I attended an event organised by Scotland IS yesterday, entitled: “Action on digital skills in Scotland”. It was held in the beautiful Surgeon’s Hall Museum in Edinburgh. The event was opened by Polly Purvis, the CEO of Scotland IS. The speakers (who included the Minister for Employability & Training) were very good. They all emphasised the vital importance of digital skills to the Scottish economy. The following skills were highlighted: software development cyber security data analytics artificial intelligence computational thinking.…
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This week (17-21 April) is the Scottish Government’s Digital Skills Week. Today’s particular topic is cyber skills. The cyber resilience blog provides more information about Cyber Skills Day, with a focus on careers in this field. Also being highlighted today are Cyber Games for school pupils, organised by Cyber Security Challenge. To get a foot on the rung of a career in cyber security, you’re going to need qualifications. Our NPA in Cyber Security has been hugely popular in schools, with…
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Every year I’m asked to appoint (or re-appoint) my team of External Verifiers (EVs) around this time of the year. I’m in the process of doing that now for session 2017/18. I like to rotate my team by adding one or two new EVs each year. So, please let Helen know if you are interested in joining the team. We’re particularly looking for school and university representatives but we’re also short of training centre representation. The work of an EV…
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I’ve received several requests from people asking if there is a dedicated support group for teachers who are delivering the new NPAs in Cyber Security. There isn’t. As a result, I’ve created a dedicated group on Yammer. The group is intended for teachers and lecturers who deliver the NPAs – and anyone else with an interest in this curricular area. The Computing team in SQA has a Yammer network, which has almost 150 members, and you have to join that…
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I’ve recently received notification that the subject page for the new HNC Data Analytics is now available and the subject page for the updated HNC/D Computer Games Development has now been revised. Subject pages are “one-stop-shops” for everything that you need to know about a particular qualification. You can see a list of Computing subject pages here.
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I’ve previously mentioned issues surrounding maths within Computing qualifications. There are some long-term issues, such as the absence of maths as a mandatory component in HND Computer Science, but matters were brought to a head when the Maths team in SQA revised some units, generally lowering their level. I’ve now formed a short-life working group (SLWG) to look into these issues. There are representatives of SQA, colleges and universities on the group. The group met last week. It was a productive meeting. We agreed…
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The annual update event takes place on Friday (10 March) at the Radison Hotel in Glasgow. The team will be there to provide updates on a wide range of qualifications and the agenda includes a keynote talk (from Microsoft) and a demonstration of virtual reality. There are still places available so please register online if you want to attend. It’s open to anyone with an interest in vocational education. Contact Helen if you want to know more or,simply, register directly.
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February 27, 2017 - Bobby -
The people who are writing units for the refreshed HNC/D IT (now called HNC/D Technologies in Business) met on Saturday for some training. The meeting was held in SQA’s Glasgow offices. Some of the writers were old hands and some were brand new. It looks like a good team. There’s always something to learn about unit writing (I’ve been involved in the writing of hundreds of units and I’m still learning). It was an interesting day with lots of useful…
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February 22, 2017 - Bobby -
I’m pleased to let you know that we have started the review of HND Computer Science. John Sutherland (formerly of Abertay University) is carrying out a scoping exercise to find out what (roughly) needs to be done to the existing award. Me and Helen met with John yesterday to outline the tasks involved. John has several questions to answer including: What should be included in an HND in Computer Science? What do universities expect from students who progress to their degrees?…
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February 22, 2017 - Bobby -
SQA Academy is the name of the online service that we use to deliver our online learning to SQA staff, appointees (such as markers) and learners. For example, the e-learning material to support Internet Safety is hosted there. We’re also in the process of moving our HN e-learning material to the Academy site. The Academy team is currently reviewing the service and carrying out some online research into user satisfaction with it. Please complete the survey to help us improve…
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