Computing & Digital Blog

June 2, 2016

Students demonstrate their games

I was invited to West College Scotland (Paisley campus) yesterday to observe their HNC Computer Games Development students showcase their projects to local primary children. The idea was to “test” their games on the children who then voted on their favourite game. The college Principal awarded the prizes at the end. The idea worked really well by not only giving students feedback on the software but also engaging young learners in software creation. I really enjoyed the experience and the…

Categories: Computer games, Computing

Bobby 3

May 27, 2016

HNC Data Analytics and Computer Science update

We’re currently developing two new HNCs: one in Computer Science and one in Data Analytics. They were originally conceived as part of the University of Strathclyde’s Digital Academy initiative, which involves the University and three Glasgow colleges. At a meeting, held earlier this week in the SQA offices, it was agreed to add options to the existing HNC Computing for articulation, meaning that the HNC Computer Science can be developed without this requirement. We agreed to devise the new HNC Computer Science…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 1

May 26, 2016

Digital Awards

Exciting news to share – the SQA Digital Literacy Team have been shortlisted for two major awards for our Digital Learner Guides. We have been shortlisted in the Citizen Award category for The Holyrood ICT Connect Awards 2016; winners will be announced at the Awards event following the ICT Connect conference on 22 June, both events being held at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. The evening event will be hosted by Fred MacAuley. We have also been shortlisted for the Business in the Community Scotland…

Categories: Digital Skills

sqablogs 0

May 20, 2016

Digital Xtra fund open for applications

Coding, computing, web development and digital animation are just some of the activities that could benefit from Digital Xtra, a new fund dedicated to widening access to extracurricular computing related projects in Scotland. Skills Development Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, ScotlandIS and Education Scotland have developed the £250,000 fund in partnership as part of a programme of activity dedicated to developing skills and making extracurricular computing clubs accessible to all young people aged 16 and under, wherever they live in…

Categories: Digital Skills

hilaryweir 0

May 20, 2016

PC Passport FAQ

We updated the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the new PC Passport this morning. You can access it here. I’ve previously mentioned our use of FAQs. We create one for each new, or revised, qualification. You can see the list of available FAQs here. Please check the FAQ before contacting SQA since your query might already be answered. Not only that, but the FAQ contains hyperlinks to various useful resources, such as the Group Award Specification and unit specifications, so…

Categories: FAQ