Computing – Page 91 – Computing & Digital Blog

Satisfaction survey

October 1, 2012 - Bobby - 0

Last year, the team launched a satisfaction survey to gauge the quality of service the team provides to stakeholders. I’ve been working on a new one for this year and it’s now ready to be used. I would appreciate if you would take a few minutes to complete the survey. Although I don’t share the results (externally), the team does use the results to identify our strengths and weaknesses so that we can improve the service that we provide. It’s vital…

Playing games in the classroom

September 27, 2012 - Bobby - 0

Scotland’s Colleges has supported the NPAs in Computer Games Development previously, and is now offering a new course for teachers who deliver one of the Computer Games qualifications. You can find out more and book here.

NC Computer Games Development (SCQF 6)

September 27, 2012 - Bobby - 4

The validation event for the new NC in Computer Games Development (at SCQF Level 6) took place yesterday at Jury’s Inn in Glasgow. It’s been a year since our first meeting and yesterday was the culmination of a lot of hard work by the Qualification Development Team. Some time ago, we decided to split the qualification into two: a creative award and a software development award. So, we actually validated two awards yesterday: NC Computer Games: Creative Development (SCQF Level…

Qualification Review Team induction day

September 25, 2012 - Bobby - 2

The Qualification Review Team (QRT) for Computing met today in Jury’s Inn in Glasgow. Today was an induction day for the Computing and Social Science QRTs. I have previously mentioned that QRTs have been created in four subject areas (Business, Computing, Social Science, and Engineering) to explore ways of making HN awards a better fit for articulating with degree courses. The QRT for Computing has representatives from colleges throughout Scotland (such as City of Glasgow and Orkney colleges), and also…

DIVA

September 18, 2012 - Bobby - 0

The DIVA project was started in 2004 to ensure that SQA vocational awards were compatible with the latest vendor skills. Since that time we have forged relationships with a wide range of vendors, including Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, and Adobe. We normally agreed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with each vendor. These define how SQA and the vendor will work together. In many cases this has meant that SQA qualifications embedded vendor qualifications. Readers of the HN Review blog will know that…

Becoming an External Verifier

September 18, 2012 - Bobby - 1

I often receive requests from teachers and lecturers about becoming an SQA External Verifier. I had a request today, which made me refresh my memory on the procedure. An External Verifier (EV) is responsible for ensuring standards are maintained in SQA centres, and also to ensure that all centres apply the same national standards. You can find out more about the job here. Becoming an EV is fantastic continued professional development (CPD) for a teacher since it gives you an…

Qualifications Support Teams

September 13, 2012 - Bobby - 0

Qualifications Support Teams (QSTs) are used to support a suite of awards. In Computing, we have two QSTs — one for non-advanced (NC/NPA/SVQ) awards and one for advanced (HN/PDA) awards. Both QSTs met today. The NC one met this morning and the HN one met this afternoon. This permitted some people to attend both meetings. Most of the members of the QSTs are practitioners — either college lecturers or school teachers. The Senior Verifier for Computing also serves (on both).…

HN Review

September 7, 2012 - Bobby - 0

As you know, there is a separate blog for the review of HN awards, and I normally try to keep posts about that development on that blog. But we’re currently seeking stakeholder feedback on the qualifications so please visit the HN Review blog to find out more about how you can get involved. It’s also a good place to find out how that project is coming along so don’t forget to check it from time to time.

NC Computer Games

August 28, 2012 - Bobby - 0

As you know, we’ve been busy developing a new National Certificate at SCQF Level 6 in Computer Games Development to build on the existing Level 5 award. We are hoping to validate this award next month but we need to get more feedback from stakeholders prior to the validation event. So, I would appreciate if you would complete an online survey: there is one for college lecturers and school teachers and another for employers. Please contact Hilary if you want…

Qualification Review Teams

August 27, 2012 - Bobby - 0

SQA has received money from the Scottish Funding Council to improve articulation from colleges to universities. We plan to form subject-based Qualification Review Teams (QRTs) to take this forward in each area. So, I will be leading the QRT for Computing. This QRT will look at ways of improving articulation from the new HND awards to degree courses. We will look at various ways of doing this including, but not limited to, changing the structure of the awards, offering alternative…