gcse digital technology design version - amazing brains fileccea gcse digital technology from...
TRANSCRIPT
Syllabus Snapshot
by Amazing Brains
Exam Body: CCEA
Level: GCSE Subject: Digital Technologies
CCEAGCSEDigitalTechnologyfromSeptember2017
6
2 Specification at a Glance
ThetablesanddiagramthatfollowsummarisethestructureofthisGCSEcourse.Unit1:DigitalTechnologyiscompulsoryforallstudents.StudentsalsofolloweitherRouteA:Multimedia(Units2and3)orRouteB:Programming(Units4and5).
Thequalificationtheyachieveiseither:
• GCSEDigitalTechnology(Multimedia);or• GCSEDigitalTechnology(Programming).
Route A: Multimedia
Content
Assessment
Weightings
Availability
Compulsory
coreunit
Unit1:DigitalTechnology
Externalwrittenexamination
1hour
30%
Summerfrom2018
Multimedia
units
Unit2:DigitalAuthoringConcepts
Externalwrittenexamination
1hour30mins
40%
Summerfrom2019
Unit3:DigitalAuthoringPractice
Controlledassessment
30%
Summerfrom2019
OR
Route B: Programming
Content
Assessment
Weightings
Availability
Compulsory
coreunit
Unit1:DigitalTechnology
Externalwrittenexamination
1hour
30%
Summerfrom2018
Programming
units
Unit4:DigitalDevelopmentConcepts
Externalwrittenexamination
1hour30mins
40%
Summerfrom2019
Unit5:DigitalDevelopmentPractice
Controlledassessment
30%
Summerfrom2019
Studentsmusttakeatleast40percentoftheassessment(basedonunitweightings)attheendofthecourseasterminalassessment.
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Unit3DigitalAuthoring
Practice
MultimediaRoute
Unit5DigitalDevelopment
Practice
GCSEDigitalTechnology
(Multimedia)GCSEDigitalTechnology
(Programming)
Unit1(CompulsoryCore)
DigitalTechnology
ProgrammingRoute
OR
Unit2DigitalAuthoring
Concepts
Unit4DigitalDevelopment
Concepts
CCEAGCSEDigitalTechnologyfromSeptember2017
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3 Subject Content
StudentsmuststudyUnit1.TheyalsostudyeitherUnits2and3orUnits4and5.Thecontentofeachunitandtherespectivelearningoutcomesappearbelow.
3.1 Unit 1: Digital Technology
Inthisunit,studentsexplorearangeofdigitaltechnologiesavailablefordatastorage,manipulation,presentationandtransfer.Theyalsoevaluatetheimportanceofdatasecurityanddatalegislation.
Content
LearningOutcomes
Digitaldata
Representing
data
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describethedifferencebetweeninformationanddata;• describehowdataisstoredinthefollowingunits:– bit;– nibble;– byte;– kilobyte;– megabyte;– gigabyte;and– terabyte;
• identifythefollowingdatatypes:numeric(integerandreal),date/time,characterandstring;
Representing
images
• demonstrateunderstandingofhowpixelsareusedinimagerepresentation;
• demonstrateunderstandingofhowimageresolutionaffectsfilesize;
• describehowvector-basedgraphicsandbitmapgraphicsarestored;
• describethedifferencebetweenvector-basedandbitmapgraphics;and
• demonstrateunderstandingofhowbufferingandstreamingareusedtosupportthetransferofmovingimagefiles.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Representing
sound
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describefactorsthataffectsoundqualitywhenrecordingsound,includingsamplerate,bitdepthandbitrate;
• explaintheneedforanalogue-to-digitalconversioninsoundrecording;
Data
portability
• demonstrateunderstandingofdataportabilityandthefollowingfileformatsthatsupportit:jpeg,tiff,png,pict,gif,txt,csv,rtf,mp3,mp4,midi,mpeg,avi,pdf,wavandwma;
• demonstrateunderstandingoftheneedfordatacompression;
Software • describethefunctionsofsystemsoftware,referringtoallocatingthefollowing:– memory;– storage;and– processingtime;
• describethefollowingmodesofprocessing:real-time,batchandmulti-user;
• describethefollowingtaskscarriedoutbytheutilityapplications:diskdefragmenting,taskscheduling,backupandrestoringdata;
