We often get enquiries about new awards (such as “When will it be available?” and “Can my centre offer it?”) so we decided to create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for all new (or significantly changed) awards. Our first FAQ is about Digital Passport. You can download a PDF version of it here. I hope that it’s of some use to you. We will produce a FAQ for all future developments so look out for them in future. The next…
Read moreRead more about Digital Passport FAQAs readers will know, we recently made changes to the External Verification Groups. This was done in response to a Royal Society report that made recommendations about naming the subject area. The new Verification Groups are: 288 Information Technology 357 Computer Science 358 Digital Literacy While the overall subject area remains “Computing”, it is now sub-divided into these sub-groups. We recently updated the definitions that SQA uses for the cognate groups. This is more than a cosmetic change. For one…
Read moreRead more about Updated subject definitionsComputing is one of the subject areas with a significant number of vocational qualifications in Scottish schools, which have traditionally offered National Units and some vocational group awards. For example, during the present session, over 1000 pupils are currently undertaking the NPA in Computer Games Development. I was invited to talk to a group of Aberdeenshire teachers in Kemnay Academy yesterday, who wanted to know more about the vocational qualications available to schools. They particularly wanted to know more about…
Read moreRead more about Vocational qualifications in schoolsI attended the College Development Network, in Stirling, yesterday to get early feedback on the findings of the Computing Aspect Report. Sheila Page, HMIE, spoke at the recent Heads of Computing event to give informal feedback on her findings during the recent inspection of Computing in colleges. Representatives of several colleges attended yesterday’s event. The college inspections were carried out by two HMIEs, including Sheila, and five Associate Assessors, and consisted of two visits to six colleges. It involved classroom…
Read moreRead more about Computing Aspect reportThe team has had a few queries recently about PC Passport. As regular readers will know, we set out to revise PC Passport some time ago but decided, very early in the development, that we would fork the development and produce two awards: a new one called Digital Passport and a revised version of PC Passport. Both awards (PC Passport and Digital Passport) are part of our Passport family of awards, which we hope to develop further in the coming years.…
Read moreRead more about PC Passport and Digital PassportI mentioned the subject-based Aspect report on Computing in my summary of the recent Heads of Computing event. Sheila Page gave some initial (oral) feedback on her findings (which sounded positive). The College Development Network has organised an event (this coming Monday) when Sheila will give more extensive feedback on what will be in the latest report. It sounds like an interesting (and important) day for everyone involved in delivering Computing in Scottish colleges. You can find out more, and…
Read moreRead more about Feedback on Computing Aspect reportI promised to share the presentations from the recent Heads of Computing event. A zip file, containing them all, can be downloaded here or individual presentations can be downloaded here. We also provided delegates with an updated portfolio diagram, which shows the range of vocational Computing awards available from SQA. It can be downloaded here. If you attended the event, we would be grateful if you would spend a few minutes completing the event survey so that we can gauge…
Read moreRead more about Heads of Computing presentationsThe Heads of Computing event was held in the Menzies Hotel in Glasgow on Friday. This annual event has taken place for the last ten years, and has proven to be popular with college staff. It’s an important event for the SQA team since it gives us an opportunity to meet key stakeholders face-to-face and hear, at first hand, their views about the service that we provide. There was an excellent attendance with over 50 people attending, representing almost every…
Read moreRead more about Heads of Computing eventThe validation event for the revised NC Digital Media Computing was held last Thursday. This development started around a year ago, so we have been pretty quick to bring it to validation. The validation panel consisted of representatives of colleges, schools, employers and special interest groups (such as E-Skills UK and SkillSet). It was a large, experienced and representative group of people. The panel was convened by Lorraine Johnson of Ayrshire College. The QDT was represented by the three lead…
Read moreRead more about National Certificate Digital Media Computing validationThe validation event for Digital Passport was held yesterday in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The purpose of a validation event is to check that new (or revised) qualifications fulfil a genuine need and are properly designed. Validation events are “meetings of peers” — we’re all there to improve the qualification. The “panel” is made up of stakeholders (representing schools, colleges, employers and national bodies), and the Qualification Development Team (QDT) is made up of the people (usually classroom practitioners)…
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