INTERNATIONAL ADVANCED LEVEL

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
SCHEME OF WORK
Unit 3
Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary in Information Technology (XIT11)
and Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Level in Information Technology (YIT11)
First teaching September 2018
First examination from June 2019
First certification from August 2019 (International Advanced Subsidiary)
and August 2020 (International Advanced Level)
INTRODUCTION

The following scheme of work provides an overview of the content of the 2018 International Advanced Level Information Technology and shows how the
content could be taught as a guideline approach only.

It should be adapted by schools to fit their timetabling and staffing arrangements. It is based upon a two-year delivery model where all IAS content is being
taught in the first year and the remaining IA2 content in the second year.

The scheme of work is broken up into units and topics, so that there is greater flexibility for moving topics around to meet planning needs.

It includes:

● Recommended teaching time for topics, though of course this is adaptable according to individual teaching needs

● Classroom activities, teaching points and suggested teaching resources

● Objectives for students at the end of the topic area and integrated transferable Skills that are being developed.

The number of guided learning hours for Advanced Level is 360. Teachers should be aware that the estimated teaching hours are approximate and should be used
as a guideline only.

Many of the suggested activities involve group or individual guided research by students. A wide range of links are included to resources. Students should be
encouraged to research the topic expansions included in this scheme of work. Understanding will be enhanced if as advised research activities are followed up with
whole class discussions.
Unit 3
(Refer also to the specification and the delivery and assessment guidance in the Getting Started Guide)

Topic 12: Manipulating data

Topic 12 deals with data. How it is collected, stored and manipulated. Access to database software would be useful but students will need to be able to
draw their diagrams by hand in the examination. This topic has strong links to Unit 1 (topic 5). It also covers similar material to Unit 4, although students
will probably concentrate on the practical aspects in Unit 4 and a more theoretical approach here.

Wee Topic area / aims / Exemplar classroom activities / teaching points / suggested teaching resources Integrated
k learning outcomes Transferable Skills
1 12.1.1 Guided research into data governance. Students should work individually or in small groups to find out Co-operation
Understand the what might be included in the term (e.g. policy management, data security, data integrity, data stewardship, Communication
importance of data data quality, data handling procedures, database planning, data availability). They should also consider how Critical thinking
integrity and the social and ethical issues affect data governance. Adaptive learning
methods of Adapting prior
maintaining it The students / groups should then write a definition for data governance. knowledge and
(data governance). experience of IT to deal
Note: data governance is a concept rather than a set of rules. There is no single, authoritative definition for with
the term as different groups and organisations will have different ideas about what is needed. situations/contexts

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture of data governance.

Students should be made aware of the need to adapt to the requirements of different scenarios.

Resources
The British Academy and Royal Society have produced a pdf of case studies.
http://www.britac.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Data Governance - Case studies.pdf?

Guided research into data integrity. Students should work individually or in small groups to find out
methods of ensuring accuracy and consistency of data.
Each group could be given a different method or challenge to research.
e.g.
 Logical integrity: referential integrity, entity integrity
o software bugs/errors, database design errors, human error
  Physical integrity:
o hardware design flaws
o corrosion and material failure
o electrical problems
o extreme high or low temperatures
o radiation
o g-forces
o natural disasters such as fire and flood
o man-made disasters such as war or terrorism
o extreme high or low pressure.

Note: although many of these challenges seem extreme, students should be made aware that data integrity
needs to be maintained in data measurement and storage devices such as spacecraft, volcano monitors,
aircraft black boxes, and many other places where physical protection is a major problem.

Groups report to whole class to build up a more complete picture of how to maintain data integrity.

Tutor-led discussion on the meaning of data dictionary. In the light of finding a definition for data
governance, students should be made aware that there are numerous definitions.

1 12.1.2 Guided research into data dictionaries. Students should work individually or in small groups to look at the Co-operation
Data dictionaries. features and functions of data dictionaries. Communication
Understand the: e.g. active and passive dictionaries, encrypted/not available to users, defines data objects (data about data), Critical thinking
 concept helps scheduling and control, is a data management tool, created as part of database design. Adaptive learning
 features Adapting prior
 functions of a Each group could be given a different aspect to research, with groups reporting to the whole class to build knowledge and
data up a more complete picture. experience of IT to deal
dictionary. with
Resources situations/contexts
12.1.3 Example of real life data dictionaries may be found at:
Be able to interpret https://jiscinfonetcasestudies.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/60296394/Data dictionary example.pdf
and construct a data and
dictionary. http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2750/data_dictionary

Note: data dictionaries in the examination will be a lot smaller.

 Students could be given extracts from the real-life directories to interpret.
Students can be given sets of data and asked to construct a suitable data dictionary.

There are numerous YouTube style videos available about what a data dictionary is and how to create one,
e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeVJy-ow2b0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOVN0v-HWcQ
2 12.1.4 Tutor-led discussion on why data validation is needed. Ensuring data is clean, correct and useful. Co-operation
Data validation. Students should understand that validation is not always simple or easy. Communication
Understand the: Adaptive learning
 concept of Resources Adapting prior
 need for data There is a humorous but accurate account about names at: knowledge, skills
validation. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ and experience of IT
This may form an interesting starting point for discussion of other validations. to deal with new
situations/contexts
There are some other useful examples and discussion here:
https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/sql/sql-development/validation-verification-modification/

There is a worked example of a data validation problem for a database at:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/planning-budgeting-
cloud/pfusa/data_validation_rule_scenarios.html
2 12.1.5 Students should also understand that validation does not just apply to databases. Co-operation
Validation rules. Some good examples of spreadsheet validation are explained at: Communication
Be able to: https://www.howtoexcel.org/tips-and-tricks/11-awesome-examples-of-data-validation/ Adaptive learning
 interpret Students work through tutor-set data validation scenarios. Adapting prior
 design knowledge, skills
 validation rules There is an opportunity for practical work here, if suitable database or spreadsheet software is available, and experience of IT
for a given although students will need to be able to work on paper for the examination. to deal with new
situation. situations/contexts
There are links to Unit 4 here, 18.3 and 19.3.3, but tutors should emphasise the difference between
Rule types: working with the database software, Unit 4, and working on paper, Unit 3.
 presence
 range
 lookup
 list
  length
 format
 check digit.
3 12.2.1 Tutor-led discussion on data redundancy. Adaptive learning
Data redundancy. Students should understand that data redundancy can lead to: Adapting prior
Understand the:  data inconsistency knowledge, skills and
 concept of  larger storage requirements experience of IT to deal
 problems  slower processing with new
associated with  increased operational costs. situations/contexts
data
redundancy. Resources
Some examples are explained at:
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_problems_are_caused_by_data_redundancy

Students should also be made aware that data redundancy can be acceptable and even desirable in some
circumstances. e.g. for backup purposes, for replacing a join to enable faster processing. There is an example
of the latter case here:
https://opentextbc.ca/dbdesign01/https://www.essentialsql.com/get-ready-to-learn-sql-database-
normalization-explained-in-simple-english//chapter-10-er-modelling/

Note: when dealing with Big Data, 12.3.1 to 12.3.5, data redundancy may be impossible to eliminate and
many Big Data systems are designed to trade data consistency for processing time, availability, and cost
benefits.
3 12.2.2 Tutor-led discussion on the use of normalisation to help solve the problems associated with data Adaptive learning
Data normalisation. redundancy. Adapting prior
Understand the: knowledge, skills and
 concept of Students work on tutor-set problems in: experience of IT to deal
 need for  normalising data sets with new
data normalisation.  constructing logical data models. (extended versions of entity relationship diagrams (ERD) situations/contexts

12.2.3 Resources
Normalisation. There are worked examples of normalisation at:
Be able to https://www.essentialsql.com/get-ready-to-learn-sql-database-normalization-explained-in-simple-english/
normalise a and
collection of data https://www.studytonight.com/dbms/database-normalization.php
into:
  first normal There is a walk through for ERDs, that also explains the relationship of ERDs to logical data models, here:
 second normal https://www.visual-paradigm.com/guide/data-modeling/what-is-entity-relationship-diagram/#erd-data-
 third normal models-logical
forms.
12.2.4
Logical data models.
Be able to design a
logical data model
showing:
 normalised
data
 relations.
4 12.3.1 Guided research into Big Data. Students should work individually or in small groups to find out what might Co-operation
Big Data. be accepted as being Big Data. Communication
Understand the: They could look at: Critical thinking
 concept of  Volume; how big must a data set be before traditional data handling methods cannot cope.
 issues  Velocity; how quickly will data arrive, how quickly must it be evaluated and acted upon. Including the
associated with problems of real time data.
the collection  Variety; the problems of dealing with unstructured data, including additional processing and the use
of of metadata.
Big Data.  Veracity; how reliable is the data. Costs of finding errors v costs of accepting errors. Legal
Including: consequences could also be looked at.
 volume  Value; it is often said that all data has value, but there are costs in collecting, storing, processing,
 velocity analysing. Students should look at the cost-benefit equation.
 variety
 veracity They could also consider how social and ethical issues affect Big Data and legal issues associated with
 value. movement of data between countries.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture of Big Data.

