1. DiDA – an overview

2. The DiDA suite CiDA DiDA AiDA four GCSE-sized units Graphics or or
ICT in Enterprise
Multimedia
DiDA was produced as a replacement for GNVQ ICT. The majority of the students who take GNVQ ICT are aged Most complete the course over two years in Years 10 and 11 or – in a growing number of cases – over three years (Years 9, 10 and 11). DiDA was designed to meet the needs of this target audience – hence decision to make each unit GCSE sized.
Every DiDA unit is equivalent to a GCSE both in terms of worth and in the amount of time and resources it needs. Generally speaking a GCSE is allocated 10% curriculum time, ie around two hours a week in Years 10 and 11. Delegates need to bear this in mind when timetabling. The notional 90 GLH is misleading.
Unit 1 is compulsory. All other units build on it. Unit 1 covers material that is generic to all units such as project planning, eportfolio building, prototyping. this means that there are some ‘economies of scale’ in terms of time associated with the bigger qualifications.
On successful completion of Unit 1 students can claim the Award (1 GCSE). This doesn’t stop them from ‘topping up’ to bigger quals subsequently. We would encourage centres to adopt this ‘topping up’ approach.
Students don’t have to have to have passed Unit 1 before moving on, but it is assumed that they have covered the WYNTL content. Subsequent units can be studied in any order. We will be looking at the content of each unit in more detail later in the presentation.
The Certificate (2 GCSEs) = Unit 1 plus one other unit (needs 3-4 hours a week over 2 years or an equivalent). The Diploma (4 GCSEs) = Unit 1 plus three other units (needs 5-6 hours a week over 2 years or 12 hours a week for one year).
This is ‘work in progress’:
only Level 2 (A*-C) at the moment – Level 1 available from Sept 2005
more Level 1/2 units planned for first teaching in Sept possible titles include on-screen games design, media broadcasting and music production and publishing (no final decision yet)
no decision yet re Level 3; Sept 2007at the earliest.
no 3 unit qualification – delegates need to lobby QCA if they want one
Using ICT
Using ICT
CiDA
(equivalent to 2 GCSEs)
DiDA
(equivalent to 4 GCSEs)
AiDA
(equivalent to 1 GCSE)

3. Levels & grades Level 2 Level 1 A* Distinction A Merit B Credit C PassF G
Level 2
Distinction
Merit
Credit
Pass
Level 1
Distinction
Merit
Credit
Pass
Each unit can be taken at Level 1 or Level 2.
4 grade scale used to measure achievement: Pass, Credit, Merit, Distinction
A Distinction at Level 2 is the equivalent of a GCSE grade A*; a Pass at Level 2 is the equivalent of a GCSE grade C
Levels 1 and 2 overlap, so that a Distinction at Level 1 is equivalent to a Pass at Level 2
A Pass at Level 1 is the equivalent of a GCSE grade F/G
The overlap between Levels 1 and 2 means that students can ‘mix and match’ levels to make up their qualification. To get a Level 2 qualification, at least half the units making up the qualification must have been tackled at Level 2, eg for CiDA at least 1 of the 2 units, for DiDA at least 2 of the 4 units. This allows for the fact that students are likely to be good at one unit and not so good at another. Also allows for the fact that students mature over time.
Majority of pupils in KS3 likely to be working at Level 1 – few mature enough to tackle the project work independently.
Separate assessments for Levels 1 and 2, but students who tackle a Level 1 SPB are not prevented from gaining the equivalent of a C grade.
The ‘grey area’ below Pass at Level 2, means that AiDA students at Level 2 can still achieve a result at Level 1 (providing they don’t fall below the Merit boundary). It also means that students who are entered for AiDA Level 1 are not prevented from achieving the equivalent of a GCSE grade C.
DiDA builds on the Key Stage 3 National Strategy. The current target is for 85% of pupils to achieve L5 by the end of the key stage. Those who achieve this are ready to tackle DiDA units at Level 2. Those starting DiDA before the end of the key stage are likely to be working at DiDA Level 1.

4. DiDA CiDA AiDA control and monitoring Key Stage 3 ICT strategy
eportfolio  multimedia  enterprise  graphics
Unit 1 (AiDA) builds on the Key Stage 3 ICT Strategy. It assumes that students have had discrete ICT lessons throughout Years 7, 8 and 9. Students who achieve Level 5 or above at the end of Year 9 are ready to progress onto Level 2 DiDA units.
We are working with Clare Johnson, ICT Strand Director to:
produce a mapping document showing the links between DiDA units and Strategy units to:
develop schemes of work for DiDA incorporating strategy materials can be incorporated into a scheme of work for DiDA
look at ways of improving progression from the Strategy into Unit 1
Units 2, 3 and 4 of DiDA (and any further units we produce) are much more narrowly focused and are designed to extend students’ ICT capability.