• describetheroleofantivirussoftwareandtheimportanceofregularupdates;
Database
applications
• demonstrateunderstandingofandexplainbasicdatabaseconceptssuchastable,record,field,keyfield,query,form,report,macro,relationshipandimportingdata;
• identifyanduseappropriatedatatypeswhencreatingadatabasestructure;and
• demonstrateunderstandingoftheneedfordatavalidation.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Database
applications
(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describethefollowingtypesofvalidationchecks:presence,length,type,formatandrange;
• extractdatafromadatabasestructureusingsimplequerystructuresandusingthefollowinglogicaloperators:<,>,=,<=,>=,AND,ORandBETWEEN;
• demonstrateunderstandingofbigdata,referringtovolume,velocityandvariety;
• demonstrateunderstandingoftheneedfordataanalyticstointerpretbigdata;
Spreadsheet
applications
• describethefollowingbasicstructuresofspreadsheetsoftware:cells,rowsandcolumns;
• describeandusethefollowingfeaturesofspreadsheetsoftware:– datatypes;– templates,headersandfooters,conditionalformatting,validation,andimportingdata;
– enteringtext,numbersandformulae;– formattingcells,rowsandcolumns;– creatingandreplicatingformulae;– creatingasimpletemplateforotherstouse;and– usingsimplefunctions,relativeandabsolutecellreferencing,IFstatementsandVLOOKUPs;
• useaspreadsheetfordatamodelling;• create,labelandformatcharts;• selectareasofaspreadsheetforprinting;and• createsimplemacros.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Computer
hardware
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• explainthepurposeofthecentralprocessingunit(CPU);• describetheroleofthefollowingcomponentsoftheCPU:thearithmeticlogicunit(ALU),controlunitandimmediate-accessstore;
• describetherolethefollowingplayinthefetch-executecycle:programcounter,memoryaddressregister(MAR),memorydataregister(MDR),instructionaddressregister(IAR)andALU;
• describetheimpactofclockspeed,cachesize,andnumberofcoresonCPUperformance;
• describethecharacteristics,typicaluses,andadvantagesanddisadvantagesofthefollowinginput,outputandstoragedevices:– microphone;– mouse;– graphicsdigitiser;– touchscreens;– speakers;– printers(laserand3D);– harddiscdrive(HDD);– highdefinition(HD)storagemedia;and– solidstatedrive(SSD);
• explainthepurposeofrandomaccessmemory(RAM),readonlymemory(ROM)andcache;
Network
technologies
• describethemainfeaturesofalocalareanetwork(LAN)andawideareanetwork(WAN);
• describethedifferencebetweentheWorldWideWeb,theInternetofThingsandintranets;and
• describeandevaluatetheeffectivenessofthefollowingnetworkcommunicationstechnologies:Wi-Fi,Bluetooth,opticalfibre,andmobilecommunicationtechnology(4Gand5G).
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Network
technologies
(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describethefunctionofthefollowingnetworkresources:networkinterfacecard,networkcables,switchandrouter;
• describethefollowingnetworktopologies:Bus,StarandRing;
• describetheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofusinganetworkinanorganisation;
Cyberspace,
networksecurity
anddatatransfer
• definethetermcybercrimeandgiveexamplesofthreatstocybersecurity,including:– hacking;– pornography;– cyberstalking;– datatheft;– denialofservice;– digitalforgery;– cyberdefamation;– spamming;and– phishing;
• definethetermmalwareanddescribethefollowingformsofmalware:virus,Trojanhorse,worm,keyloggerandspyware;
• explainhownetworksanddatacanbeprotectedusingencryption,passwords,levelsofaccess,backupandfirewalls;
• describetheroleofaprotocolindatatransfer;and
• describethepurposeofthefollowingprotocols:FileTransferProtocol(FTP),HyperTextTransferProtocol(HTTP)andHyperTextTransferProtocolSecure(HTTPS).
