I met with Gerry Dougan of Scotland’s Colleges yesterday to discuss the ways in which that organisation could support the new Computing qualifications, specifically the new HN awards. The new HNC is already available, and the HNDs are not far behind. The feedback from centres has been overwhelmingly positive. The new courses are up-to-date and flexible. In fact, they are so up-to-date that several teachers have expressed concerns about their ability to deliver some of the topics within the new…
Read moreRead more about Scotland’s Colleges support for teachers
I attended the CAA 2012 Conference this week. It is organised by Southampton University, and held in Southampton. This was the 15th annual event. It was well attended, with representative from many UK universities, several awarding bodies and some international attendees, including a representative from an Australian university. A number of Scottish universities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, were represented. In fact, the keynote talk was given by Steve Draper from Glasow University, who explored why technology had not transformed learning…
Read moreRead more about Computer Assisted Assessment Conference
A few months ago, I stated that we were looking at our e-commerce provision to ensure that it was up-to-date, since the Scottish Government had targetted e-commerce as a vital area for the Scottish economy. Some of the existing units were pretty long in the tooth, and many of the latest developments in this area where missing, so we took the decision to write a series of new units, spanning SCQF Levels 6, 7 and 8. The units (at all…
Read moreRead more about New E-Commerce units
The Arrangements document for the new HNC Computing (Group Award Code GF3E 15) has now been published and is available for download from the SQA website here All units have also be published and are available for download via the HN Unit search facility on the SQA website. A finish date of 31st July 2015 has been placed on the current HNC Computing award (G7GL 15) and this will be communicated to centres through our annual update letter (and social…
Read moreRead more about HNC Computing Arrangements Document
I previously mentioned the HN 2.0 project on this blog. The aim of the project is to explore how social media can be used within the new HNC in Computing for summative assessment purposes. As part of the that project, we are carrying out a survey into the use of Web 2.0 by college staff. I would be grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete it. The findings from the survey, along with other work that the…
Read moreRead more about HN 2.0 update
I attended the Industrial Advisory Board for the School of Computing in the University of the West of Scotland yesterday afternoon. The Board has 54 members, of which over 30 attended yesterday’s meeting. Although this size makes it a little difficult for individual members to make a contribution, it’s a great achievement to have such a large, representative body to advise the university. Like my own Sector Panel, the purpose of the IAB is to provide advice about the university’s…
Read moreRead more about Industrial Advisory Board
Me and my team attended the annual Scotland’s Colleges’ event yesterday. It was held in their Stirling offices. The event was entitled Computing, IT & Digital Media Conferernce 2012. As always, the event was well organised and well attended, with around 50-60 people in attendance, most of whom were college lecturers from across Scotland.The keynote talk was given by Quintin Cutts of Glasgow University, who spoke about the teaching of Computer Science. Quintin is involved in the Curriculum for Excellence, and…
Read moreRead more about Scotland’s College annual event
The Sector Panel for Computing & IT met this morning. The main purpose of the Panel is to advise and guide me and my team. The Sector Panel meets twice per year. The membership includes people from education, industry and professional/industry bodies. The current members are drawn from E-SKills UK, Skills Development Scotland, Scotland’s Colleges, Microsoft, Education Scotland, British Computer Society, and Scotland IS. There are also a number of practicing teachers and lecturers on the Panel. I always take…
Read moreRead more about Sector Panel meeting
I’ve previously mentioned a new suite of awards linked to mobile technology. This development is being led by Joe Spencer of SQA’s NQGA team, although the original idea came from a Sector Panel meeting in 2010. The validation event took place on Friday at Annielsand College. I served on the Panel as the SQA representative. The QDT was represented by Jim Kriegar (formerly Anniesland College, now retired) and Iain Shand (of Cardonald College). The full QDT included representatives of Stow,…
Read moreRead more about New qualifications in Mobile Technology
I attended one of the occasional SQA research seminars this afternoon. This one was entitled “Qualifications and the incentives to learn”. It was presented by Ewart Keep of Cardiff University. As always, it was a fascinating, evidence-based discussion. Ewart discussed the links between qualifications and income. He pointed out that achieving low level vocational qualifications had little impact on income, unless these led to progression to higher level qualifications. He made specific criticism of narrow vocational qualifications (those that only…
Read moreRead more about Research seminar on qualifications