Computing – Page 98 – Computing & Digital Blog

Second visit to JISC conference

November 25, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I haven’t managed to return to the JISC conference since Tuesday morning, but I caught the final keynote presentation this afternoon, which was given by Ewan McIntosh, whose blog is well known. Ewan spoke about the eight challenges for educators. These included the use of jargon and how to design the curriculum. It was another wide ranging and interesting talk. I was particularly interested in his comments about our failure to really encourage life long learning (he pointed out that…

PDA in Website Design – Now Available

November 25, 2011 - Bobby - 14

The PDA in Website Design at SCQF Level 7 is now available to centres. The award consists of three single credits all at SCQF Level 7. The Units are: FW5C 34 Website Design: Planning and DesignFW5D 34 Website Design: Multimedia Content CreationFW5E 34 Website Design: Development Technologies The new PDA is based on the official curriculum for the CIW Web Design Specialist (formally CIW Site Designer) qualification. The Arrangements Document can be downloaded from there SQA website here.

Innovating in E-Learning 2011

November 22, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I am attending a JISC conference this week, entitled Innovating in E-Learning. It’s an online conference, which is ideal since this is a busy week for me and I could not have attended a “real” conference due to work commitments. But an online conference allows me to pop-in to the conference when I have time. I “attended” today’s keynote presentation by David Puttnam entitled “Towards a digital pedagogy”. Through the miracle of technology, his presentation is already online. It was…

HN review

November 21, 2011 - Bobby - 0

When we undertake a major development we sometimes create a separate blog for it, to save this blog from becoming “poluted” with a single development. So, around a year ago, we created a blog for the HN Review, which is a large project that aims to update five popular HN awards in the Computing area. The HN Review blog, we hope, has permitted ordinary lecturers to keep up-to-date with those developments so that they are fully aware of what is coming…

Heads of Computing Event – Last Call

November 21, 2011 - Bobby - 0

The Heads of Computing Event will take place on Friday 2nd December 2011 in the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow. We have limited places left so if you have not yet registered and plan to come along please click on the following URL: http://headsofcomputing2011.eventbrite.co.uk/ Look forward to seeing you then.

Validity theory

November 14, 2011 - Bobby - 2

I attended one of SQA’s occasional research seminars on Friday afternoon about the validity of assessment. It was presented by Paul Newton of Cambridge Assessment, part of Cambridge University. Paul’s talk was entitled: “Controversy surrounding modern validity theory”. The validity of an assessment is a measure of its appropriateness. For example, assessing driving skills (solely) through a writing test would not be very valid. The “controversy” relates to arguments surrounding classical validity theory versus modern validity theory. Classical theory focuses…

Putting Learners at the Centre

November 11, 2011 - Bobby - 0

There was an internal SQA meeting this morning to discuss the implications for SQA of the recently published pre-legislative report on post-16 education in Scotland. Putting Learners at the Centre, published by the Scottish Government in September, covers key areas for post-compulsory education in Scotland, particularly issues relating to improved efficiency and articulation between college and university. “Regionalism” is a key theme in the report, whereby groups of colleges and universities can work together, in a local region, to make efficiency…

Sector Panel meeting

November 8, 2011 - Bobby - 0

The Sector Panel for Computing & IT met today in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The Panel meets twice per year. The basic job of a Sector Panel is to provide advice to the SQA team about external developments to ensure that the qualification portfolio is relevant to the needs of stakeholders. Members include representatives of colleges (such as Forth Valley College), employers (such as Microsoft) and national agencies (such as Education Scotland). I was pleased to introduce two new members…

NC Computer Games Development QDT meeting

November 4, 2011 - Bobby - 0

The QDT for the new National Certificate in Computer Games Development at SCQF Level 6 met this morning in the SQA offices in Glasgow. This was the second meeting of the team. There was a good turn-out, with 10 members attending, representing colleges, schools, and industry. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the existing awards and to begin the debate about the nature of the new award. There are a number of existing qualifications in this area and it’s…

Internet Safety update

November 3, 2011 - Bobby - 0

I met with Ted Hastings yesterday afternoon to discuss progress with the review of the Internet Safety qualification. Ted had been at a meeting in the morning in Edinburgh with various agencies with an interest in this area, including the Scottish Government and Education Scotland. I was pleased to hear that his proposed changes to the existing qualification were well received. Over the last couple of months, Ted has been consulting widely on the contents of the updated unit. So,…