SOLAR support for the new awards

Me and Caroline met with Graeme Clark, of the SOLAR team, this afternoon to discuss how SOLAR can support the new HN awards. The HN awards in my area have had a lot of support from SOLAR during the last few years, and the service is growing in popularity in centres.

Graeme is keen to support the new HN qualifications, and we agreed that most of the assessment exemplars that have been, or will be, developed would be "solarised" i.e. converted to online assessments. The new HNs are the best supported development that I have ever undertaken, with a total of 38 units supported with assessment exemplars (of which 22 are currently available). SOLAR can only assess knowledge and understanding (not practical skills) so not all of these packs can be converted -- but Graeme hopes to convert most of them.

It's great to have this support from SOLAR, which means that centres will be able to use traditional (paper) assessment exemplars or online assessments for many of the units in the new HN awards.

Contact your SQA Co-ordinator if you want access to the assessment exemplars that have been developed (these are available via SQA Secure) or contact Caroline if you want to know what additional packs are coming in the future or contact SOLAR if you want to know more about what's available online now and in the future.

Meeting of the Qualification Leaders

The Qualification Leaders (QLs) for each HND award met yesterday afternoon. The purpose of the meeting was to review the report from the validation event and to decide who does what when.

It was a productive meeting. We divided the work between the team. There were a significant number of validation conditions and recommendations to discuss, and although most of the conditions and recommendations will be relatively simple to address, there are one or two that will take a little time. We plan to meet on a couple of Saturdays in the next few weeks to deal with the more complex conditions.

I aim to have all of the conditions and recommendations dealt with by the end of March, so that we can focus on launching the new awards in plenty of time prior to their widespread deployment in August. I am hoping that the launch event will take place around May or June.

But you don't need to wait until then before preparing to introduce the new awards. The frameworks will not change much (if at all) and most of the unit specifications are already validated and available on the SQA website.

Contact Caroline if you want to see the current arrangements or simply find out more about the new awards.

Validation: Day 2

The second, and final, day of the validation event for the updated HNDs took place on Friday. The second day focused on the Technical Support and Networking awards. We also got feedback on the awards that we presented on the first day (Software Development and the generic Computing awards).

The outcome of the validation was that all of the awards were validated with several conditions and recommendations. The main conditions related to core skills (for all of the awards) and the title (of one of the awards).



The panel asked that the HND Computing award be retitled to HND Computer Science so that the title is consistent with the new Curriculum for Excellence qualifications. So, the new HNDs will now be entitled:

1. HND Computing: Technical Support
2. HND Computing: Networking
3. HND Computing: Software Development
4. HND Computer Science.

The other main condition was the inclusion of all of the core skills at SCQF Level 6. The proposed awards included most of the core skills at Level 6 but not them all. The panel asked that all of the core skills (Communication, Numeracy, IT, Problem Solving, and Working with Others) are embedded at SCQF Level 6. This will present more of a challenge to the QDT since we will have to find a way of adding Numeracy and Communication at SCQF Level 6 in all of the HNDs. But, if we can do it, this will mean that these HNDs carry more core skills than any other other HN award offered by SQA.

The were a number of other conditions relating to aims, entry requirements, professional recognition, and transitional arrangements (among others).

So, there is plenty of work ahead for the QDT. But we were happy with the outcome and think that the proposed changes will improve the new qualifications. We hope to have the conditions lifted by March next year and all of the awards available to centres from July.

Contact me if you want to know more about this validation event.

Validation: day 1

Yesterday was the first day of the two day validation event, which will examine the four HND proposals. For the sake of continuity, we used the same validation panel as we used for the HNC validation, which consisted of representatives of colleges, universities and industry.

We're looking at two awards each day:

Day 1: HND Computing and HND Computing: Software Development

Day 2: HND Computing: Technical Support and HND Computing: Networking

So yesterday we looked at Software Development and the generic Computing awards. Each of the Qualifications Leaders started the day by giving a brief description of the proposed award, together with the reasons for any changes.

We got the Panel's feedback in the afternoon. It was mostly positive. Both awards were liked but the Panel made several comments and suggestions about possible improvements to the awards.

Today we're looking at Technical Support and Networking. The QDT will get formal feedback on all four awards later today. These are expressed as "conditions" (which we must address) and "recommendations" (which we don't).

Since we are in the middle of the process right now, I don't want to write too much about the final outcomes. But it's been very constructive, and I am expecting a positive outcome, albeit with some work for the QDT to carry out.

Final preparations for validation

The team have been busy this week making final preparations for the imminent validation event for the revised HNDs.