Resources
Oracle has a useful guide to Big Data, although slanted to its own services:
https://www.oracle.com/uk/big-data/index.html

There are some interesting examples of real life uses of Big Data here:
https://www.datapine.com/blog/big-data-examples-in-real-life/
 Note: two of the examples are about the sale of alcohol and running a casino. Tutors may wish to
download and edit the pages rather than give students the URL.

Slate has an article about cases where Big data has gone wrong here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2017/10/what_happened_to_big_data.html?
4 12.3.2 Guided research into infrastructure and services. Co-operation
Infrastructure and Areas to look at might include: Communication
services for Big Data.  Big Data database systems; e.g. Hadoop (open source system), NoSQL databases such as Apache Critical thinking
Understand the Cassandra or MongoDB, Cloud computing (various services), Massive Parallel Processing (MPP)
infrastructure and (various services).
services required for  Data storage; data warehouse, data lake, distributed/cloud based, on organisations own servers or
the: network storage, storage facilities (e.g. need for power, cooling, protection, communications)
 collection  Data transmission; limitations of TCP protocol, development and use of other protocols to replace or
 storage enhance TCP (e.g. Reliable Multi-Destination Transport (RMDT), UDP-based Data Transfer Protocol
 transmission (UDT), Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC)), increasing use of wireless/WiFi and associated
of Big Data. problems (e.g. non-constant bandwidth, other users transmitting on same channel, interference),
advances in fibre optics, advances in data compression.

Note: students should understand the limitations of TCP and be aware of efforts to replace it. They do not
need to know technical details of any proposed replacements but should be able to explain in general terms
why they are an improvement on TCP.

 Collection systems and sources; e.g. purchasing and financial data from credit/debit cards, purchasing
and lifestyle data from supermarkets and other large stores, lifestyle data from email inboxes and
social media accounts.

Note: collection, storage and transmission of data is an area where changes may happen due to both
domestic and international politics and new trade agreements. Students should know about types of
laws/regulations rather than specific detail that may be contained in them.

Resources
There is a good, but possibly over-technical, discussion in a pdf at:
https://www.fujitsu.com/us/Images/BigDatawp.pdf

There is an article about how businesses can collect personal data at:
https://www.villanovau.com/resources/bi/6-ways-companies-can-collect-your-data/
 There is a pdf that describes in detail data sources used by the UK Department of Transport at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/webtag-tag-unit-m1-2-data-sources-and-surveys
Many of the datasets are available as a free download.
5 12.3.3 Guided research into issues associated with storing Big Data. Students should work individually or in small Co-operation
Big Data storage. groups. Communication
Understand the
impact of storing Big They could look at:
Data, including:  Access; e.g. where to find data stores, who sees an organisations data, types of query language used,
 access tools for seeing and understanding the data
 processing  Transmission time; e.g. effects of different media such as (copper cable, fibre optic, wireless),
time bandwidth, requirements for building/upgrading networks and systems to cope with increasing data
 transmission movement, international aspects, latency affecting processing at different locations especially
time affecting real time processing, synchronisation problems
 security.  Security; e.g. theft of data from online/third party storage, ransomware, DDoS attacks, insider attacks,
data misuse by authorised users, insertion of fake data, changes to data at source level such as
changes to data or metadata formats at source can cause data to go to the wrong place, access
control, security audits, physical security.
 Processing time; e.g. balance between security - encrypting all data - and processing time, problems
with having to decrypt-process-encrypt, process types (e.g. batch, real time, stream), processing
architecture (lambda and kappa), software, problems with data noise and corruption

They should also consider how legal issues affect Big Data storage, especially in the areas of access and
security.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There is a discussion of tools at:
https://www.import.io/post/all-the-best-big-data-tools-and-how-to-use-them/

There are discussions of Big Data processing software at;

https://www.kdnuggets.com/2016/03/top-big-data-processing-frameworks.html
and
http://www.dataversity.net/big-data-processing-101/
 There is a discussion of architecture at:
https://towardsdatascience.com/a-brief-introduction-to-two-data-processing-architectures-lambda-and-
kappa-for-big-data-4f35c28005bb

Note: students should understand the uses and limitations of different software, techniques, and
architectures. They do not need to know technical details but should be able to explain them general terms.
6 12.3.4 Guided research into issues associated with manipulating Big Data. Students should work individually or in Co-operation
Manipulating Big small groups. Communication
Data.
Understand the They could look at:
concepts of:  data mining; techniques (e.g. anomaly/outlier detection, classification, association, clustering,
 data mining regression, prediction, pattern analysis), purpose (changing data into information)
 data  data warehousing; characteristics (e.g. integrated, time-variant, non-volatile), functions (e.g. extraction,
warehousing cleaning, transformation of data), benefits (e.g. in decision making, data access, data quality), data lake
 data analytics - holding raw data
in the context  data analytics: purpose (e.g. finding hidden patterns, previously unknown correlations, emerging
of Big Data. trends), tools.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
Oracle has a detailed introduction to data mining here:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/datamine.112/e16808/toc.htm
Oracle has a detailed introduction to data warehousing here:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e25555/tdpdw_intro.htm
Note: the Oracle material is slanted towards Oracle software and goes into much more detail than required
for the examination. It is more a tutor resource than a student one.

There is a basic guide to numerous data analytics tools here:

https://bigdata-madesimple.com/top-30-big-data-tools-data-analysis/

Note: students should understand the types of tool available and be able to explain them in simple terms.
They do not need to know technical details.
6 12.3.5 Guided research into issues associated with using Big Data. Students should work individually or in small Co-operation
Using Big Data. groups. Communication
Understand how Big They could look at:
Data is used by:  Use by individuals; health (e.g. fitness trackers, personalised healthcare, DNA testing), transport (e.g.
 individuals GPS, map apps, public transport apps, online travel booking), news (e.g. Twitter and Facebook and
 organisations other social media), entertainment (e.g. Netflix and Spotify and other streaming systems), shopping
 society. (e.g. Amazon and online supermarkets and other online shopping systems), chatbots/digital assistants
(e.g. Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google Assistant)
Understand how big  Use by organisations; e.g. customer relations, predictions of consumer behaviour, identifying risks and
Data is used in the fraud prevention, optimising timings for (e.g. product launch/change, presenting offers/discounts),
context of: measuring use/success of digital products (e.g. online entertainment, computer games, websites),
 healthcare improving reliability/efficiency of engineering/scientific products (e.g. engines, mobile networks, traffic
 infrastructure control systems)
planning  Use by society; e.g. economics (e.g. planning and modelling, taxation, money supply), health (e.g.
 transportation public health/medical systems, disease monitoring and control), social media, communications (e.g.
 fraud email, VoIP, mobile systems)
detection.
Resources
Wikipedia has examples of how data mining is used at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examples_of_data_mining

There is a pdf on ways in which data mining has been used in different sectors here:
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/275281
 Topic 13: Enabling technologies
Topic 13 deals with the technologies which may be used when setting up or interacting with a system. Some of the technology,
such as user interfaces, is likely to be familiar to students, but all of it is under constant development. Students should be
encouraged to keep up with the latest ideas and products.

Week Topic area / aims / Exemplar classroom activities / teaching points / suggested teaching resources Integrated
learning outcomes Transferable Skills
7 13.1.1 Tutor led discussion on the concept of virtualisation. There is scope here for some practical work if Co-operation
Virtualisation. suitable hardware / software is available. (e.g. using Windows Virtual Machine, Virtualbox or similar virtual Communication
Understand the: machine (VM) applications). Students may have some experience of limited virtualisation, many will have Adaptive learning.
 concept of used a Java Virtual Machine, perhaps without realising what it is. This could form a useful start point for a Adapting prior
 reasons for using discussion. knowledge, skills and
virtualisation. experience of IT to deal
There are numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to set up and use VMs. e.g. with new
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U09IoM6Nvdg situations/contexts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyi-NuqiLr0

Guided research into reasons for using virtualisation.

Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 Resource optimisation; e.g. computing powder, bandwidth, storage space, physical space, saving
energy
 Maximising uptime; e.g. flexible deployment, improved disaster recovery, reconfiguration on-the-fly
 Redundancy/resilience; e.g. running applications on multiple VMs to reduce the effect of an
application crashing
 Flexibility; workload migration such as (moving the VM to better hardware/better location, allowing
hardware maintenance)
 Protect investment; e.g. legacy software can be kept running when original hardware becomes
obsolete/unusable
 Economics; e.g. saving on hardware costs, allowing trials before adoption of new systems
 Scaling and automation; e.g. new servers can easily be set up and removed by automatic systems.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
 Resources
Windows Virtual machine, requirements and download.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3702
VirtualBox documentation and download.
https://www.virtualbox.org/

7 13.1.2 Guided research into ways of achieving virtualisation. Co-operation

Ways of achieving Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
virtualisation. They could look at: Adaptive learning.
Understand:  VMs, the process for creating a VM; preparation of the platform (e.g. checking hard disks, checking Adapting prior
 containerisation server software versions and patches), create a copy of the server being cloned by writing a full knowledge, skills and
 virtual machines. backup of the server system state, create the VM (e.g. run the VM software to make an empty VM, experience of IT to deal
install the correct operating system, restore the backup onto the VM) with new
 Requirements for VMs; virtual hardware (virtual machines and a hypervisor) situations/contexts
 Containerisation; the process for creating a container (e.g. create a container image file, use a
container engine to run the image file)
 Requirements for containerisation; a container engine, virtual runtime environments running on
top of an operating system kernel.

There are numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to set up and use containers. e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7NVloq0EBc

There is scope here for some practical work if suitable hardware/software is available. (e.g. using Docker,
Linux Containers or similar applications).

Resources
Docker, blog, video and download.
https://www.docker.com/resources

Linux containers.
https://opensource.com/resources/what-are-linux-containers
8 13.2.1 Tutor-led discussion on the concept of distributed systems. Students may have some experience of Co-operation
Distributed systems. distributed systems, perhaps without realising that they are using them (e.g. online multiplayer games, Communication
Understand the: file transfer via torrents, search engines). They will probably also have used low level distributed systems
 concept of in a local area network (e.g. sharing printers/files). This could form a useful start point for a discussion.
 need for
 distributed There are numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to set up and use a distributed system. e.g.
systems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ev8GIlbxc
Guided research into the need for distributed systems.
Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 limitations to vertical scaling of applications, with horizontal scaling as a solution
 cost savings
 reducing latency
 reliability and resilience
 availability.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
8 13.2.2 Guided research into the issues associated with distributed systems. Co-operation
Distributed systems Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
issues. They could look at:
Understand issues  categories of distributed systems; distributed databases (e.g. Atomicity - Consistency - Isolation -
associated with Durability (ACID), sharding / partitioning), distributed file systems (e.g. nodes, blockchain),
distributed systems, distributed messaging (e.g. producers, brokers, consumers), distributed applications (e.g. online
including: games, web browsers, search engines)
 failure  limitations; problems with replication and consistency (e.g. lack of a global clock for
 concurrency synchronisation, latency / lag in updating across separated data store / databases, lost messages),
 replication security (e.g. growth in potential access points with growth in nodes/connections, auditing
 performance. problems, increased opportunity for inside attack, weakest link - a breach at one badly protected
location can give access to an entire system)
 replication and consistency; consistency categories (e.g. strict, sequential, casual, eventual),
replication categories (e.g. multi-master, lazy, server initiated, client initiated, synchronous,
asynchronous)
 performance; server and network architecture, protocols, bandwidth, complexity (e.g. difficulties in
design, diagnostics, maintenance), advantages over non-distributed systems.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
An introduction to distributed systems.
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/a-thorough-introduction-to-distributed-systems-3b91562c9b3c?
gi=9c6ca5d69e2
Hadoop open-source software for distributed computing, download and documentation.
https://hadoop.apache.org/#
 Instructions for installing Hadoop on Windows
https://github.com/MuhammadBilalYar/Hadoop-On-Window/wiki/Step-by-step-Hadoop-2.8.0-installation-
on-Window-10
9 13.3.1 Tutor-led discussion on the concept of human computer interaction. Students are likely to have Co-operation
Human computer experience of using systems in a variety of settings (e.g. phones, PCs, ticket machines, vending machines, Communication
interaction. entertainment systems). They will probably realise that some of these systems are more user friendly Adaptive learning.
Understand the than others. This could form a useful start point for a discussion. Adapting prior
importance of: knowledge, skills
 effective Guided research into human computer interaction. and experience of IT
interaction Students should work individually or in small groups. to deal with new
 the impact on They could look at user experience for: situations/contexts
the user  disabled access; e.g. visual disability, deafness, reduced mobility
experience.  people who are unable to read the interface; e.g. young children, illiterate people, those who speak
/ use a different language.
 interaction in difficult environments; e.g. underwater, places where protective clothing is needed
such as Antarctica, in noisy locations, while mobile
 a range of device types; e.g. PC screens, websites, scientific instruments, household appliances,
children’s toys, smart television sets, point of sale systems.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

There is scope here for some practical work in this topic. Students could be asked to analyse and improve
on some of the designs that they have researched, or tutor-supplied ones.

Resources
An overview and history of human computer interaction.
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-
2nd-ed/human-computer-interaction-brief-intro
A timeline showing when different types of interaction were developed.
https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/market-trends/14-human-computer-interaction-examples/
9 13.3.2 Guided research into human computer interaction methods. Co-operation
Ways of Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
implementing They could look at: Adaptive learning.
human computer  Visual interaction; e.g. flat screens, 3d/virtual reality screens, eye tracking, head/hand/body Adapting prior
interaction. To tracking, virtual retinal display/retinal projector, head-up displays knowledge, skills
include:  Audio interaction; e.g. microphones, speakers, voice commands, natural language, language and experience of IT
 visual translation, audio implants to deal with new
  audio  Haptic interaction; e.g. joystick, mouse, trackball, keyboard, touch screen, haptic gloves and other situations/contexts
 haptic. wearables, force feedback devices, Braille displays
 Insertions; emerging technology, use of inserted microchips.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
Tutor-led discussion on the concept of ergonomics. This could start with a consideration of the
students' workstations or simply their desk and chair arrangements.

Resources
There are useful guides to ergonomics in relation to computers at:
https://www.uhs.umich.edu/computerergonomics
and
http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/topics/physical/ergonomics/workstation

There are numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to set up an ergonomically safe computing
environment.
9 13.3.3 Guided research into ergonomics for non-standard computing situations. Students could look at safe Co-operation
Ergonomic working practices for some of the systems that were looked at in 13.3.1 and 13.3.2. Communication
principles. Adaptive learning.
Understand the Tutor-led discussion on interface design. This could centre on some of the systems looked at Adapting prior
ergonomic principles previously. knowledge, skills
that underpin and experience of IT
human computer There is scope here for some practical work in this topic. Students could be asked to analyse and improve to deal with new
interaction. on some of the designs being discussed. situations/contexts

Interface design:
 menus
 icons
 accessibility
 windows
pointers.
10 13.4.1 Tutor-led discussion on the concept of cloud storage. Students are likely to have experience of using Co-operation
Data storage. cloud storage (e.g. for phone backups, for music / photo storage). This could form a useful start point for Communication
Understand how a discussion.
data is stored in the Students should understand that cloud storage, and all cloud computing, is really 'using someone else's
cloud. hardware'.
 Guided research into cloud storage.
Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 hardware requirements; e.g. servers, drives.
 software requirements; e.g. Representational State Transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol
(SOAP), object-based infrastructure; e.g. public v private clouds, infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
10 13.4.2 Tutor-led discussion on the concept of data security. Students are likely to have experience of this (e.g. Co-operation
Understand how phone encryption, system and website passwords). This could form a useful start point for a discussion. Communication
data is secured by: Topic 12.3.3. Big Data security might also be used.
 file encryption
 password Students should understand that data security applies to a wide range of data storage and transfer
protection. situations (e.g. personal files, email transfers, data stored in the cloud, secure web sites, digital devices,
Internet of Things devices).

Guided research into data security.

Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 file encryption; symmetric algorithms (e.g. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data
Encryption Standard (3DES), Twofish, Blowfish), asymmetric algorithms (e.g. Rivest–Shamir–
Adleman (RSA), elliptic curve, Diffie-Hellman), end-to-end encryption
 encryption approaches; e.g. file/data block level, folder level, full disk
 password protection; how passwords are stored and what that means for their security (e.g.
plaintext, hash, salted hash, reversibly encrypted), logon/authentication passwords v passwords on
data/ files/ compressed files.
Note: students do not need to know technical details of password algorithms and storage or encryption
algorithms but should be able to select an appropriate method for a given scenario and justify their choice
in terms of e.g. speed, security, cost, user experience.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There is a discussion of data encryption methods here:
https://www.techworld.com/security/what-is-encryption-3659671/
Features and functions of the algorithms are dealt with in more detail in 13.5.1.
11 13.4.3 Tutor-led discussion on Database management Systems (DBMS). Students are likely to have experience of Co-operation
Database Management at least one DBMS (e.g. Access, MySQL, Libre Office/Open Office Base). This could form a useful start point Communication
 System (DBMS). for a discussion. Adaptive learning.
Understand the: Students should understand that there are a wide range of DBMSs but they all perform similar functions. Adapting prior
 features of knowledge, skills and
 functions of Guided research into DBMSs. experience of IT to deal
a DBMS. Students should work individually or in small groups. with new
They could look at: situations/contexts
 architecture; e.g. physical database, database engine, database schema.
 types; e.g. hierarchical, relational, distributed, object-oriented.
 features; e.g. saves storage space, reduces need for users to have technical skills, helps with
database maintenance, improves data security, reduces data duplication and redundancy,
separates applications from the database, accessed by database query language.
 functions, management of; e.g. security, data integrity, the data dictionary, data storage, data
transformation and presentation, multi-user access control, transactions, backup and restore,
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

There is scope here for some practical work in this topic, possibly tied in with database construction from
Unit 4. Students could try out database tools to see how one or more DBMS performs some of the DBMS
functions.

Understand how a Guided research into DBMSs.

DBMS controls: Students should work individually or in small groups.
 access They could look at:
 views.  access control types; e.g. mandatory, discretionary, role-based, rule based.
 access control methods; e.g. username and password, security policy, grant/revoke privileges
 database views; e.g. types of view such as (simple, complex, read only, updatable), grant/revoke
views, multi-level relationships, aggregation of queries to mask personal identifying data.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There is an introduction to DBMS here:
https://www.guru99.com/what-is-dbms.html
and a more in-depth approach here:
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/dbms/index.htm
12 13.5.1 Note: this topic has links to 13.4.2. Co-operation
Symmetric Tutor-led discussion on data security, reminding students about Big Data security issues. Communication
encryption.
Understand the: Guided research into data security.
 features of Students should work individually or in small groups, extending their work from 13.4.2.
 functions of
symmetric They could look at:
encryption.  keys; e.g. importance of key size, symmetric v asymmetric, computational requirements, ease of
distribution
13.5.2  purposes; e.g. common uses of each type of encryption
Asymmetric (public  importance and effect of iteration rounds on; e.g. speed, security, cost, hardware requirements
key) encryption.  hybrid systems
Understand the:  certificates: e.g. types such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Public-Key Certificate, certifying
 features of authority, self-signed certificate.
 functions of
asymmetric Resources
encryption. The information Commissioner's Office has a guide to encryption in relation to the GDPR.
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-
13.5.3 regulation-gdpr/security/encryption/
Certificate-based
encryption. There is an illustrated guide to creating certificates at:
Understand the: https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Your-Own-Certificate-Authority
 features of There are also numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to create and use certificates. E.g.
 functions of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSjK9BuURS0
certificate-based
encryption. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E89gTsSEZOo
Including:
 certificates Note: students do not need to know technical details of the algorithms but should be able to select an
 public-key appropriate method for a given scenario and justify their choice in terms of e.g. speed, security, cost,
certificates. user experience.
 Topic 14: Using IT systems in organisations
It is probable that many students will have some experience of IT systems, even if it is only a school network. Their experiences may form a useful
starting point for some topics but it is important that they realise that many organisations, and their systems, are much larger and more complex
than anything they may have experienced themselves.

Week Topic area / aims / learning Exemplar classroom activities / teaching points / suggested teaching resources Integrated
outcomes Transferable Skills
13 14.1.1 Tutor-led discussion on what an IT system is. Co-operation
The role of IT systems. Students should understand that an IT system can be anything from an individual device to an Communication
Understand the role of IT organisation-wide set of hardware, software and data.
systems in organisations. One organisation defines its IT system as:
Roles include: all computer systems, programs, networks, hardware, intellectual property software, software engines,
 operational support databases, operating systems, Internet websites, Website content and links and equipment used to process,
 collaboration store, maintain and operate data, information and functions used in, intended to be used in, or held for use
 knowledge in, the business of the Company or the Acquired Subsidiaries.
management Guided research into how organisations use IT systems.
 product Students should work individually or in small groups.
development They could look at:
 service delivery.  operational support; e.g. monitoring, controlling, analysing, managing (maintaining network
inventory, configuring network components, allocating services, managing faults).
 collaboration; e.g. communication tools such as email or video conferencing, project management,
team working
 knowledge management; e.g. storing and retrieving knowledge, finding sources, mining data for
knowledge, content/document management, sharing knowledge.
 product development; e.g. systems for research, planning, design, prototyping, marketing, testing
 service delivery; e.g. enterprise service management (ESM) software, design of processes to deliver
services to the organisation and its customers, workflow management.
Students should understand that there is often overlap between the different roles.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
The Open University has a short course on IT systems. It is more a tutor resource than one suitable for
students.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?printable=1&id=2846
There is a YouTube talk on IT systems from a business perspective here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPE5JHVSp_k
13 14.1.2 Tutor-led discussion on what transaction processing (TP) is. Students are likely to have experienced Co-operation
Transaction processing some form of TP, even if it just at a point of sale system in a shop. They may also have made online Communication
(TP). purchases or used a networked ticket machine.
Understand: They should understand that TP is much more than purchasing items and that non-fiscal transactions
 the concept of TP take place in a wide range of industries.
 how organisations
use TP Guided research into transaction processing.
 why organisations Students should work individually or in small groups.
use TP. They could look at:
 Types of TP; batch and real-time.
Contexts of TP include:  Features of TP; e.g. rapid response time, high availability/reliability, maintenance of data integrity,
 electronic point of user transparency/ease of use, scalability, controlled access.
sale (EPOS)  Uses; e.g. sales and orders, payments, delivery tracking, process tracking, people tracking (such as
 order processing passports/ID cards at borders, automatic number plate reading on roads, location awareness on
 financial mobile devices), financial such as payroll, personnel/student records.
 Bacs Payment  Reasons for use; e.g. cost savings, efficiency, better access to customers/markets, automated data
Schemes Limited collection, better user experience.
(Bacs).
Students might also look at some of the problems with TP, e.g. security, hardware requirements.

Note: although only a limited number of contexts are named in 14.1.2 students should not restrict their
research to those contexts alone. If a context is given in an examination it will be from those areas, but
where a specific context is not given, students will be able to answer with examples from other areas.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There is an overview of transactional processing here:
https://sites.google.com/site/transactionprocessingsystems/home
There is a YouTube talk on transactional processing from a business perspective here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EyiJepJKlc
14 14.1.3 Tutor-led discussion on what Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is.
Customer relationship Students should understand that CRM is practices, strategies and technologies for managing and
management (CRM). analysing customer relations. CRM is not just IT, although study should concentrate on CRM systems and
Understand: how they are used.
 the concept of CRM Students will probably have been on the receiving end of CRM, e.g. targeted adverts on websites or
  how organisations mobile apps.
use CRM
 why organisations
use CRM.
Guided research into CRM.
Contexts of CRM include: Students should work individually or in small groups.
 synchronise They could look at:
marketing events  types of CRM; operational, analytical, collaborative
 loyalty schemes o operational; e.g. marketing, sales, customer service
 buying trends o analytical; e.g. data management, finding and retaining customers
 customer service o collaborative; e.g. improving communications, tracking and sharing data.
 customer retention  features of CRM; e.g. automation, data collection and analysis, management
 upselling.  how CRM is used, roles; e.g. identifying sales prospects/leads, tracking customer interactions,
filtering enquiries to contact/call centres, providing location awareness, tracking employee
performance, improving customer satisfaction/experience, tracking and engaging with social
media, improving business-to-business links
 why CRM is used; e.g. improving efficiency, saving money, improved management, improved
communication within the organisation, improved/more accurate data management.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Note: although only a limited number of contexts are named in 14.1.3 students should not restrict their
research to those contexts alone. If a context is given in an examination it will be from those areas, but
where a specific context is not given, students will be able to answer with examples from other areas.

