Heathcote School and Science College
Heathcote School & Science College
ICT Department
OCR GCE Applied ICT
Single Award
Student Course
Handbook 2014
Name:
Teacher/s:
Heathcote School and Science College
Course Introduction
Welcome to the OCR GCE Applied ICT Single Award course. The course is a one year AS level
course, which prepares you for employment or higher education.
The Applied ICT course aims to develop your skills, knowledge and understanding of the ICT
sector, and prepare you for further study or training.
The course is assessed through internally assessed coursework and an externally assessed
exam.
The purpose of the handbook is to guide you through the course and answer any questions that
you may have.
How the course will be run
The OCR GCE Applied ICT Single Award course will be run by the ICT Department.
The role of your teacher:







Monitor your attendance and punctuality in lessons
Monitor your organisation on the course
Provide you with information regarding the course from OCR
Check on your academic progress at all stages and units
Liaise regularly within the department, with the moderator and, where necessary your
parent(s)/guardian(s)
Provide references to prospective employers and other academic institutions when
requested
Provide you with information relating to all of the units
How many lessons will you have each week?
You will have 6 hours of lessons per week. You will also need to schedule your non-class hours
for research, planning and completing coursework tasks.
Each unit has a minimum delivery time of 60 hours. This includes taught lessons in class and the
assigned in class coursework lessons. This does not include the time spend on independent
study which will be spend on homework, coursework and revision.
Your coursework deadlines will be set by your teacher. They will decide this on the reasonable
length of time that they believe students will need to produce a piece of coursework that meets the
highest standards.
Heathcote School and Science College
Your responsibility on the course
Attendance
Success on the course is strongly linked to full and punctual attendance to all classes. A class
register is taken at every class. If attendance becomes an issue, your parents will be contacted
and you will be expected to attend catch up sessions.
Punctuality
Any student arriving late for class will be registered as late. Late arrival to class will be highly
disruptive to the lesson and upset the learning of others. If you are regularly late, detentions will
be set and your parent(s)/guardian(s) will be informed.
Meeting Deadlines
You will be required to attend all of your lessons and complete coursework on time. This will allow
you to get the most out of your course and give you the best chance of success.
Deadlines are very important. If you regularly miss deadlines, detentions will be set and your
parent(s)/guardian(s) will be informed.
Equipment and resources
You also be expected to be prepared for all of your lessons with the appropriate resources.
These will include:






A4 ring binder with sections divided for the work of each teacher
Paper to write on
Pens and pencils
Notes from previous lessons
Assignment briefs and assessment criteria
USB for saving and storing work
It also will be your responsibility to:




Back up work regularly
Look after and keep your file organised
Meet deadlines
Use feedback to make changes to your work
Heathcote School and Science College
Programme of study
The AS GCE is made up of three mandatory units which form 50% of the corresponding six unit
Advanced GCE.
There are 60 guided learning hours for each unit.
Unit GO40: Using ICT to communicate






The information age
Communication of information
Accuracy and readability
Styles of presentation
How organisations present information
Standard ways of working
Unit GO41: How organisations use ICT







Types of organisations
Functions within organisations
Information and its use
ICT systems
The impact of ICT on working practices
The impact of ICT on methods of production
Legislation
Unit GO42: ICT solutions for individuals and society






Public service websites
Search engines
Databases
Use of spreadsheet facilities
Development of spreadsheets to present results of data analysis
Presentation of the results of an investigation
Heathcote School and Science College
Unit G040: Using ICT to communicate
In this unit you will analyse business documents before planning and creating 6 business
documents for a specific audience and purpose. You will create the following:






Business Letter
Website
Newsletter
Questionnaire
Report
Multimedia presentation
You will create a house style that will be used all on documents. This will include a logo, colour
schemes and font styles.
Below are examples of work from previous Year 12 students:
Extract from Task A: Review of publications
Heathcote School and Science College
Website from Task B(i): Business documents
Heathcote School and Science College
Unit G041: How organisations use ICT
In this unit you investigate a company using a case study. Section A of the exam paper will ask
questions about the case study and section B will ask questions about how ICT is used by
organisations. In addition to the exam, you will also have to complete pre-release tasks in class
which are counted towards your final grade in this unit.
The topics you will cover are listed below:







Types of organisations
Functions within organisations
Information and its use
ICT systems
The impact of ICT on working practices
The impact of ICT on methods of production
Legislation
Below are examples of work from previous Year 12 students:
GO41 pre-release Task 2: Information Flow Diagram
Heathcote School and Science College
GO41 example exam question
Extract from pre-release Task 3: Report on Data Protection
Heathcote School and Science College
Unit G042: How organisations use ICT
In this unit you carry out an investigation to meet a brief. You will:




Search engines and large websites to find information
Use online databases to find and select information
Search a local database and produce reports
Analyse data using formulae and functions in a spreadsheet. You will produce format data,
produce graphs and create small programs to automatically enter and edit data.
 Present the results of your investigation and produce an evaluation of your methods.
You will write a report about the availability of electronic information and its effect on individuals
and society.
Below are examples of work from previous Year 12 students:
GO42 Task D: Analysing data
Heathcote School and Science College
GO42 Task G: Report on the effect of electronic information on individuals and society
Heathcote School and Science College
Assessment and grading
The OCR GCE Applied ICT Single Award course is assessed internally and externally. Below is a
breakdown of the type of assessment for each unit:
AS Unit G040: Using ICT to communicate
This unit is assessed through coursework
This units is internally assessed
33% of the total AS GCE
Coursework
50 marks
AS Unit G041: How organisations use ICT
Assessment Criteria: Please refer to Appendix
B at the back of this booklet
This unit is externally assessed and includes
pre prepared task.
33% of the total AS GCE
1 hour 30 minutes written paper
100 marks
AS Unit G042: ICT solutions for individuals
and society
33% of the total AS GCE
Coursework
50 marks
Assessment Criteria: Please refer to Appendix
B at the back of this booklet
This unit is assessed through coursework
This units is internally assessed
Assessment Criteria: Please refer to Appendix
B at the back of this booklet
Assessment Objectives
AO1
ICT capability
AO2
Knowledge and understanding
AO3
ICT problem solving
AO4
Evaluation
Candidates demonstrate practical capability in
applying ICT.
Candidates demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of ICT systems and their roles in
organisations and society.
Candidates apply knowledge, skills and
understanding to produce solutions and solve ICT
problems.
Candidates evaluate ICT solutions and their own
performance
Grading
All GCE units are awarded A to E. Results for candidates who fail to achieve the minimum grade
will be recorded as unclassified (U).
A Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) enables aggregation of candidates’ best performance across units
to determine the qualification grade. The three-unit AS GCE has a total of 300 uniform marks.
OCR converts the candidate’s raw marks for each unit to a uniform mark. All units have equal
UMS weightings with a uniform mark of 100 for each unit.
Heathcote School and Science College
Coursework regulations
Teachers must be able to verify that the coursework submitted for assessment is the candidate’s
own work. Sufficient work must be carried out under direct supervision to allow the teacher to
authenticate the coursework.
When supervising your teacher will:



Offer advice about how best to approach the task
Monitor progress and prevent plagiarism
Ensure that work is completed in accordance with the specification requirements and can
be assessed in accordance with the marking criteria.
Coursework may be undertaken outside the school, but as with all internally assessed work, your
teacher must be satisfied that the work submitted is your own.
Assessment procedure
When you start work on your coursework your teacher will give you:




Unit Title – telling you which unit you are studying and the title of your coursework;
Unit Description – giving you a brief description of the purpose of the unit;
Assessment Evidence Grid – this is a statement of evidence that you need to produce;
Deadline – this deadline must be strictly observed
When you have completed a task you will receive:

Assessment Feedback sheet – this tells you which assessment criteria has been
achieved so far; if necessary, you will receive feedback telling you how you can improve
your coursework further to receive a higher grade.
When you have completed the unit you will receive the assessment feedback sheet again with
feedback for all tasks. You will have two weeks to make any amendments before the final
submission.
Quality of written communication
Quality of written communication is assessed in all units where candidates are required to
produce extended written material and grades may be restricted if communication is unclear.
Candidates will:



Ensure that text is legible and that spelling, punctuation and grammar are accurate so that
meaning is clear.
Select and use a form and style of writing appropriate to purpose.
Organise information clearly and coherently, using specialist vocabulary when appropriate.
Heathcote School and Science College
Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism in your coursework is the equivalent of cheating in written examinations.
All work submitted must be your own and not copied. This includes copying from the internet,
other students, books, journals, newspapers and magazines.
Your teacher will teach you how to present material taken directly from other sources.
Submitting your coursework
Your coursework must always be submitted on or before the deadline date and time. More often
your coursework will be divided into tasks, and each task will have its own deadline.
Students must word-process all coursework apart from sketches and other planning. Coursework
must be submitted via the teacher’s email or work post box unless otherwise stated by the
teacher.
Heathcote School and Science College
Appendix A: Grading Criteria
Heathcote School and Science College
Heathcote School and Science College
Heathcote School and Science College
Heathcote School and Science College
Heathcote School and Science College