringly positive, with very low rates of dissatisfaction (5%), but there are areas that we need to work on to improve the service. Some of the weaker areas, such as SOLAR and the SQA website, are not the responsibility of my team, but others are, and we will try to address them over the next year.

Two specific weaknesses fall into the team's domain. The way in which we select people to work with us was criticised as being a bit opaque and unfair, and the fractured way in which we communicate with you (letters, website, blog, Twitter, etc.) was also criticised. We'll try to improve on these issues before the next survey.

But overall the results were good. I was particularly pleased at some of the positive results. The range and quality of qualifications were rated highly (90+% satisfaction), and the team is seen as courteous and approachable.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to complete the questionnaire. Hopefully, improvements will come out of it.

Satisfaction survey is now closed

2011-06-24T15:37:00.000+01:00

I closed the satisfaction survey this afternoon. It's been running for the last month so, I think, people have had enough time to respond. There were 55 responses in total, which is not bad, but not quite as many as I had hoped for. Most of the respondents (almost three quarters) were from the college sector, which was expected.

I don't plan to share the results since the information will be used internally to improve the service that we provide. But I do intend to collect this information every year so that we can compare our performance from year to year.

Overall, the results were good. Only 4% were unhappy with the service that the team provides, and only 5% were dissatisfied with SQA as an awarding body. But there are areas where we need to improve, such as the way in which we select people to work with us (13% were unaware of opportunities to get involved). The team will meet in the near future to look at the weak areas and try to improve.

Thanks for taking the time to complete the survey. Look out for another one this time next year.

Computing & IT Subject Network event

2011-06-24T11:22:00.000+01:00

Yesterday afternoon, I posted something on the HN Review blog about an event organised by Scotland's Colleges. Every year, Scotland's Colleges organises a Network event to bring together practitioners from all over Scotland. I posted my comments on the HN blog because my own contribution to the day was about the on-going HN Review.

But a number of SQA developments featured during the event, including the new NC in Computer Games Development and the NPA in Mobile Technology. It was pleasing to see SQA developments play such a central role in the event, which, hopefully, shows that our work is important to colleges.

You can read a fuller account of the day on the HN blog.

Opportunity

2011-06-08T15:47:00.009+01:00

Cally Beck of IBM has asked us to highlight this opportunity for Scottish HN Candidates.

We are aware it is late in the academic year to initiate work for this but we are hopeful that there may be some appropriate project work that a student could submit.

"The award is the GuideShare Europe academic excellence award. GuideShare Europe (GSE), is IBM's large enterprise client user group, large companies in all sectors, including Bank of America, HSBC etc. We are asking students to submit a paper/project entitled "Using technology to make life easier". I am attaching the link to the website with details of entry requirements and judging criteria.

The winner will be announced and flown all expenses to Madrid in October to collect the award and the prizes."

Internet Safety - Online Survey

2011-06-08T09:35:00.000+01:00

In September 2006 we launched what was probably the world's first Internet Safety qualification, consisting of a single Unit at Intermediate 1 (SCQF Level 4). This qualification was aimed mainly at secondary school and college students and has seen a substantial uptake from these groups.

However, there have been significant changes in Internet use since 2006, particularly the increased use of Social Networking and the associated dangers. A minor revision of the qualification was undertaken in late 2010, prior to having it accredited on QCF for use in England and Wales.

We are now proposing to carry out a major revision of the Unit as used in Scotland. Ted Hastings has been commissioned by us to research opinions regarding the content of the revised qualification. To this end I would be grateful if you could take some time to answer the following questions at your earliest convenience. The questions should take only a few minutes to answer. Your responses will have a major impact on shaping the revised qualification.

The questionnaire can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SBZPR7

Once the results have been analysed they will be published on the SQA Computing blog as well as our usual channels of communication.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any queries, or other comments to make, or wish to suggest anyone else who ought to receive this questionnaire, please email Ted at ted@hastings.nu

HN review

2011-06-06T12:03:00.000+01:00

I updated the HN Review blog this morning with the latest information about that development. The review of HNC/D Computing and HNC/D Networking is a major project for the team - so major that it has its own blog. I'm sure that anyone with an interest in the associated qualifications will already follow that blog but, for those who don't, this might be a good time to provide an update.