Resources
There is an overview of CRM here:
https://www.salesforce.com/uk/learning-centre/crm/crm-systems/

There is a simple guide, which includes a YouTube talk on CRM here:

https://keap.com/product/what-is-crm?
15 14.1.4 Tutor-led discussion on what management information systems (MIS) are. Adaptive learning.
Management information Students should understand that although MISs have arguably been in existence since people started Adapting prior
systems (MIS). writing down business information, they are really a product of the computer age. knowledge, skills
Understand the: Students will have had their information stored in a MIS as many schools use a MIS for their student and experience of
 concept of records as will examination bodies such as Pearson. IT to deal with new
  use of MIS. There is an opportunity for some practical work, exploring MISs. situations/contexts
Contexts of MIS include: Co-operation
 record-keeping Resources Communication
 decision-making There are a number of free School Information Systems, which are a form of MIS. These include openSIS
 project at:
management. https://opensis.com/
Student Data System, this system allows an anonymous login to an online demo version at:
http://studentdatasystem.com/demo

Guided research into the uses of MIS.

Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 Sales management systems
 Inventory control systems
 Budgeting systems
 Management Reporting Systems (MRS)
 Personnel (HRM) systems
 MIS feeding into Decision Support and/or Executive Information systems.
15 14.1.5 Tutor-led discussion on what is meant by an Intelligent Transport System (ITS). Students should Adaptive learning.
Intelligent transportation understand that different organisations have different definitions for an ITS. Adapting prior
systems (ITS). knowledge, skills
Understand the: Guided research into the uses of ITS. and experience of
 concept of Students should work individually or in small groups. IT to deal with new
 use of ITS. They could look at: situations/contexts
Contexts of ITS include:  advantages; e.g. pedestrian safety, pollution reduction, accident prevention, cost savings, Co-operation
 transportation increased capacity, increased reliability Communication
systems  disadvantages; e.g. can emphasise one method of transport/transport company to the
 timetabling disadvantage of another causing effects such as job loss or dissatisfaction, over management of
 locations people/situations that are already performing well, people becoming over-reliant on the system
 fleet management.  uses; e.g. town planning, smart cities (link to Unit 1, topic 6.3), public transport
management/coordination, traffic management such as changing traffic lights or speed limits in
response to traffic flow, traveller information systems, intra and inter vehicle systems such as (self-
driving vehicles, collision avoidance and other driver aids), commercial vehicle scheduling and
tracking, travel payment systems.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
 Resources
ITS and public transport: https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/downloads/mpc02-131.pdf
ITS and road traffic management:
https://www.freeway.gov.tw/Publish.aspx?cnid=1556
A broader approach to ITS:
https://www.aboutcivil.org/intelligent-transport-ITS-objectives-importance.html
and https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/801261.ITS_Selected_Lectures_Mandzuka.pdf
16 14.1.6 Tutor-led discussion on what expert systems are. Students will probably have had some experience of
Expert systems. expert systems, although they may not realise it. e.g. using a search engine, using a search facility for an Adaptive learning.
Understand: online shopping site. Adapting prior
 the concept of an knowledge, skills
expert system There is an opportunity for some practical work, exploring expert systems. and experience of IT
 how expert systems to deal with new
are used. Guided research into the uses of expert systems. situations/contexts
Contexts for expert systems Co-operation
include: Resources Communication
 diagnosis There is an online demo of an expert system that analyses text or web pages here:
 identification. http://www.intelligenceapi.com/demo/

There are several demos of rules/flowchart based expert systems here:

https://www.visirule.co.uk/legal-demos
The background flowcharts are also visible so that students can follow the decision paths. Students
might then make a simple decision path for an expert system. e.g. for selecting the correct batteries for
a device, identifying one of a group of objects.

Students should work individually or in small groups.

They could look at:
 diagnosis; e.g. medical, mechanical faults, network problems, electrical faults, engineered systems
such as cars/aircraft/industrial machinery
 identification; e.g. plants, animals, people, chemicals, minerals, content of text/images.
16 14.2.1 Tutor-led discussion on what is meant by IT governance. Students are unlikely to have personal Adaptive learning.
IT governance and policy. experience of this topic. Students should understand that IT governance is a part of corporate Adapting prior
Understand the: governance and that businesses/organisations develop IT governance policies to comply with: knowledge, skills
 need for  national and international law and experience of IT
 features of  industry regulations and codes to deal with new
IT governance and policy.  their own internal needs. situations/contexts
 Contexts include: There is an ISO standard, ISO/IEC 38500. Students do not need to know technical details but should be Co-operation
 business continuity aware of the six principles contained in it.
 disaster recovery  Responsibility
 risk management  Strategy
 user policy.  Acquisition
 Performance
 Conformance
 Human behaviour
Guided research into IT governance and policy.
Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 need for IT governance; e.g. reducing corporate IT failures, preventing fraud and other financial
crimes, providing oversight, imposing ethical codes, protection of confidential information,
financial accountability, data retention, disaster recovery
 features of IT governance; e.g. the six principles, effective structures, effective processes
 applications of IT governance; e.g. aiding decision making, resource balancing, risk management,
law/regulation enforcement.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There is a summary of ISO/IEC 38500 here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254864216_Fundamentals_of_IT_Governance_Based_on_ISOIE
C_38500

Some simple examples of IT governance are listed here:

https://simplicable.com/new/information-technology-governance
17 14.2.2 Tutor-led discussion on what IT changeover means. Students will probably have had some experience of Co-operation
IT changeover. IT changeover on a small scale, although they may not realise it. e.g. A Windows upgrade, transferring to Communication
Understand the: a new phone or other digital device. The challenges that this can present may make a good starting
 need for point.
 ways of managing Students should understand that IT changeover can apply to a wide range of scenarios, from an app
IT changeover. upgrade to a complete system change in an international organisation.

Changeover methods Guided research into IT changeover.

include: Students should work individually or in small groups.
  phased They could look at:
 direct  reasons/need for changeover; e.g. obsolete hardware making maintenance/repairs difficult or
 parallel expensive, software will not run on new hardware, software is 'out of support', new versions of
 pilot. hardware or software have features that are desired/needed, existing hardware or software is
insufficient for an expanding organisation, changes in an organisations role/operating methods
make existing hardware or software unsuitable, improving security, improving efficiency,
complying with new laws or regulations, saving money
 changeover methods; phased, direct, parallel, pilot.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There are case studies of changeover implementation here:
https://ki.se/sites/default/files/small_scale_oskar_kuus.pdf
and here:
www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2011/Jakarta/EACT/EACT-36.pdf

There is an article on how to prepare for changeover here:

https://accountsiq.com/blog/accounting-system-changeover-heres-a-few-relevant-pointers/
17 14.2.3 Tutor-led discussion on system maintenance. Students will probably have some experience of this on a Co-operation
System maintenance. small scale, e.g. installing software updates, cleaning keyboards. This may make a good starting point. Communication
Understand the need for Students should understand that the term system maintenance can apply to a wide range of scenarios,
system maintenance. from an app upgrade, to regular drive replacement in a server farm, to system wide scans for
Understand ways of unauthorised/unlicensed software.
implementing system
maintenance: Guided research into IT changeover.
 perfective Students should work individually or in small groups.
 adaptive They could look at:
 corrective.  methods; perfective, adaptive, corrective
 planning; e.g. responsibilities, documentation, timing
 reasons: e.g. maintaining protection/security, meet level of service/uptime goals, reduce costs
(prevention is usually cheaper than an emergency fix), ensuring scheduled tasks such as backup
continue to run smoothly, needed for warranty to be valid, legal requirements such as health and
safety or data security laws
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
 Resources
There is an example of a maintenance plan template here:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/.../templates/nrs_maintenance_plan_template.docx

There is an overview of maintenance planning here:

https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/System_Maintenance
18 14.2.4 Tutor-led discussion on archiving data. Students will probably have had some experience of this on a Co-operation
Archiving data. small scale. e.g. backing up their own files, a phones or other digital devices. This may make a good Communication
Understand the: starting point.
 need for Students should understand that data archiving can apply to a wide range of scenarios, from single files
 implications of to a complete copy of an international organisations data. They should also understand that archiving is
archiving data. meant to provide secure, long term storage.
Guided research into data archiving.
Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 reasons for archiving; e.g. meeting legal/regulatory/internal audit requirements, easier access to
older data, easier analysis of historical/long term trends, making current database/data storage
more manageable/more responsive/cheaper, more secure, less likely to lose/accidentally delete
data, reduce time/storage/other requirements of normal backups, protection of intellectual
property, disaster recovery
 disadvantages of archiving; e.g. restore time, possible obsolescence of storage
media/hardware/data formats, ongoing maintenance costs,
 differences between archiving and backup; e.g. time scale - backups are meant for a fast
restore/recovery while archives may take much longer, backups deal with current/changeable data
- archives should be fixed, problems with how long media will retain data for, archives can be
searched
 implications of archives; e.g. need for long-term secure storage, planning for the organised release
of data such as government papers after a set time, preserved records may eventually become
history - selective preservation/poor archive practices introduce bias, archives can become a
research/historical resource.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
Examples of publicly available online archives may be found here:
 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Note: The National Archives has numerous free to view records and links to other sites with free to view
records, but some may require registration.