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Cloudtechnology
Implementation
andapplication,
security,and
impactonlocal
systems
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• definethetermcloudcomputing;• describetheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofcloudcomputingforanorganisation;
• describetheimpactofcloudcomputingongaming,filestorageandsharing(includingcollaborativetools);
Ethical,legaland
environmental
impactofdigital
technologyon
widersociety
Legislation
• demonstrateknowledgeandunderstandingof:– theConsumerContracts(Information,CancellationandAdditionalCharges)Regulations2013;
– theCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988;– theDataProtectionAct1998;and– theComputerMisuseAct1990;
• identifytypicalbreachesoftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,includingsoftwarepiracyandsoftwarelicensinginfringements;
• demonstrateandapplyknowledgeandunderstandingof:– theeightprinciplesoftheDataProtectionAct1998;and– therightsofthedatasubjectandtheresponsibilitiesofthedatacontrollerandInformationCommissionerinensuringtheDataProtectionAct1998isenforced;
• describethetermshacker,virusandspywareandhowtheserelatetotheComputerMisuseAct1990;and
Moraland
ethical
considerations
• describetheethicalimpactoftechnologyonsociety,referringtothefollowing:– internetmisuse;– accesstopersonalinformation;– socialmediamisuse;– theimplicationsofglobalpositioningsystem(GPS)andtracking;and
– concernsaboutthesecurityofpersonaldata.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Changesin
employment
opportunities,
skills
requirements
andwork
practices
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describetheimpactofdigitaltechnologyonemployment,including:– increasedjobopportunitiesinthedigitaltechnologyandcomputingsector;
– jobdisplacement;– changesinworkpatterns;and– theneedforupskilling;
Healthand
safety
• demonstrateunderstandingofdigitaltechnologyrelatedhealthandsafetyissues,includingrepetitivestraininjury(RSI),backstrainandeyestrain;
• identifythemeasuresthatboththeemployeeandemployershouldtaketopromotegoodhealthandsafetypracticeintheworkplace;
Digital
applications
• describethemainfeaturesofgamingapplications,simulationsandmobilephoneapplicationsandhowtheycanbeusedtosupportthefollowing:– educationandtraining;– socialinteractions;and– workpractices;and
• evaluatetheimpactofthefollowingdigitalapplicationsonoureverydaylives:onlinebanking,onlinetrainingande-commerce.
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3.2 Unit 2: Digital Authoring Concepts Inthisunit,studentsdevelopunderstandingoftheconceptsinvolvedinthedevelopmentofdigitalsystems.
Content
LearningOutcomes
Designing
solutions
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describeanenduser’srolewhendevelopingaprototypeforadigitalsystem;
• demonstrateknowledgeandunderstandingofthepurposeofthefollowingelementsofmultimediadesigndocumentation:– targetaudienceanduserrequirements;– navigationstructuredesign;– storyboard;– imagesources;– movietimeline;and– descriptionsofanyscriptedelementsofthesolutionandthesourceofthescript;
• demonstrateknowledgeandunderstandingofthepurposeofthefollowingelementsofdatabasedesigndocumentation:– datadictionary;– formandreportwireframes;– navigationalstructurediagram;and– entity-relationshipdiagram(ERD);
Digital
development
considerations
• describeandevaluatethefollowinginterfacesforoperatingdigitallydevelopedpackages:– graphicaluserinterface(GUI);– naturallanguageinterface;– motiontrackinginterface;and– touchscreen;
• describeissuesassociatedwithaccessibledesignwhendevelopingadigitalapplication;and
• describeissuesassociatedwithdevelopingdigitalpackagesthatarecompatibleacrossavarietyofplatforms.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Digital
development
considerations
(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describehoweachofthefollowingimprovescross-platformcompatibility:plugins,portabledocumentformats(PDFs)andoptimisedfileformats;
Multimedia
applications
• identifyandevaluatekeymultimediaandinteractivefeaturesusedin:– websitessupportinge-commerce;– socialmedia;and– gaming;
Multimedia
authoring
• definethetermmultimediaauthoring;• demonstrateunderstandingofthefollowingfeaturesandtheirroleinmultimediaauthoring:– hypertext;– video;– animation;– sound;and– scripting;
• usescriptingtoimplementsequencing,selection,repetition,andeventprogramminginmultimediaauthoringsoftware;and
• demonstrateunderstandingofhowHyperTextMark-upLanguage(HTML)tagsareusedtomanagethefollowingelementsinwebsitecreation:– titles;and– pagebody,includingthefollowing:
coloursandfonts;headers;linesoftext;paragraphs;images;sound;video;tables;links;andlists.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Multimedia
authoring(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• interpretlogicbehindashortextractofHTMLcode;
• demonstrateunderstandingofhowfolderscanassistinassetmanagement;
• createandusethefollowingmediatypes:video,animationandsound;
• integratedifferenttypesofoptimisedmediaintoamultimediasolution,includinganimation,video,sound,imagesandtext;
• describetheimpactofnon-optimisedresourcesonmultimediapackageperformance;
Database
development
• developadatabasesolutiontoagivenproblembyapplyingappropriaterelationships,suchasone-to-oneandone-to-many,withinthedatabasestructure;
• createcomplexqueriesthat:– usetwoormorecriteria;– incorporatecalculations,selectingandsorting;and– useSELECT,FROMandWHEREstructuredquerylanguage(SQL)statements;
• createcomplexreportsusingfeaturessuchasgrouping,sorting,headersandfooters,andcalculations;
• usemailmergingtoselectandsequencerecipients;• createmacrostoautomatetasksinadatabasesolution;• describehowrelationaldatabasesreducedataredundancyandincreasedataintegrity;
Significanceof
testingand
developing
appropriatetest
plans
• explaintheroleoftestinginthedevelopmentprocess,includinganiterativeapproach;and
• describethefeaturesofaneffectivetestplan.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Significanceof
testingand
developingof
appropriatetest
plans(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• explainthefollowingapproachestotesting:– whitebox;– blackbox;– system;– alpha;– beta;and– A/B;
• describehowtotestthefollowinginamultimediapackage:navigation,multimediaassetoperation,loadtimesandscripttesting;and
Evaluationof
digitallyauthored
systemsagainsta
setofuser
requirements
• explainhowtouseanevaluationtoensurethatasolution:– meetstheoriginaldesignspecification;– isafullandcompletesolution;– isanefficientsolution;and– operatesonanappropriateplatform.