Consultation is a key part of any HN development and the lead developer, Gerry Mackie from Dundee College, has consulted widely -- with colleges, universities, employers and others. We recently created a consultation questionnaire and over 133 people took the time to complete it. The results were re-assuring and supportive of the QDT's proposals. So, the next stage is to finalise the qualification frameworks and get down to unit writing.

We plan to publish the frameworks in the next week or two. We will get down to unit writing over the summer. And the validation event will take place around November or December. The new awards will be available to centres from early 2012. There will be a launch event in Spring 2012.

A distinctive feature of Scottish education is the way in which we involve the wider educational community in developments. There are 22 colleges represented on the QDT for this development. The frameworks were developed by experienced college lecturers. The units will be written by classroom practitioners. And the Validation Panel will consist of independent people (drawn from education and industry). Although it takes longer and is harder to manage than the "smokey room" model of qualification development, the end result is better qualifications -- and qualifications that the sector have developed and feel a sense of ownership.

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about the HN Review. Or follow the developments on the blog.

Updating of Specifications & Arrangement Documents

2011-06-02T16:20:00.000+01:00

Over the Summer period I will be putting forward any changes to unit specifications that have been agreed by the QDT as well as updates to the framework sections in the Arrangement documents for all HNC/D awards.

All changes/updates will be implemented and ready for the start of the new session. Any changes relating to HN Units/Awards are tracked and listed on the SQA website here

SIoCE AGM

2011-05-28T16:01:00.000+01:00

I attended the AGM of the Scottish Institute of Computing Educationalists at the University of Dundee today. I was invited to speak about vocational qualifications in Computing. The audience was largely made up of Computing teachers from the school sector, who traditionally delivered "academic" qualifications such as Higher Level in Computing.

My colleague, Derek Middleton, gave an update on the Curriculum for Excellence, specifically the new awards being proposed at Levels 4, 5 and 6.

My own presentation followed one from Professor Alan Bundy, of the University of Edinburgh, who spoke about the declining interest in Computing and ways of stimulating interest. I talked about the current range of vocational qualifications that could be delivered in schools -- qualifications that are up-to-date and engaging.

S io ce presentation

View more presentations from bobbyelliott.

My presentation highlighted awards such as Internet Safety, Digital Culture, Social Software and Computer Games Development. It seemed to be well received by the audience.

Contact Hilary if you want to know more about vocational qualifications suitable for delivery in schools

Linux Training from Forth Valley College

2011-05-25T15:06:00.000+01:00

Thanks to the generosity of LPIC UK Scottish Further Education staff can sign up for free LPIC 1 training. The course runs from 20^th June to 24^th June at Forth Valley College, Falkirk Campus. Those wishing to book a place need to contact Joanne McGillvray Joanna.McGillivray@forthvalley.ac.uk or Tony Dyer (tony.dyer@forthvalley.ac.uk

Satisfaction survey

2011-05-23T12:43:00.000+01:00

A few months ago, I mentioned that I planned to get feedback from you about the quality of service that the (vocational) SQA Computing team provided. At long last, I have got around to creating a short questionnaire about this. It will only takes five minutes to complete, and the results will help us to improve the service. The survey can be found here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SQAComputing

I won't be sharing the results with you, since we will use it internally to identify strengths and weaknesses, but it will let us know what we need to do to improve the service.

Please contact me if you want more information about this survey.

NC Computer Games Development at SCQF level 5

2011-05-23T12:42:00.002+01:00

Last week I attended the validation event for the centre led proposal for a National Certificate in Computer Games Development at SCQF level 5. Fiona Jackson from Forth Valley College was the lead developer and the design team included representatives from other colleges including Aberdeen, Adam Smith, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Stevenson.

The Award has a number of new Units which have been designed to develop creativity in candidates, and will also hopefully increase the candidate base by attracting more females to Computing courses. It also includes the Units from the NPA in Computer Games Development at SCQF level 5 in the mandatory section, which means that candidates will be certificated for the NPA, as well as the NC when they successfully complete the required Units.

The qualification was validated with conditions and should be available for August 2011.