An archive which provides a simple search system for scientific data on pollution, i.e. it uses lots of
dropdowns for selecting a search, is here:
https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/
The Wayback Machine is an archive of old webpages:
https://archive.org/web/

Note: The Wayback Machine archives all the webpages it can. This will include adult oriented pages.
Tutors should treat access to the Wayback Machine as being similar to general web access.
18 14.2.5 Tutor-led discussion on disaster recovery, leading on from the differences between archiving and Co-operation
Disaster recovery plans. backup. Communication
Understand the: Students will probably have some experience of losing their own work for lack of a backup.
 need for Students should understand that a disaster recovery plan is part of a wider business continuity plan.
 features of disaster
recovery plans. Guided research into disaster recovery.
Plans to include: Students should work individually or in small groups.
 key data They could look at:
 risk analysis  reasons for disaster recovery planning; e.g. downtime is expensive and can cause a business to
 team actions fail, customers expect 24/7 access, a disaster is almost a certainty (hardware failure, power supply
 management. problems, natural events), legal/regulatory requirements, data loss can kill a company (over 90% of
organisations that suffer a major data loss close within two years), people make mistakes/human
error is almost unavoidable, external threats such as ransomware
 types of plan; preventative (measures to stop the disaster affecting the system e.g. surge
protection, anti-flood measures, fire suppression systems, inspection and maintenance), detective
(looking for and mitigating new threats e.g. keeping antivirus updated, training users, using
network monitoring tools), corrective (what is normally thought of as being disaster recovery,
restoring the system after a disaster has happened)
 features of disaster recovery plans; e.g. part of business continuity, responsibilities,
documentation, redundancy, prioritisation, communication, testing.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
Resources
There is a website about preparing for a range of disasters here:
https://www.ready.gov/business

and an example of a disaster recovery plan here:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzarm/rzarmdisastr.htm
 Topic 15: Systems development
Topic 15 deals with project management techniques. The Waterfall and Agile approaches are looked at in detail but the management tools included
are suitable for most other project management methods as well.
Week Topic area / aims / Exemplar classroom activities / teaching points / suggested teaching resources Integrated Transferable
learning outcomes Skills
19 15.1.1 Tutor-led discussion on the concept of project management. Co-operation
Project Students should understand that project management can be applied to projects of all types although Communication
management. the examination context will be an IT related scenario. Adaptive learning.
Understand the: Adapting prior
 concept of Guided research into project management. knowledge, skills and
 need for project Students should work individually or in small groups. experience of IT to deal
management They could look at: with new
when  features; e.g. planning and scheduling, collaboration, documentation, situations/contexts
developing IT reporting, resource management, budget management, risk management
systems.  reasons for using project management; e.g. defining the scope of the project, identifying key issues
and assumptions, tracking progress, formalising/standardising methods/policies/strategies,
establishing leadership/chain of command/responsibilities, optimising use of resources, cost
control, integrating the project with the wider business/organisational environment, retaining
skills/knowledge between projects, learning from mistakes/failures
 characteristics of successful projects; e.g. fulfils criteria, within budget, on time, satisfying
stakeholders.

Note: students should understand that measures of success/failure are often subjective and frequently
15.1.2 written after a project has been completed. To be objective, success criteria should be established and
Understand the recorded before the project is started. Projects may have several criteria to fulfil and failure in one or more
characteristics of may be regarded as acceptable in an overall context.
successful IT projects.
19 15.1.3 Tutor-led discussion on SMART. Co-operation
SMART. Communication
Understand the concept Students produce SMART targets for tutor-created scenarios. Adaptive learning.
of project outcomes Students should be able to produce suitable targets and explain how they fit the SMART criteria Adapting prior
using SMART targets. knowledge, skills and
Specific, Measurable, Resources experience of IT to deal
Attainable, Realistic, and There is detailed coverage of project management at: with new
Timely. https://www.businessballs.com/project-management/project-management-skills-and-techniques/ situations/contexts
 15.1.4 There is an article on SMART targets, with some examples, here:
Be able to specify https://www.toolshero.com/time-management/smart-goals/
SMART targets.
20 15.1.5 Guided research into project management tools. Problem solving
Understand project Students should work individually or in small groups. Decision making
management tools, They could look at: Considering multiple
including:  nodes/precedence diagramming method; e.g. activity-on-node, dependency, options or alternatives,
 nodes and Gantt predecessor/successor activities, finish-to-start precedence, start-to-start precedence in order to select a
charts  Gantt chart; e.g. scheduling, task lists, assignment of personnel/resources, problem of showing solution that best fulfills
 requirements dependencies requirements/needs
 critical path  critical path analysis (CPA) - also known as critical path method (CPM) - and Program Evaluation Adaptive learning
analysis Review Technique (PERT); e.g. similarities of CPA and PERT (PERT is CPA with unknown task Adapting prior
 precedence lengths/CPA is PERT with predictable task lengths), shortest duration path, problems with knowledge, skills and
tables. delay/inexact task lengths, doesn't include task details/resources experience of IT to deal
 precedence tables; e.g. use in CPA/PERT, shows dependencies/constraints on tasks/activities. with new
situations/contexts
There are numerous YouTube type videos explaining how to create and use project management tools. Co-operation
e.g. Communication
Gantt charts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxL_hQn5w0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrtLig0yYrs

CPA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poOyKIt7M1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr2-xLTpeHM

Students practice using project management tools for specified project scenarios.
Design software would be useful but students will need to be able to draw their diagrams by hand in
the examination.

Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their diagram to the others. The
group must produce a final diagram using elements from each student’s diagram.
 Resources
There is a simple project management exercise here:
http://bettersheepdog.blogspot.com/2014/08/Schedule-Exercise.htm
With a worked solution here:
http://bettersheepdog.blogspot.com/2014/08/Schedule-Exercise-Workings.html
20 15.1.6 Understand the Tutor-led discussion on fitness for purpose. Students should understand that the term does not have a Problem solving
concept of ‘fitness for simple definition. Fitness for purpose is a legal term in many laws, e.g. the UK 'Supply of Goods and Decision making
purpose’ when Services Act', but the definition is usually vague, referring to purposes 'stated expressly or by Considering multiple
evaluating systems. implication'. options or alternatives,
A possible starting point is 'what would students want from a system that they had ordered'; e.g. in order to select a
does it fulfil the specification that was advertised, does it do the tasks that it is supposed to? solution that best fulfills
requirements/needs
Adaptive learning
Adapting prior
knowledge, skills and
experience of IT to deal
with new
situations/contexts
Co-operation
Communication
21 15.1.7 Students practice project analysis for tutor-created project scenarios. Scenarios should be kept simple Interpretation and
Project analysis. and familiar, e.g. analysis
Be able to analyse a  writing and sending a letter Analysing given
completed project to  baking a cake scenarios
identify strengths and  planning a holiday
weaknesses in project
management. Examination questions will be limited to a maximum of 12 marks and scenarios are unlikely to take up
more than two pages, including any charts or diagrams.

Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their analysis to the others. The
group must produce a final analysis using elements from each student’s work.