Validations have been an important part of the qualification development process for a long time. The purpose of a validation is to carry out a final check on the proposals through a process of peer review. There are two particularly important phrases in that last sentence. The validation is a "final check". It is not meant to question the  basis of the proposed award since anything so fundamentally flawed should never be presented for validation. The other important phrase is "peer review". A validation event is a meeting of equals. It's not an inspection by one group of teachers on another.

That's not to say that a validation is a rubber stamp exercise. The panel can impose conditions and recommendations on a proposed award, and the QDT is required to address the conditions.

The members of this validation panel are typical, consisting of experienced, dedicated professionals, with a variety of backgrounds, who, together with the equally professional members of the QDT, will try to make the new awards as good as they can be.

Validation event

We've been busy recently preparing for the forthcoming validation event for the revised HNDs, which takes place next week.

Since we are validating four awards (HND Computing, HND Computing: Networking, HND Computing: Software Development and HND Computing: Technical Support) we are doing the validation over two days. It will take place next Thursday and Friday (6 and 7 December). The qualifications will be split as follows:

Day 1: HND Computing and HND Computing: Software Development
Day 2: HND Computing: Networking and HND Computing: Technical Support.

This seemed the most logical split due to the links between the awards.

A validation event is a meeting of equals -- it's not the panel "inspecting" the development team. It's an opportunity to have an open and frank and positive discussion about the proposals.

These particular proposals are the most talked-about and considered qualifications I have ever been involved with. The development process goes back almost two years, during which time there have been a huge number of meetings and discussions about their contents. That doesn't mean that they're perfect, but it does mean that we believe that they are well thought through.

It was pleasing that the proposals had wide support at the recent Heads of Computing event, when each of the Qualification Leaders went over their draft awards.

Look out for more news on this blog about the validation once it's over.

HND Computing Awards - Structures

The Qualification Leaders are currently writing the Group Award Specifications (previously known as Validation Proposal Documents) for the following HND awards:

1. HND Computing
2. HND Computing: Networking
3. HND Computing: Software Development
4. HND Computing: Technical Support

There have been some additional units added to the award strucutres over the past couple of months so the versions that were previously available have been updated.  These structures can be accessed here and  replace any versions you may have saved before.

These versions will go forward for validation as part of each of the awards in December.

Validation Panel

As you know, we are preparing for the forthcoming validation event (the date is still to be decided). One of the key stages in that process is selecting the members of the Validation Panel. We try to get a good mix of educational and industrial representatives who are independent of the development.

Our job for the HNDs was easy since we asked the members of the HNC Validation Panel if they would be willing to serve on the HND validations. They all did. So the Panel for the HND validations will be:

• Cameron Walker (Aberdeen College): FE representative (Convenor)
• Debbie McHarg (Stevenson College): FE representative
• Alan Gannon (Adam Smith College): FE representative
• Brian McGhee (University of the West of Scotland): University representative
• Genny Dixon (consultant, previously E-Skills UK): Employer representative
• Sharon O'Neil (SQA).

The Panel are completely independent of the development, so they can bring a fresh eye to the proposals.

SQA's collaborative, peer created and reviewed, qualification development process has stood the test of time, and proven to be a rigorous, fair but thorough process, which produces high quality qualifications.

Contact Caroline if you have any queries about the validation event.

Preparing for the validation

Me and Caroline met with the Qualification Leaders on Saturday to discuss the forthcoming validation event. The Qualification Leaders are:

• HND Computing: Derek Summer (Perth College)
• HND Computing: Networking: Chris Deegan (City of Glasgow College)
• HND Computing: Software Development: Pete Ainsworth (Motherwell College)
• HND Computing: Technical Support: Sean Miller (Telford College).

In fact, we focussed on one specific aspect of the validation event -- the production of the required documentation. This has changed. It was previously a "Validation Proposal Document" (VPD), which became "Arrangements" once the award was validated, but this has been replaced by a "Group Award Specification", which replaces both the VPD and the Arrangements.Much of the contents is the same but the new Spec is more streamlined that the previous documentation.

Evidence of support for new awards remains a crucial part of the validation process so don't forget to complete the appropriate online survey if you haven't done so already.

Stakeholder surveys

The QDT has engaged with stakeholders since the start of this development. There are 32 members, representing more than 20 centres, on the QDT itself, and the members of the QDT have formally and informally consulted with their contacts throughout the development process.

But we have recently created more formal means of getting stakeholder feedback via a number of online surveys. There are surveys for college lecturers, university lecturers and employers.

If you haven't done so already, I would appreciate if you would complete the appropriate survey. If you've already completed one, you could encourage colleagues to complete it or forward links to your own contacts. Thanks in anticipation.

Please contact Caroline if you have any problems.