SQA has recently updated and republished its long-established Guide to Assessment [PDF]. The 2014 edition has revised the Guide to bring it up-to-date with the latest advice and definitions. The Guide contains information and advice about: purpose of assessment principles of assessment ensuring validity methods of assessment types of questioning authentication. Although there is some theory in it (such as the principles of assessment), it also contains practical advice about such things as the stages in developing an assessment and…
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I previously mentioned that I gave a presentation at a recent internal event about my team’s use of social media. After that, I was asked to lead a Short Life Working Group (“Social Media Group”) to discuss how best qualification teams can use social media to be more open and transparent. The hope is that a number of qualification teams will start to use social media to engage with stakeholders. Social media can be great for keeping you up-to-date with…
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I’ve spent a lot of time involved in the unit writing process over the last few weeks. Two developments have produced a number of new or revised units: the NC Review and the Digital Passport development. The Digital Passport units have been particularly challenging. This is because the award is so new -and its contents reflect this. For example, the units on Network Literacy will be first national qualifications in this area from any awarding body in the world. While…
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We’ve been developing a Digital Literacy Competency Framework (DLCF) for some time. This framework defines the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected from someone who is considered digitally literate. We’ve used this framework to develop the new Digital Passport award, and it will be the basis of future digital literacy awards. Unlike similar frameworks, the DLCF defines not only knowledge and skills but also the attitudes and behaviours that the modern citizen needs. It’s also very up-to-date, including such things as…
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The information event for this project took place today in Jury’s Inn in Glasgow. There was an excellent turnout. The purpose of today’s event was to let centres know about the project, and also to ask for volunteers to get involved in the pilot. I’ve mentioned this initiative several times before. Computing is one of four subject areas chosen to “enhance” our HN qualifications to make them better suited for articulation with university. We did this by devising alternative assessments that…
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We met with the SOLAR team this afternoon. SOLAR is SQA’s online assessment system. The purpose of today’s meeting was to discuss the the current and future support of Computing qualifications by SOLAR. SOLAR has been been providing e-assessments for Computing awards for almost ten years now (2005). In fact, Computing has more SOLAR assessments than any other subject. The assessments mostly take the form of online objective tests but more recently it has included other forms of on-screen testing. Most…
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One of the less positive results from our annual satisfaction survey relates to opportunities to work with SQA. A lot of respondents reported that they were unaware of how they can participate in SQA work, such as membership of committees, writing units or developing support materials. Working with SQA is not only great CPD but many of the jobs attract a fee. We have tried to make these opportunities as transparent as possible (through this blog, e-mail lists, etc.) but…
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I mentioned previously that we intended to create a FAQ for all new or revised qualifications. Our first FAQ was for the new Digital Passport award. We have just completed the FAQ for the revised NC Digital Media Computing awards. Please remember that these FAQs are temporary – to cover the period between the validation event and the award(s) becoming available to centres. Thereafter, this information (and more) will be provided via the SQA website. If your question about the…
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February 25, 2014 - Bobby -
I’ve written about the HN Alternative Assessent project many times. We’re now at the stage of the project when we want to publicise it and invite centres to get involved. There will be an information event on Tuesday, 18 March in Glasgow (venue to be decided). The purpose of the event will be to describe the “enhancements” we’ve made to each qualification and invite centres to become involved in a pilot programme, which will run from 2014 to 2016. These…
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February 25, 2014 - Bobby -
We asked you to complete an event evaluation survey for the recent Heads of Computing event. We closed the survey this morning and we now have the results. The overall satisfaction rating for the event was 93%. The organisation of the event was very positively evaluated, and the agenda, format and duration of the day were liked. On a less positive note, the location was less well liked and the directions to the room were criticised. But, overall, the event…
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