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3.3 Unit 3: Digital Authoring Practice
Inthisunit,studentsdesign,developandtestdigitalmultimediasystems.
Content
LearningOutcomes
Designing
solutionsusing
appropriatetools
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• specifytheuserrequirementsandtargetaudiencetodesignasolutiontoagivenproblem;
• usestoryboardsandprototypingtodesignasolutiontoagivenproblemusingsuitableinput,output,processing,dataandnavigationdesign;
• refineandevaluatethedesignsolution;
• usesuitabletestingmethods,forexampleA/Btesting,toensurethedesignsolutionmeetsuserrequirements,afterconsideringenduserfeedback;and
Buildinga
solution
• usethefollowingfeaturesofamultimediaauthoringpackagetosupportthecreationofaninteractivesolutionfromadesigndocument:– templates;– hypertextthatsupportsinternalandexternalnavigationallinks;
– optimisedmediatypes,whichshouldinclude:anoriginalvideo;anoriginalanimation;andappropriatesound;
– scriptedelementsthatenhancetheinteractivityofthepackage;and
– arangeofaccessibilityelements.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Buildinga
solution(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• usethefollowingfeaturesofadatabaseapplicationtosupporttheimplementationofasolutionfromadesigndocument:– relationships;– simpleandcomplexqueries;– menusandmacros;– validation;– lookuplists;– inputmasks;– formsandsubforms;and– reports(incorporatinggrouping,sorting,calculations,andheadersandfooters);
Testingasolution • createatestplanthat:– ispresentedintabularformat;– testsallnavigationalelements,allinteractiveelementsandtheloadtimeofanyassetsusedinthesolution;
– teststheaccessibilityelementsoftheapplication;– usesappropriatetestdata;– showsexpectedoutput;– identifieserrorsandperformanceissues;– reflectsthegeneralrobustnessofthesystem;and– measurestheextenttowhichthesolutionmeetstheuserrequirements;
• testthesolutionusingthetestplananddocumenttheobservedoutcomesfromeachtest;and
Evaluatinga
solution
• evaluatethesolution,referringtothefollowing:– userrequirements;– performanceandrobustnessduringtesting;– refinementsrequiredfollowingtesting;and– possibleimprovementstothesolution.
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3.4 Unit 4: Digital Development Concepts
Inthisunit,studentsanalysetrendsinsoftwaredevelopmentandtheconceptsinvolvedindesigningandbuildingdigitalsystemsusingcodedsolutions.