5. DiDA – an e-qualification
online SPB
assessment by eportfolio
on-screen moderation
on-line registration and entry
on-line support
Students
access project brief online (it is not appropriate for them to be given printed copies of pages)
produce an eportfolio of evidence
Centre
assesses students’ eportfolios and completes an e-record sheet for each student (which must be included with the eportfolio)
submits marks via Edexcel Online
Edexcel selects sample
Centre uploads requested eportfolios or makes them available for viewing in situ
Moderator reviews sample on-screen

6. The Summative Project mini website hosted by Edexcel
links to stimulus material and resources
Mark Alert!
Each SPB has a scenario and a series of activities based on it. At Level 2 tasks are integrated rather than stand-alone.
Separate SPBs for Levels 1 and 2.
Each SPB has a limited life span. Released in September and valid for moderation in the following calendar year only.
SPBs are public documents, accessed via the Edexcel website. Three currently available: specimen and live 2005 brief for Unit 1 and live 2005 brief for Unit 2. Delegates need to familiarise themselves with these before starting to plan the course.
SPBs designed to support independent work:
Mark Alert! gives advice on maximising achievement and how to avoid losing marks - we are trying to look at different ways of making this more student friendly – less words etc, perhaps video clips of people explaining etc
eportfolio symbol identifies portfolio evidence
URLs, newspaper articles, interviews provide stimulus materials and starting points for further investigation
SPBs are not intended to be a vehicle for teaching the course. They are external assessment instruments (hybrid instruments – part exam, part coursework). Summative means ‘at the end’ students should tackle SPB having spent time developing and practising the skills.
example

7. How are students assessed?
Summative Project Brief (SPB)
Separate SPBs for Levels 1 & 2
Approximately 30 hours of work
Students must work independently
Controlled environment
Not a vehicle for teaching the course
Internally marked, externally moderated
No paper-based, formal examination
An SPB for each unit (separate SPBs for Levels 1 and 2)
Released in September for moderation in the following calendar year (currently 2 moderation windows per year)
Work on the SPB should occupy the last third of the programme of study for a unit, so that students can demonstrate their competence having spent sufficient time learning and practising the skills
Students must decide for themselves how to tackle the project (too much guidance = Level 1)
Students must work in a controlled environment i.e. one in which the teacher is confident that the work submitted is the students’ own.

8. develop and practise the skills
The process
develop and practise the skills
STAGE 1
work on the SPB
STAGE 2
build the eportfolio
STAGE 3

9. A DiDA eportfolio is a collection of digital evidence
structured and organised
itself a piece of evidence
viewed on-screen
interactive and navigable
vehicle for moderation
stand alone
An eportfolio must:
be clearly labelled
contain all the required content
be well organised and easy to use
conform to the given technical specification
At its most basic, it’s simply a collection of files with a table of contents consisting of hyperlinks to individual pieces of evidence.. There has to be an obvious starting point - at the very least, a html file called index or homepage or launch or something similar.
It is meant to be a ‘stand-alone’ system, rather than part of some complex web-based structure.
File types and maximum size for the eportfolio are prescribed in each SPB.
Students get marks for producing their eportfolio. Demonstrates a whole range of skills.
The assessor may wish to mark paper-based publications on paper, but the moderator will only have access on-screen.
Being able to produce an eportfolio is a great skill for students to have.
example

10. Successful DiDA students can
gather, select and work with information
create products that are fit for purpose,
make constructive use of feedback
build and maintain an eportfolio
critically review their own and others’ use of ICT
plan and manage projects
evaluate outcomes and performance
DiDA students will be information literate. They’ll be effective researchers, able to differentiate between sources of information.
They’ll be able to produce publications and products that communicate clearly and are fit for purpose and audience.
They’ll know how to build an maintain an eportfolio to record and demonstrate their achievements.
DiDA emphasises the prototyping approach to product development, ie produce an initial design > get feedback > use this to inform the production of a first prototype > get feedback on the prototype > use this to inform the process of improving the prototype > repeat as often as it takes to produce a final product that is fit for purpose.
Peer review is key to this process. Students learn how to give and receive critical feedback, and to act upon it.
DiDA recognises the importance of ‘soft skills’ such as project planning, time management, review and evaluation – the enterprise process is central: understand the problem, plan the project, implement the plan, evaluate the process.
It provides opportunities for students to work together – brainstorming, problem solving, giving feedback

11. Macromedia Associate Certification
Web Media using MM Dreamweaver
D201 + D202
Web Graphics using MM Fireworks
D203
DiDA
Multimedia using MM Flash
D202
To be eligible students must:
use MM software
complete MM set task
achieve at Merit or Distinction
Digital Design Curriculum in States being developed by Macromedia at same time as DiDA here.
If students do D202 and use Macromedia software (students need merit or distinction) they may be entitled to Macromedia certification. They will also have to do an additional task set by Macromedia – additional task will be added to e-portfolio
If students do D203 and use Fireworks for part of the unit and same rules apply.
NOT necessary to have Macromedia to do DiDA
This is add-on but definitely not essential – an extra fee of somewhere between £15.

12. Hardware one multimedia work station per student
range of digital tools - cameras, microphones, headsets
reliable broadband internet access and
individual storage area

13. Software artwork and imaging browser database email mind mapping
presentation
spreadsheet
web authoring
word processing

14. DiDA – an overview