As many of you will be aware, we are at the final stage of developing the HND Cyber Security, which will be available for delivery from August 2019. More information about this development can be found in our blog post here. As part of the development process, SQA seeks feedback on qualifications as they are being developed. Therefore, before we take the award to validation in May, we would greatly appreciate your views on the qualification so far. The link…
The HNC/D Information Technology (2006) review is now completed. The HN IT will be replaced by GN5N 15 HNC Technologies in Business and GN5P 16 HND Technologies in Business and finish in 2021 (HNC)/2022 (HND). The following units have been developed and are now available on the SQA website: HT9F 35 Database Server Administration / HT9G 34 Network Security Concepts / HT9H 34 Agile Development: Introduction / HT9J 35 Business Process Management / HT9K 34 Business Process Management: Introduction / HT9L 34 Computer Networking: Introduction for Business /…
As part of the qualification development process, SQA seeks feedback on qualifications as they are being developed. This questionnaire relates to the development of HNC Cyber Security. Your feedback will be used by the Qualification Development Team (QDT) to refine the qualification. The Group Award Specification (GAS) provides information about the proposed qualification. It would be beneficial for you to have this available before answering the questions. However, you will be able to answer most of the questions without this…
We are currently developing HNCD Technologies in Business (the revised HNCD Information Technology). As part of the development process, we consult with stakeholders about the nature and content of the award. I would appreciate if you could take 5 -10 minutes to complete this short questionnaire about the new qualification. https://goo.gl/forms/o1bELhs2tH7bvyCC3 Please feel free to share this survey with your networks. Thank you in anticipation of your assistance.
The HND Computer Science GG7D 16 was last developed in 2012 and is now due to review. As Bobby mentioned in his previous post, we will start the scoping exercise first before the full review process. More information about the scoping remit can be found here. We are seeking to recruit a practitioner to undertake this work. Please contact me if you are interested or have any query.
The validation event for the revised HNC/D Interactive Media took place in June and since then we’ve been addressing the conditions and recommendations. We’re just about there. The only task that remains is finalising the Graded Units. As noted previously, the revised qualification has new titles: 1. HNC Digital Design & Web Development 2. HND Digital Design & Development 3. HND Web Development. I’m delighted with how these awards have turned out. They have been thoroughly updated with new titles, new…
We’ve been working on a refresh for HNC/D Computer Games Development for some time. Me and Helen met with the Lead Developer (Gill Flockart of Dundee & Angus College) this morning to discuss progress. It’s a big development. We’ve made a lot of changes to the award and we’re in the process of writing a large number of new and revised units (13 in total – 7 new and 6 revised). There have been some issues along the way. The mains ones…
The validation event for the revised HNC/D Interactive Media took place yesterday afternoon in central Glasgow. The purpose of validations is to review a new or updated qualification to ensure that the qualification meets its aims. The validation panel included representatives of colleges, universities and employers, none of whom had been involved in developing the qualification. A subset of the Qualification Development Team (QDT) answered the questions. Yesterday’s validation event went well. It’s great to see these events in action,…
We’ve recently agreed the validation date for the revised HNC/D Interactive Media. The validation will take place on Tuesday, 7 June. We hope to have the revised awards available to centres from 1 August. We’re currently looking for members for the Validation Panel so please contact Helen if you’re interested (please note that anyone involved with the development is not eligible to serve on the Panel). This has been a big update. For one thing, the QDT is proposing title…
The Qualifications Development Team (QDT) for HNC/D Computer Games Development met for the second time today. The purpose of the meeting was to review progress. The Lead Developer (Gill Flockhart of Dundee & Angus College) led most of the discussions. The qualification title will not change and the revisions are mostly updates on the contents of the award, rather than brand new content — although there is some of that. The main change is that Maths has been removed from…
The QDT for the review of HNC/D Information Technology met on Friday for the second time. The previous meeting was last June. The development was announced last January. Of all the HN developments, this is the one that is going to change the most. The QDT has already proposed a name change (to HNC/D Technologies in Business) and the contents will be similarly revised. The purpose of Friday’s meeting was to get an update from the Lead Developer (Chris Deegan of…
The QDT for the review of HNC/D Interactive Media met yesterday afternoon for the fourth time. The previous meeting was held last January. The purpose of the meeting was to review progress and agree future tasks and timescales. I recently met with the Lead Developer and we felt it was a good time for the QDT to meet again. The QDT is proposing new titles for the awards: HNC Digital Design & Web Development HND Web Development HND Digital Development. This development has…
This development commenced in August and since then we’ve made good progress. I met with the Lead Developer (Denise Doyle of Glasgow City College) yesterday afternoon to discuss recent progress. The prime aim of the development is to create two awards that articulate with the University of Strathclyde’s Digital Academy but they will be national qualifications and, therefore, must serve a wider audience. So they are being developed in the normal way — with a Qualification Development Team (QDT) and…
Helen and I met with the Lead Developer (Fiona Murnin of New College Lanarkshire) this afternoon to discuss progress with this development. It’s at the same stage as the HNC/D Computer Games Development review – the team are busy writing the new and revised units. This is a larger development than Computer Games, with 27 new or revised units being written. Some are almost complete and some are at an early stage. I’ve asked for all of the units to…
Helen and I met with the Lead Developer for this award today. The aim of the meeting was to review progress. This development is progressing well. The development team are currently writing the Group Award Specification (GAS) and the Unit Specifications. The aims, structures, articulations and unit briefs have all been completed. The revised awards will contain a number (11 in total) of new or revised Units including two new Maths units. It is being proposed that the role of Maths…
A number of Higher National (HN) awards are currently being reviewed. These are: HNC/D Information Technology (led by Chris Deegan of Glasgow Met.) HNC/D Interactive Media (led by Fiona Murnin of New College Lanarkshire) HNC/D Computer Games Development (led by Gill Flockart of Ayrshire College). Each development is at a different stage but all are well underway. Progress has been slower than I had hoped, mainly as a result of staff changes within SQA. I intend to meet with each of the lead…
I recently announced a new development, which involves the creation of two new HNCs: 1. HNC Computer Science 2. HNC Data Analytics Since then, a Qualification Development Team (QDT) has been created and the first meeting was held this afternoon. The Team consists of representatives of colleges, universities and industry. The University of Strathclyde is represented on the QDT since the new HNCs will be designed to articulate with a number of their B.Sc. courses, through their Digital Academy programme,…
The University of Strathclyde created a new Digital Academy in March of this year. The Academy is a collaborative initiative by the University and a number of colleges, which aims to increase the number of job-ready graduates in Computer Science and related subjects. It follows on from the successful Engineering Academy initiative. Students will undertake the first year of their degree programme in college and then progress directly into second year of one of a number of degree courses including Computer Science,…
The new Higher National Unit entitled Digital Skills is now available [PDF] on the SQA website. This Level 7 Unit is designed for non-specialists who want to gain essential knowledge and skills in digital technologies. Its contents are up-to-date including a range of digital devices (such as PCs, tablets and smartphones) and digital services (including social media). The Unit also covers online safety, cyber security, information skills, and rights and responsibilities. It should be appropriate to a wide range of learners including, perhaps,…
A few months ago, I mentioned that we were developing a new HN Unit entitled Digital Skills at SCQF Level 7. The aim of the Unit is to deliver basic digital skills to learners undertaking HN awards. The Unit is just about finished now. It will be finalised and coded in the next few weeks. You can see the current version of the Unit here. It will be available to centres from 1 August. Caroline will consult with the QST…
The web log of the qualification team for Computing within SQA. Look out for news about Computing qualifications and related information.
