The annual Computing Conference took place on Friday at the Radisson Hotel in Glasgow. There was a good turnout, with over 50 people in attendance. I was pleased to see so many teachers find time to attend, perhaps reflecting the growing importance of vocational Computing awards in Scottish schools. The event was a mix of information, updates and keynotes. They keynotes were particularly well received. This year they covered the future of assessment and the importance of coding in schools.…
The development team for this project met on Saturday. It’s been a while since I updated you on how things are going, so this seems like a good time to do that. We’re developing a range of teaching and learning material including: Teacher’s Guide Learners’ Notes practical activities (linked to Learners’ Notes) Formative assessments YouTube channel List of resources. The Teachers’ Guide will help new (and existing) teachers prepare for, and deliver, the NPAs — including advice about what you…
CyberFirst is a key part of the UK government’s National Cyber Security Programme. It covers a broad range of activities, which includes a girls only competition. Young girls and women don’t often consider a career in cyber security, which means that industry is missing out on a lot of young talented people. This competition is a great start to get young girls motivated and interested in this sector. The competition is aimed at school girls in S2. Teams are made up…
The Qualification Development Team for HND Computer Science had its third meeting on Saturday. The aim of the meeting was to decide how to take things forward.The first QDT meeting was held last June and since then we have made considerable progress with the revised framework. But more recently there was some disagreement about the precise nature of the revised award. More specifically, about how much computer science should be included.That resulted in a delay to the development. We’re planning…
The subject page for the revised NPAs in Digital Media at SCQF Level 4 (GN59 44) and SCQF Level 5 (GN58 45) is now live and can be accessed via the SQA website. These awards have a hierarchical structure across the two levels, allowing learners to mix-and-match units and facilitating bi-level teaching. The NPAs in Digital Media are a revision of the NPA Digital Media Basics (G9FD 44) and Digital Media Editing (G9FF 45). The ‘old’ awards will enter into their lapsing period…
Our annual Computing Conference 2018 will take place on Friday, 26 January, 10:00 – 15:30 with registration at 9:30am, in Radisson Blu Hotel Glasgow. The event will be of interest to college lecturers and school teachers – or anyone with an interest in vocational qualifications. The event will include an update on SQA Computing qualifications and external verification. There are also networking opportunities. The focus, as always, will be vocational qualifications but we will have interesting keynotes about contemporary issues in education and…
As announced in a post before the Christmas break, the subject page for the revised NPA Web Design (GN57 45), at SCQF Level 5, was being set up. I can now confirm that the subject page is live and can be accessed via the SQA website. The subject page for the revised NPA Digital Media at SCQF Levels 4 and 5 will follow shortly. The NPA Web Design is a revision of the NPA Web Design Fundamentals (G8HD 45). The ‘old’ award will…
Happy New Year to all our readers from the team! We hope that you had a nice holiday. We’ve put together a short list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about working with us. You can find it here. We did this because we are sometimes asked why we chose someone – or, more commonly, why we didn’t choose someone. The FAQ tries to explain our selection process (among other questions). We try to be as transparent as possible in the…
