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Computing & Digital Blog

May 30, 2017

HND Computer Science development

We recently “scoped” HND Computer Science to determine what (if anything) needs to be changed. The consultant (a retired university teacher) made several recommendations, which I summarised in this post. We are now progressing to development. The qualification will be reviewed between now and Christmas, with the goal of having the revised award validated (late) this year and available to centres by (early) next year. This means that the revised award will be offered by centres from August 2018. HND Computer…

Categories: Computing

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May 29, 2017

NPA reviews commence

I recently mentioned that we had completed “scoping” the changes needed in some NPAs. I’m pleased to let you know that we have now been given the green light to proceed with the following developments: NPA Web Design Fundamentals NPA Digital Media Basics NPA Digital Media Editing. So, we will formally commence the review of these awards in the (very) near future. We hope to have the QDTs in place before the Summer holiday, and Emma will be looking for…

Categories: Computing

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May 22, 2017

We’re looking for volunteers…

In 2016, SQA revised the Internet Safety Unit and, in February this year, online teaching and learning materials were made available on the SQA Academy, in order to support the delivery of this award. The online learning materials can be accessed by teachers and learners via the following link (https://www.sqaacademy.org.uk/course/view.php?id=667). We have now developed formative assessments, as additional support materials. These assessments have taken the form of four quizzes, which cover the different sections of the Internet Safety Unit and…

Categories: Computing

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May 18, 2017

Digital Teachmeet

I attended my first “teachmeet” event yesterday, held in the National Library of Scotland. The idea behind teachmeet is for teachers to share best practice using (very) short presentations on a wide range of topics. It’s a bit like speed-dating for academics. There was a fantastic turnout, around 100 teachers attended, considering it started at 5pm. I’ve never been asked to cover so much in so little time. So I sped through a brief summary of SQA’s National Progression Awards (NPAs)…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 2

May 11, 2017

Reviews of NPAs and NC

I’ve spent the last couple of days reviewing the scoping reports for a number of NPAs and an NC. We commenced this work a couple of months ago and things have ran to schedule. The purpose of a scoping report is to outline the likely changes needed to an award. Scoping is the pre-cursor to development. We commissioned a report for each of the following awards. NPA Software Development (SCQF Level 4) NPA Digital Media Basics (SCQF Level 4) NPA…

Categories: Computing

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