In the meantime please contact me if you would like further information.

Open for Education

2011-05-20T16:53:00.000+01:00

I attended a JISC event today, in the National eScience Centre in Edinburgh, entitled Open for Education. The event had a number of speakers and workshops around how education can use open source software.

I throughly enjoyed the event. I was particularly impressed with the Google Docs and Facebook talks. Colin Maxwell, of Carnegie College, gave a very persuasive talk on how colleges can use Facebook as an alternative to the traditional VLE, pointing out how difficult it can be to get students to engage with a VLE and how easy it is to get them to use Facebook.

It was a good event but was the last one from JISC North & East Scotland, which closes in July. I've benefitted from many of their services and events.

Contact Kenji Lamb if you want to know more about this event or this topic.

NC Technical Support

2011-05-19T12:09:00.000+01:00

I attended a validation event yesterday, at the City of Glasgow College, to serve on the validation panel as the SQA representative.

The college had devised a new National Certificate award, at SCQF Levels 5 and 6, which relates to the more technical aspects of the subject, entitled National Certificate Computing: Technical Support. It was designed to articulate to the more technical HN awards, such as HNC/D Computer Networking.

The purpose of a validation event is for a group of independent experts to review the proposals to ensure that new qualifications are needed and valid. The panel was led by Walter Patterson, ex-HMI, and the Qualification Development Team was led by Margaret McKellar, of the college. Other members of the panel included representatives of E-Skills, industry, Higher Education, Further Education, and SQA (myself). Although the proposals received a thorough scrutiny from the panel, the qualifications were approved subject to a few conditions and recommendations.

The new National Certificate in Computing: Technical Support at SCQF Levels 5 and 6 should be available to all centres from August 2011. Contact Margaret if you want to know more about this new award.

College University Subject Partnership

2011-05-13T17:15:00.001+01:00

I previously mentioned a joint college/university partnership designed to improve the student experience when they move from college to university. The College University Subject Partnership (CUSP) aims to improve the "soft skills" that college students need when they go to university. The project is led by Anne Russell.

There have been several meetings. I attended the latest meeting this morning, held at Caledonian University. The focus of this meeting was the current review of HN Computing qualifications. I gave members an update on how that development is going, including a sneak preview of the results of the current consultation.

There was an interesting discussion about a number of topics linked to FE/HE articulation such as core skills, the importance of examinations, and the place of mathematics in the frameworks. The HE representatives emphasised the importance of FE students gaining some exam experience before moving to university. I was interested in the discussion about maths since it has not really featured in the draft frameworks so far. The group felt that maths should be an option within all frameworks.

I asked Anne to canvas members about these (and other) issues and to provide a short written summary of the group's views, for the QDT's consideration.

Contact Anne if you want to know more about this initiative.

support materials for NPA in Computer Games Development

2011-05-12T15:31:00.000+01:00

The Assessment Support Packs (ASPs) for the National Progression Awards in Computer Games Development at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6 are now published and available to download from the level 4 page on SQA secure site.

The ASPs integrate the three levels in one pack and cover each strand ie one pack for Design, one for Media Assets and one for Development.

Any checklists in the pdf versions are also available as separate word files for assessors to use.

Palestinian study visit

2011-05-11T13:06:00.000+01:00

SQA hosted a group of Palestinian educationalists this morning, as part of their study visit to Scotland. I gave a presentation on qualification development to the group.

Palestinian study visit

View more presentations from bobbyelliott.

The purpose of my talk was to explain how SQA goes about developing, reviewing and maintaining qualifications. Giving it, reminded me of the strengths of the Scottish system -- particularly the collaborative way that we work with teachers and lecturers. But there are also challenges facing awarding bodies, some of which are decribed in the last slide in the presentation.

Curriculum for Excellence - Draft Course Specifications

2011-05-10T09:57:00.000+01:00

Through our Curriculum for Excellence Teams, the draft Course Specifications for National 4 and National 5 have now been published on the SQA website (draft course specifications for Computing & Information Science can be found under the 'Technologies' heading).

The Course Specifications highlight the mandatory high-level skills and knowledge to be covered in the Course and outline the subject skills, knowledge and understanding that a learner will cover and which will be assessed at the end of the Course.

