Computing – Page 109 – Computing & Digital Blog

Keeping up-to-date with SQA

January 21, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I am sometimes told that teachers are too busy to check this blog or follow us on Twitter, and I appreciate the pressures on teachers and lecturers during term-time (I was one myself for 22 years). But these tools are designed to save time. The blog is a great way of knowing what has happened, or what is about to happen, without waiting for your SQA Co-ordinator to pass on a letter. Twitter provides real-time information about the team so,…

Software Development: Relational Database Systems

January 21, 2011 - Bobby - 1

Following QST agreement, there have been significant changes made to the HN Unit DH3D 35 Software Development: Relational Database Systems. Due to this, we have had to assign a new unit number to the revised version. This means that within each of the group awards that this unit appears, you will have the choice to deliver either the older version DH3D 35 or the revised version FE77 35. These changes have no implications on the current Oracle mapping arrangements. Full…

Spreadsheet Safe

January 20, 2011 - Bobby - 4

Since February 2009 SQA has worked closely with Q-Validus, a Dublin based organisation who are leaders in creating and supporting global assessment and certification programmes. At that time SQA signed a formal endorsement agreement with Q-Validus and this partnership has seen SQA’s full endorsement of Q-Validus’ suite of IT certification programmes that are designed to improve productivity in the workplace through more efficient and effective use of modern day office IT applications. The certification programmes focus on improving functional and…

Assessing online writing

January 20, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I was invited to give the inaugural talk at the University of Dundee’s new EduZone series of seminars. My talk was on the assessment of online writing. I reported on some research I carried out on the assessment of student contributions to online forums. Assessment of online writing View more presentations from bobbyelliott. The presentation seemed to go well and there was a lively question-and-answer session at the end. There was a consensus that all sectors of education (school, college…

Changes to HN Group Award Frameworks and Specifications

January 19, 2011 - Bobby - 2

Earlier last year I posted on the blog that our HN Product Team had developed new webpages on the SQA website to list all changes to group awards and unit specifications across all qualification areas (including Computing). This is really just a reminder to check these pages regularly as they provide useful information and help you to identify whether you have the most up-to-date material. Also available is an electronic version of the `HN Catalogue’. This is an excel spreadsheet listing all HN specifications.…

Child protection conference

January 18, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I attended a conference in Edinburgh today about the new Scottish Government guidelines on child protection. The new guidelines were introduced late last year and, among other things, extended protection to unborn children. My interest in the conference related to the online child protection qualifications that SQA offers. These are the Internet Safety unit and the PDA in Online Child Protection. SQA remains the only UK awarding body with qualifications in this area. We took a stand at the conference…

Working with centres

January 13, 2011 - Bobby - 0

Last year I posted a message about me, or one of my team, coming out to your centre to meet with your teams to discuss qualifications development. As a result of that post, a couple of centres contacted us and requested a visit. This seems a good time to repeat that offer. We would be happy to come out and discuss how SQA develops qualifications or discuss the current portfolio or help with your development planning. Please note that we…

HNC/D Information Technology: Service Management & Delivery

January 6, 2011 - Bobby - 2

SQA is working with the City of Glasgow College (CoG) to develop a new award entitled HNC/D Information Technology: Service Management & Delivery. The development is being led by CoG and supported by SQA. The first meeting of the Qualification Development Team met this afternoon. Deryck Nutley is the lead developer and convened the meeting. Representatives from the “old” Glasgow Met, Central College, and Nautical College attended. It’s early days in this development. The first task is to define the…

Happy New Year

January 5, 2011 - Bobby - 0

Happy New Year to the readers of this blog. I hope you had a nice holiday. The team returned to the office today so we’re available if you want to contact us. During 2011 we will continue to use this blog to let you know what’s going on in SQA. You might want to add this site to your RSS feed. We recently customised the blog for reading on a mobile device so it should look good if you visit…

Merry Christmas

December 23, 2010 - Bobby - 1

The team’s Christmas Party was held yesterday so a few of us are feeling a bit sensitive this morning. The photo shows Santa drawing the Secret Santa before we left for our meal. I was lucky enough to get gold coins. We close today until Wednesday, 5 January. The team wish everyone a relaxing and happy holiday.