Note: There are numerous project analysis templates available on the internet but they tend to run to
several pages of detailed work. The most that students will need to write in the examination is a page
or two for a 12-mark open response question. Students should be encouraged to keep their analyses
brief and relevant to the task.
 Resources
There is a set of project management templates here:
https://www.workamajig.com/blog/project-management-templates

and an introduction to tools and techniques here:

http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/488_f02_papers/ProjMgmt.html
15.2.1 Tutor-led introduction to the concept of the Waterfall method. Students are likely to be familiar with the Interpretation and
Waterfall method. general idea from working on projects in IT and other subjects. They will probably have performed: analysis
Understand the:  requirements; a worksheet or teacher's instructions Analysing given
 concept of  analysis; working out what they need to do scenarios
 features of the  design; working out how to do it
Waterfall  implementation; producing the work
method of  verification; getting it marked
project The maintenance stage may not have happened, unless the student was recycling someone else's old
management. project.

Students should understand that the Waterfall method can be applied to a wide range and sizes of
projects, although the context for the examination will be IT related.

Guided research into the features of the Waterfall method.

Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at:
 advantages; e.g. simple, easy to understand, reliable, easy to manage, helps keep to planned
timescales, helps control costs
disadvantages: e.g. inflexible/difficult to change the design, difficult to define everything in advance,
projects generally take longer due to the sequential nature of the work, a working item does not
appear until late in the project.
22 15.2.2 Guided research into the phases of the Waterfall method. Problem solving
Waterfall method Students should work individually or in small groups. Adaptive learning
phases. They should look at what happens in each phase. Adapting prior
Understand the phases knowledge, skills and
of the Waterfall Students analyse tutor-created scenarios and list activities for specified phases. experience of IT to deal
method, including: Scenarios should be kept simple and familiar, e.g. with new
 requirements/  writing and sending a letter situations/contexts
analysis  baking a cake Interpretation and
 design  planning a holiday analysis
  implementation Examination questions will be limited to a maximum of 12 marks and scenarios are unlikely to take up Interpreting given
 testing/ more than two pages, including any charts or diagrams. scenarios
debugging
 installation Note: Although students should be aware that the Waterfall method can be applied to large-scale
 maintenance. projects, the space constraints of the examination make it likely that only small-scale projects will be
presented for analysis, e.g. writing a mobile app, building a LAN, creating a website, developing an
15.2.3 email client.
Waterfall method Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their analysis to the others. The
activities. group must produce a final analysis and activities list using elements from each student’s work.
Understand the type of
activities that take place Resources
in each phase of the There is a basic discussion of the phases and analysis of a simple project here:
waterfall method. https://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/product-development-the-waterfall-methodology-model-in-
software-development/

There is a simple guide, which includes a YouTube talk on the waterfall model here:
http://www.the-software-experts.com/e_dta-sw-process-model-waterfall.php
23 15.3.1 Tutor-led introduction to the concept of the Agile approach. Problem solving
The Agile approach. Students will probably have some idea of the approach from their research into the Waterfall method Adaptive learning
Understand the: as the two are often compared. Adapting prior
 concept of knowledge, skills
 features of the Tutor-led discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the Agile approach. Students will probably and experience of
Agile approach. have found some at these while researching the advantages and disadvantages of the Waterfall IT to deal with new
Including: method. situations/contexts
 iterative Interpretation and
 incremental Resources analysis
aspects. There is a guide to the advantages and disadvantages of the Agile method here: Interpreting given
https://activecollab.com/blog/project-management/agile-project-management-advantages- scenarios
disadvantages

There is a basic overview, including terminology here:

https://linchpinseo.com/the-agile-method/

Guided research into Agile.

Students should work individually or in small groups.
They could look at features; e.g. iterative, incremental, modularity, adaptive/flexible, parsimony, time
 limits on modules/timebox, early identification/resolution of issues, client/stakeholder involvement
throughout
Note: different groups have different ideas on what the features of Agile are but the four values and
twelve principles detailed below are as laid out in the Agile Manifesto.

Students should understand that Agile projects should attempt to conform with the Agile Manifesto but
that this may not always be possible. Students will not be required to list the values or principles in the
examination.
 The four Agile software development values:
o Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools
o Working Software over comprehensive documentation
o Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation
o Responding to Change over following a plan
 The twelve Agile software development principles:
o Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software
o Welcome changing requirements, even in late development
o Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
o Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
o Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
o Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
o Working software is the primary measure of progress
o Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
o Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
o Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
o Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
o Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective, and adjusts accordingly.
23 15.3.2 Guided research into the phases of the Agile approach.
Agile approach phases. Students should work individually or in small groups.
Understand the phases They should look at what happens in each phase.
of the Agile approach, Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
including:
 requirements Resources
 plan The Agile Manifesto:
 design https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/the-agile-manifesto/
 develop and an introduction to agile here:
 release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iccpf2eN1Q
24 15.3.2 continued Students analyse tutor-created scenarios and list activities for specified phases.
Note: Although students should be aware that the Agile approach can be applied to large-scale
projects, the space constraints of the examination make it likely that only small-scale projects will be
presented for analysis, e.g. writing a mobile app, building a LAN, creating a website, developing
an email client.
Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their analysis to the others. The
group must produce a final analysis and activities list using elements from each student’s work.
24 15.3.3 Guided research into Agile activities.
Agile approach Students should work individually or in small groups.
activities. They could look at:
Understand the type of  scrum; e.g. roles of product owner/scrum master/development team, product backlog and
activities that take place grooming
in with Agile approach,  sprint; e.g. timeboxing and timescales, sprint planning and goals, execution, daily scrum, sprint
including: review and retrospective
 scrum
 sprints. Resources
There is an article about Agile activities here:
https://assist-software.net/blog/scrum-framework-roles-activities-and-artifacts

This site suggests some practical activities, non-IT, that may be used to illustrate Agile concepts:
https://medium.com/tajawal/5-great-activities-to-get-your-team-excited-about-agile-b0c88f4a901a
 Topic 16: Emerging technologies
This topic covers several fast-developing areas of IT. Students are likely to have some experience of the technologies, particularly in the realms of
personal entertainment and their own mobile devices. This experience may make a good starting point but it is essential that students look at bigger
systems and new applications of the technology as well.
Week Topic area / aims / learning Exemplar classroom activities / teaching points / suggested teaching resources Integrated Transferable Skills
outcomes
25 16.1.1 Tutor-led introduction to the concept of the machine learning/artificial Co-operation
Machine learning. intelligence. Students are likely to have some knowledge of systems that use Communication
Understand the: machine learning, e.g. chatbots/digital assistants (Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google
 concept Assistant) 12.3.5. Other examples that they may have used include email spam
 features filters, autocomplete, face tagging on social media, product
 functions recommendations/suggestions during online shopping.
of machine learning.
Guided research into machine learning.
Understand machine learning Students should work individually or in small groups.
with: They could look at:
 labelled datasets,  algorithms; e.g. decision tree, linear regression, neural network, Bayesian
supervised learning network, nearest neighbour
 unknown datasets
unsupervised learning. Note: students will not need technical details and will not be asked to perform any
programming or calculations.
 features; e.g. uses statistical techniques, not explicitly programmed, black box
model, machine learns from the data which is input

Note: feature in this context refers to the dictionary meaning of 'a distinctive
attribute or aspect of something'.
Feature is also a machine learning term which refers to 'an individual measurable
property', i.e. something used as input to the learning process.
 functions; e.g. pattern recognition, image/object recognition, prediction

Note: function in this context refers to the dictionary meaning of 'practical use or
purpose in design'.
Function is also a machine learning/mathematical term which refers to 'an
expression involving one or more variables such as (bx + c)', This type of function
will occur in machine learning algorithms. Students will not be required to use
mathematical functions in this context.
  supervised learning and unsupervised learning; e.g. differences, how they are
used.

Resources
There is a large resource of machine learning/artificial intelligence material here:
https://ai.google/

There is an online demonstration of machine learning here:

https://github.com/vinhkhuc/MemN2N-babi-python
The python code is downloadable.