They have also published the Overview of Qualifications Report for Access 1 and Access 2 which covers all Courses and Awards at Access 1 and Access 2.

The next documents to be published are the Course Rationales and Summaries for Higher on 31 May 2011. Our webpages describe the stages each qualification goes through to be developed and give more information about what each of these documents are.

How to leave feedback

You can leave feedback on all of our draft documents via Have Your Say. The team would welcome feedback on the Course Specifications by 30 June 2011.

Commenting on SQA awards

2011-05-03T14:23:00.001+01:00

I learnt today of a new SQA service, which permits you to comment on SQA qualifications. The online form permits you to comment on qualifications and/or support materials (including assessments).

If the comment relates to qualification development or maintenance, I would ensure that it is considered by the appropriate Qualification Support Team. So please take the time to provide feedback.

I've added the link to the list of "Useful links" in the side-bar.

Join our new online communities

2011-04-28T16:38:00.000+01:00

As I posted earlier, Jiglu closes tomorrow. We are moving the online groups to a new service provider -- hosted by GroupSpaces. If you are currently a member of one of the Jiglu groups, you should have received an invitation to join one of the new groups. If not, please join the generic support group here, and we will take care of you. In fact, everyone should join this group since it is the main support group for all vocational Computing awards.

I look forward to seeing you on GroupSpaces!

HN Review - Unit Writing/Vetting Opportunities

2011-04-28T15:45:00.000+01:00

As you are aware, we are currently consulting on the five group awards which are part of the HN Review (HNC Computing, HND Computing, HND Computing: Software Development, HND Computing: Technical Support and HND Computing: Networking). If you have not yet had a chance to complete the online consultation survey, it can be accessed here.

Once all frameworks have been finalised we will be in a position to identify new units to be developed and also those requiring revision.

Given the high number of core and extended core QDT members, they will be involved heavily in the development work. However, if you would like to be considered for unit writing and/or vetting then please contact me direct stating your area of expertise. Should we require additional writers/vetters in addition to QDT members I shall be in touch with you direct.

Qualification Support Team for HN/PDA awards

2011-04-27T15:10:00.001+01:00

There is a QST for non-advanced awards and one for advanced awards. Today was the turn of the advanced [HN] QST. Ten members attended a meeting in the Glasgow office, including a couple of new members. Most members are lecturers from FE colleges, across Scotland.

Like the NQ QST, the key activity is the discussion about the various suggestions from centres. We considered five QST proposal forms today. The QST is not a talk-shop. We take action and make changes to assessments or unit specifications or teaching materials when necessary. Some of the decisions made at today's meeting will result in concrete changes to units and assessments.

We do more than consider suggestions from centres. Today we also discussed SOLAR, Curriculum for Excellence, the current HN Review, and changes to the way we include vendor certification within HN awards. As always, the discussions were lively and constructive.

I told the HN members what I told the NQ members yesterday about the future of QSTs -- there will be no more face-to-face meetings. Future communication will be through an online community.

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about the QST for HN awards or enquire about membership.

Qualification Support Team meeting for NC/NPA awards

2011-04-26T16:22:00.001+01:00

The Qualification Support Team (QST) for my non-advanced awards met this afternoon in the SQA offices in Glasgow. QSTs are charged with advising SQA about the support needs of our awards.

A key part of any QST meeting is consideration of proposals from centres, which can request improved assessments or revised unit specifications. We use two types of form: a QST proposal form, for such things as requesting changes to units, and an assessment feedback form, to ask us to revised assessments.

There was only one proposal today, perhaps reflecting the maturity and stability of this area, and this related to the Weblog unit, pointing out that some of the assessments were out of date. We agreed not only to look at the assessments but also the unit itself, in case we need to update both.

We had interesting discussions about a number of other topics. One worth mentioning is membership. We're looking for new members, so if you are interested in serving on this QST please contact Hilary.

I concluded the meeting by informing members about an important change in the way (all) QSTs will work in future. There will be no more face-to-face meetings. QSTs will, in future, be done online, through an online group. This will permit proposals to be considered on an on-going basis, rather than twice per year. Some members expressed regret at this change and suggested that we try to use social media (such as Skype) to keep the face-to-face aspect alive. I agreed to put some ideas together about how we can use ICT to communicate effectively.

