We are looking for volunteers to write and vet new SOLAR assessments for the following units within the PDA Data Science: It is paid work. If you are interested or have any queries, please get in touch with me.
We have recently developed alternative assessments for Outcome 3 in Data Citizenship units at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6 and also combined assessment for Outcome 3 in Data Citizenship and Data Science L4 units. Please see the table below for more details. Those alternative assessments will not replace the ones currently available on SOLAR. Please get in touch with us if you have any query.
Centres should have all received a set of the enhanced learning and teaching materials for the NPAs in Cyber Security. As stated in a previous post, we are also producing alternative assessments for this award. The assessments will follow a portfolio approach and will be based around tasks and activities that have been produced as learning and teaching materials for these NPAs. Therefore, learners will be able to generate evidence in the classroom and use it for assessment purposes. The…
You are invited to attend and contribute to a workshop to review the content and structure of the SQA Competence Based Qualifications in Information Security. The workshop will also consider the impact of any proposed changes on the Modern and Technical Apprenticeship Frameworks which incorporate these qualifications. This review has been triggered by: a) Expiry of the current qualifications in March 2017; and b) The publication of revised National Occupational Standards in Information Security. In addition, there will be the…
The team of External Verifiers (EVs) met on Saturday in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The EVs meet once per year for a “standardisation” meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that the verifiers apply the same standards to centres when they carry out verification visits. It was a good meeting and we covered a lot of ground. The team consists of 10 EVs, led by the Senior External Verifier. The EVs are selected from colleges, universities, schools and…
The team use social media for a range of things. Regular readers will know that we’ve been blogging for a long time, we have a Twitter feed, and we use e-groups to support centres. More recently, we have started to use Yammer. We have a network on Yammer for people involved in developing Computing qualifications. This morning I created a new group about assessment where we will have conversations, and ask questions, about educational assessment. Unlike most of the social…
We’re currently looking for volunteers to write and/or vet a number of Assessment Support Packs (ASPs). These ASPs are for Units that are part of the new PDA in Software Development and the revised PC Passport awards. If you’re interested in writing or vetting (or both) then please add your name to the Writer or Vetter columns as appropriate.There is a list for Software Development and a list for PC Passport. You can volunteer for as many (or few) as you…
I’ve had a several enquiries about the assessments for the new Cyber Security awards. We are developing Assessment Support Packs (ASPs) for every Unit within the new NPAs, as well as an ASP for the new Cyber Security Fundamentals Unit. The assessments all have two parts: (1) an assessment of knowledge (normally a short multiple choice test); and (2) an assessment of practical abilities (normally a short practical exercise). Each ASP will contain the second bit (the practical assessment) with…
As you may know, the NPAs in Cyber Security and Digital Literacy have recently been developed. The next stage is the production of Assessment Support Packs (ASPs). We have moved away from paper ASPs to a combined online and offline version. We still produce ASPs for new Units but we take out the knowledge part and offer that through SOLAR, which is SQA’s e-testing system, leaving a stripped down version of the ASP, normally containing only the practical assessment(s). The training…
I mentioned a few months ago that Gillian Leitch (West College) was about to become Senior External Verifier (SEV) for Computing, which covers three verification groups: (1) Computer Science; (2) Digital Literacy; and (3) Information Technology. Gillian formally takes over from David Drennan on 1 August. Gillian has been an External Verifier for a long time so this is a natural progression for her. She is widely respected in the Computing community. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank…
We had an interesting discussion this morning about credit transfer, having received a request from a centre. Credit transfer means awarding a pass in one Unit based on a pass in another Unit. This can be desirable when a learner has a mix of Units (taken as part of different qualifications) that they want to “transfer” to one award. It’s typically done when students want to transfer Unit passes in an old qualification to a new one. The final decision about…
The web log of the qualification team for Computing within SQA. Look out for news about Computing qualifications and related information.