There are several more demonstrations, that run using JavaScript in a browser,
here:
https://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/convnetjs/
26 16.1.1 continued. Guided research into machine learning. Continued. Co-operation
 examples of use; e.g. chatbots/digital assistants, email spam filters, Communication
autocomplete, face tagging, product recommendations, self-driving vehicles, Problem solving
e-passports, search engines, fraud detection, customer support, anti-
malware, surveillance, traffic management, natural language processing,
financial trading, dynamic pricing, industrial process control.
Students could try to match uses to types of learning and the algorithms being
used.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.
26 16.1.2 Guided research into the impact of machine learning. Co-operation
Understand the impact of and Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
possibilities associated with They could select one or more of the uses that they have already looked at in Problem solving
machine learning, including: 16.1.1.
 natural language They could assess:
processing  economic value
 speech recognition  social implications
 image recognition  how one use affects others and spreads similar uses into other areas
 pattern recognition.  potential future developments including ones found in their research and the
students' own ideas/predictions.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete
picture.
27 16.2.1 Tutor-led introduction to the concept of virtual reality (VR). Students are likely to Co-operation
Virtual reality. have some knowledge of systems that use VR, e.g. phone apps and games. Communication
Understand the: Guided research into uses of VR.
 concept of Students should work individually or in small groups.
 uses of virtual reality. They could look at:
 types of use; e.g. entertainment, training, education, therapeutic,
communication, modelling, testing, remote experience
 areas of use; e.g. media, engineering, fashion, education, science, sport,
military, construction, healthcare, VR tours, manufacturing.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There are some interesting VR games for phones here:
http://www.vudream.com/best-15-free-mobile-virtual-reality-games/

Note: several of the games involve the user learning something about science or
maths, others are more traditional shooting games. Some tutor pre-selection may
be useful if this resource is used.
27 16.2.2 Tutor-led introduction to the concept of augmented reality (AR). Students are Co-operation
Augmented reality. likely to have some knowledge of systems that use AR, e.g. phone apps. Communication
Understand the:
 concept of Guided research into uses of VR.
 uses of augmented Students should work individually or in small groups.
reality. They could look at:
 types of use; e.g. entertainment, training, education, therapeutic,
communication, navigation, testing, remote experience
 areas of use; e.g. media, engineering, fashion, education, science, sport,
military, construction, healthcare, AR overlays for locations, manufacturing,
tourism.
Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There are some interesting AR apps for phones here:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-augmented-reality-apps-android/

and a video about advanced augmented reality projects here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQtwWzfzKXI
28 16.3.1 Tutor-led introduction to the concept the Internet of Things (IoT). Students are Co-operation
Internet of Things (IoT). likely to have some knowledge of the IoT, e.g. smart devices for heating/lighting, Communication
Understand the concept of the smart home hubs, vehicle control and management systems.
IoT. Students should understand that almost any device that can be controlled can be
turned into an IoT device by adding internet/network connectivity.

Resources
There is an online demonstration where people can connect their own devices to
the IBM Watson IoT Platform here:
http://discover-iot.eu-gb.mybluemix.net/#/play

There is a site showing the use of parking spaces in Kolin here:

https://www.myscada.org/internet-of-things/

and lots of remotely viewable cameras here:

https://www.earthcam.com/

There is a large list of IoT applications here:

http://www.libelium.com/resources/top_50_iot_sensor_applications_ranking/
28 16.3.1 Guided research into the impact of the IoT. Co-operation
Impact of the IoT Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
Understand the impact of the They could look at:
IoT on:  individuals; e.g. smart cities/homes (linking back to 6.3), wearable computing,
 individuals changes to work such as remote working, personalisation of interactions with
 organisations things
 data.  organisations; e.g. goods/inventory tracking, remote monitoring of and data
acquisition from consumer goods, increased automation/reduced need for
people, remote working, increases the need for organisations to use Big Data
12.3.1 - 12.3.5, liability for protecting customers/data, improvements to
productivity/cost savings, problems with managing increasing numbers of IoT
devices,
 data; e.g. increase in quantity/bandwidth and WiFi spectrum requirements,
need for more storage/processing, data security (looked at further in 16.3.3),
Big Data 12.3.1 - 12.3.5
 general issues: e.g. legal, environmental, privacy, safety, costs, increasing
 intrusion into everyday life, compatibility and standards, overload - the need
to filter alerts from and about everything, increasing infrastructure
requirements (looked at further in 16.3.2).

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

Resources
There are some introductory articles here:
https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/8745-impact-of-internet-of-
things-iot-on-it-business-and-our-lives

https://www.ics.ie/news/view/1729

https://www.information-age.com/impact-internet-things-iot-123467503/

https://worldwidesupply.net/blog/internet-things-will-impact-data-center/

There is a pdf about legal issues here.

http://www.kempitlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Legal-Aspects-of-the-
Internet-of-Things-KITL-20170610.pdf
and a pdf of safety and security issues here.
https://cra.org/ccc/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/02/Safety-Security-and-
Privacy-Threats-in-IoT.pdf
29 16.3.2 Guided research into the infrastructure needed/used by the IoT. Co-operation
IoT infrastructure. Students should work individually or in small groups. Communication
Understand the underlying They could look at:
infrastructure that allows the  sensors types; e.g. optical/machine vision, infra-red, ultra violet, position,
IoT to work, including: proximity, motion, velocity/speed, acceleration, tilt/orientation, GPS location,
 sensors temperature, moisture/humidity/dampness, sound/vibration, chemical/gas,
 networks weight/force/mass, liquid/water level, flow rate, magnetic field, electric
 embedded systems current/resistance/voltage/field, ionising radiation, radio/WiFi signal
 storage.
Note: students should be able to select appropriate sensors for a given
application/scenario but do not need to know technical details.
 network types; e.g. wireless sensor networks (WSN), machine to machine
network (M2M)
 Note: students should be aware that IoT devices may use any of the 'normal' network
types such as an Ethernet LAN. They should be guided into looking at a range of
systems that have been developed for use by IoT devices. They should also be aware
of the need for IPv6 addresses 2.2.5.
 network protocols; e.g. IEEE 802.15.4/low power radio system, Bluetooth
2.1.2, Zigbee 2.1.2, IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks
(6LoWPAN), Z Wave

Note: this area of technology is likely to experience rapid change, with the possibility
that a common standard will eventually be reached between all of the competing
technologies. Students should be aware of a range of IoT technologies/applications
and be able to explain in general terms what they do.
 embedded systems 1.1.1; e.g. deeply embedded v embedded, need to add or
extend embedded systems in IoT devices, additional power requirement,
need for simpler/cheaper/lower power designs as IoT is applied to
smaller/cheaper objects/devices
 storage; e.g. location (local/on device, cloud, network), quantity/Big Data
16.3.1 and 12.3.1 - 12.3.5, security (looked at further in 16.3.3),
legal/regulatory requirements, Edge Computing.

Groups report to whole class so that all students build up a more complete picture.

29 16.3.3 Tutor-led discussion on IoT security, (link to 2.3). Students may have already heard Co-operation
IoT security. of some of the more high-profile attacks on IoT devices. Communication
Understand some of the
security issues related to the Students need to understand a range of security issues: e.g. more devices means
IoT. more problems, updates and patches - even if possible - becomes harder as
devices proliferate, users of IoT devices are not usually IT professionals and may
not understand the risks/problems, encryption may impose impossible burdens on
simple devices with minimal embedded systems, physical security can be difficult
for many IoT devices (preventing physical access to lightbulbs may be impractical),
network and data security are often low priorities for manufacturers of cheap - or
expensive - devices, devices are often accessed via a web interface built into the
device - this adds well known website vulnerabilities to the security problems,
firmware/software on the device or in the controller may be insecure, device
 passwords/authentication is often hard coded/missing.

Resources
Reports on high profile attacks on IoT devices
Stuxnet: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/middleeast/16stuxnet.html
Hacking into a vehicle control system:
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/blackhat-jeep-cherokee-hack-explained/9493/

The Mirai Botnet:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/26/ddos-attack-dyn-mirai-
botnet
Tutors will probably be able to find similar, more localised stories that have
happened in their own country.
30 16.3.5 Students practice creating high level designs for tutor-created scenarios. Problem solving
IoT system design. Design software would be useful but students will need to be able to draw their Adaptive learning
Be able to produce diagrams by hand in the examination. Adapting prior knowledge, skills
high-level designs for systems and experience of IT to deal with
that make use of the IoT. Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their diagram new situations/contexts
to the others. The group must produce a final diagram using elements from each Interpretation and analysis
student’s diagram. Interpreting given scenarios
Note: although there are no standard symbols for high level designs, it is
recommended that students use simple, geometric shapes.

16.3.6 Students practice creating information flow diagrams for tutor-created scenarios.
Flow diagrams. Design software would be useful but students will need to be able to draw their
Be able to interpret and create diagrams by hand in the examination.
information flow diagrams for
a given scenario. Students work in small groups. Each student presents and justifies their diagram
to the others. The group must produce a final diagram using elements from each
student’s diagram.
Note: although there are no standard symbols for information flow diagrams, it is
recommended that students use simple, geometric shapes.
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