Content
LearningOutcomes
Contemporary
trendsin
software
development
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• describethefollowingprogrammingparadigms:– proceduralprogramming;and– object-orientedprogramming;
• explainthesignificanceofthefollowingaspectsofsoftwaredevelopmentenvironments:– editingfeatures;and– high-levelcodetranslationandexecution;
Digitaldata
• describehowanumberisconvertedtoabinarypatternforstorageinacomputer;
• demonstrateunderstandingofthefollowingunitsofdata:– bit;– nibble;– byte;– kilobyte;– megabyte;– gigbyte;and– terabyte;
• demonstrateunderstandingofthefollowingtypesofcharacterrepresentation:– ASCII(7-bitand8-bit);and– Unicode;
• demonstrateunderstandingofandusenumberrepresentationandconvertbetweendenary,binaryandhexadecimal;
• performtheadditionoftwobytesandexplainthemeaningofoverflow;and
• describeanduseappropriatelythefollowingdatatypes:numeric(integerandreal),date/time,characterandstring.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Digitaldata
(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• demonstrateunderstandingofanduseBooleanoperators(AND,ORandNOT)andtruthtables;
Digitaldesign
principles
• explaininsimpletermstheunderlyingconceptsofcomputationalthinking–abstractionanddecomposition;
• designsolutionsusingalgorithms,flowdiagramsandpseudo-code;
• createandevaluatealgorithms,includingthoseforbasicsortingandsearching;
• refineasolutiontoaproblemduringdesign;• identifydatarequirementsforasolutionanddevelopanappropriateuserinterface;
• useadryruntotestasolution;and
Programming
constructs
• demonstrateunderstandingofandusethefunctionalityofthefollowingconstructsinaprogramminglanguage:– variables,constants,andBooleanandarithmeticoperators;
– input,outputandassignmentstatements;– one-dimensionalarraystructures;– simplesortingtechniquessuchasthebubblesortandtheinsertionsort;
– simplesearchingtechniquessuchaslinearandbinarysearching;
– stringmanipulationfunctions,includingsplitting,concatenating,charactersearchingandsubstringsearching;
– controllingtheflowofaprogramthroughsequence,selectionanditeration;
– buildingreusablecodethatutilisesuser-definedfunctionsormethods;and
– basicfilehandling.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Simpleerror
handling
techniques
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• demonstrateunderstandingofandusethefollowing:– datavalidation,includingpresence,length,typeandformatchecks;
– detectionandcorrectiontechniquesforsyntax,executionandlogicerrors;and
– simpleerrortrappingtechniques;
Developingtest
plansandtesting
asolution
• explainthefollowingiterativeapproachestotesting:– whitebox;– blackbox;and– system,unitandintegrationtesting;
• createanduseatestplanthatidentifiestestproceduresforuseduringandafterdevelopmenttocheckasystemagainstsuccesscriteria;
• deviseandusethefollowingtypesoftestdata:valid,invalidandextreme;and
Evaluationof
digitallyauthored
systemsagainsta
setofuser
requirements
• explainhowevaluationisusedtoensurethatasolution:– meetstheoriginaldesigncriteria;– isafullandcompletesolution;– isanefficientsolution;and– isarobustsolution.
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3.5 Unit 5: Digital Development Practice
Inthisunit,studentsdesign,developandtestcodedsolutionswhencreatingdigitalsystems.Studentsmustuseoneofthefollowinglanguagesintheircompletedsolution:Python,JavaorC#.
Content
LearningOutcomes
Designing
solutionsusing
appropriatetools
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• usealgorithmstodesignafullydecomposedsolutiontoagivenproblem;
• specifythedatarequirementsforaproposedsolution;• includesuitableinput,outputandnavigationdesigntoenableausertousethesystemsuccessfully;
• usevalidationanderrortrappingproposalsinthedesigntoimprovethepotentialrobustnessofthesystem;
• usedryrunstoevaluateasolutiontoensurethatitwillmeetitsoriginaldesigncriteria;
• refinethedesignsolutionbasedonissuesidentifiedduringthedesignprocess;and
Buildinga
solution
• usethefollowingfeaturesofanintegrateddevelopmentenvironment(IDE)tosupportthecreationofasolutionfromastructureddesign:– codeeditor;– simpledebuggingtools;– compiler;– errordiagnostics;– run-timeenvironment;and– graphicaluserinterface(GUI)whereappropriate.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Buildinga
solution(cont.)
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• usethefollowingfeaturesofaprogramminglanguagetobuildasolutionfromastructureddesign:– datatypes:
numeric;character;string;Boolean;anddate/time;
– controlstructures:conditionalexecutionif;conditionalexecutionwithalternativeifelse;andlooping:for,whileandrepeat;
– functions:user-definedfunctions;in-builtfunctions;andmathematicalfunctions;
– datastructures:arrays;andwritingtotextfiles;
– stringhandling(usingsimplestringhandlingfunctions);– basicarithmetic:
addition,subtraction,multiplicationanddivision; powers;and moduloarithmetic;and– logicalandrelationaloperators(andcomplexcombinationsofthese):equaltoornotequalto;<,>,<=and>=;andlogicalAND,ORandNOT;
Testingasolution • createatestplanthat:– ispresentedintabularformat;– incorporatesblackboxandwhiteboxtesting;– usesappropriatetestdata;– showsexpectedoutput;– identifiesrun-timeandlogicerrors;– reflectsthegeneralrobustnessofthesystem;and– measurestheextenttowhichthesolutionmeetstheuserrequirements;and
• testthesolutionusingthetestplananddocumenttheobservedoutcomesfromeachtest.
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Content
LearningOutcomes
Evaluatinga
system
Studentsshouldbeableto:
• evaluatethesolution,referringtothefollowing:– userrequirements;– performanceandrobustnessduringtesting;and– refinementsrequiredfollowingtesting;and
• makerecommendationsforimprovingthesystem.