Please contact Hilary if you want to know more about QSTs or want to submit a QST proposal form. QSTs are a great way to ensure that you receive the support that you need.

Criticism of ICT lessons

2011-04-26T11:38:00.001+01:00

I received an e-mail yesterday, which contained a link to a story about boring ICT lessons in schools. SQA is working on new Computing qualifications as part of the Curriculum for Excellence, but there are already a large number of modern, engaging vocational qualifications available to centres. These include qualifications in Computer Games Development, Social Software, and Digital Culture.

I was disappointed to see the uptake figures for the Digital Culture units. These are available at SCQF Levels 4-8 but the uptake is very low, in spite of these units containing up-to-date and engaging outcomes relating to the more interesting aspects of ICT, such as social networks, collaboration tools, and virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

Contact Hilary for NC units, up to SCQF Level 6, and contact Caroline, for HN units at SCQF Levels 7 and up. These units are available now and are (optional) part of several NC and HN programmes.

E-Placement scheme

2011-04-21T17:30:00.023+01:00

I have previously posted about the E-Placement scheme, which is sponsored by the Scottish Funding Council and supported by E-Skills UK, Scotland IS, and Napier University.

I met with Colin Smith, of Napier University, this morning to discuss how SQA can support the academic side of the initiative. The placement lasts for (at least) three months and could be done between the first and second years of the HND Computing programme. Students are paid during the placement.

We looked at ways of accrediting the placement through SQA unit(s). Our options were to use existing units, of which there are several generic ones, or create a new specific unit for this placement, such as one entitled "E-Placement" or "Working in IT", which could be a two or three credit unit specifally designed around working in the IT industry. I have to consult internally about this but your views (via the comment facility) would be valued.

If we developed a new unit, it would be added to the existing HND Computing awards and, subject to QDT approval, included in the current HN Review.

Contact Mark Ratcliffe, of E-Skills, for more information about the E-Placement scheme.

Review of Internet Safety

2011-04-20T16:07:00.000+01:00

SQA was the first awarding body in the UK to produce a national qualification in the field of Internet safety and we were delighted when E-Skills UK adopted our qualification as the basis of their own award in this area.

The National Unit [PDF] has been available since 2006. Since its introduction, it has proven to be very popular in schools and colleges; some schools offer it to every child in the early years of secondary school; many colleges include it in their adult education programmes. But technology has moved on in the last five years and it's time to look at the unit, with a view to updating it.

I began that process today when I had an internal discussion about our plans to update the unit. During the next few months we will be talking to various agencies and individuals to get their views on what we need to do to update the qualification. The revised unit will be available from August 2012 to centres in Scotland.

Contact Caroline for more information about the current qualification.

New online groups

2011-04-19T11:53:00.001+01:00

I met with Caroline and Hilary this morning to discuss the closure of Jiglu, and what we will do to replace that service.

We've been supporting qualifications through online groups since 2003, when we used Yahoo Groups. Since then we have used a range of services, including Egroups, Smartgroups, Google Groups and Jiglu. In the last few years, the field has thinned out and there are not so many choices today.

We decided to choose two service providers for our groups - our own internal service, called Quickr, and a public service called Groupspaces. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be closing the Jiglu groups and asking members to transfer to a new group based on one of these services. So, if you are a member of an online group, sit tight and await a notice of closure and an invitation to join one of these new groups.

We also decided, at today's meeting, to create one support group for all [vocational] SQA Computing awards. This will replace a number of smaller groups that were designed to support specific qualifications, such as PC Passport or HNC/D Computing. This new group is up-and-running now. It's an open (public) group, so please sign-up now.

Sorry for any inconvenience this change-over will cause but I'm sure the new groups will settle down soon, and a few minutes of your time now will, hopefully, give you years of help and support.

HN consultation questionnaire

2011-04-18T14:12:00.000+01:00

The HN development is now at the stage where the QDT is seeking feedback on its proposals. More on the HN Review blog. Please take a little time to complete the survey.