- Teacher: Ken Lamb
- Teacher: Pip Handy
- Teacher: Clive Wayland
- Teacher: Sylvia Truman
- Teacher: Nick Leonard
- Teacher: Paul Dibley
- Teacher: David Jones
- Teacher: Sam Steel
- Teacher: Caroline Jones
- Teacher: Chris Jakeman
- Teacher: Georgina Hodgkinson
- Teacher: Stephanie Palmer
- Teacher: Julie Ingrey
In our fast moving technological world, people everywhere are getting access to exciting new
technologies. MP3 players allow us to carry thousands of tracks on a player the size of a mouse.
We can capture and share high quality images on affordable digital cameras. In one era, letter
writing was something that had to be thought about and after all of the work one had to find
time to go out and post it. Now, with email, it is fine to write just a sentence, press a button and
it’s delivered in seconds, anywhere in the world!
The one technology that has assisted with all of these inventions of the modern age is the advent
of the worldwide web (www). Using this medium we can ‘walk into’ a world with very few
boundaries. We can find MP3 files and download them with ease. Our digital images can be
sent to relatives in distant lands in seconds. We can go shopping without leaving our homes and
source the very best prices with the click of a mouse button.
Essential to developing the worldwide web are the people who design effective documents that
can be ‘read’ by a web browser. These web designers have the fascinating task of taking text,
images, video and other resources and crafting them into high quality documents for
broadcasting throughout the world via the internet. Their brief is to produce attractive and
informative sites that will also be accessible to everyone. This includes users with disabilities,
where, for example features can allow speech synthesisers to read out pages for blind users.
They are obliged to adhere to copyright laws, employer’s guidelines, to beware of misuse and
also to respect the Data Protection Act of 1998.
The purpose of this unit is to help the learner to see the potential of the web and to develop a
skill set which will be highly valued by industry and commerce as well as being a useful
personal skill for leisure pursuits. Web design is a skill that is becoming more and more popular
as the worldwide web expands and as companies see the advantage of using browser technology
for their company intranets. The unit is designed to give a firm grounding in the concepts of
web design which will help learners to progress to employment or to another educational course
and to become a valued employee with key skills in their chosen employment.- Database software is one of the most commonly used application packages in business.
Therefore, it is important that all IT users should have a working knowledge of this type of
software and an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages so that they can identify
appropriate situations in which to use a computerised database.
In this unit, learners will gain an understanding of the basic principles of database design and
the structures and terminologies of databases as well as developing useful practical skills such
as creating single table databases with associated forms and reports. Databases deal with
structured information and this is information that can be broken down into lots of similar
records, each having the same fields.
Sometimes people want to see all of the fields of all of the records but in other cases, they may
only want to see some of the fields or maybe a limited set of records for a particular purpose.
For example in a stock file, we might only want a list of products that are out of stock for when
we want to re-order. Queries are used to restrict the information seen and learners will
understand how to create queries and use them as the basis for forms or printed reports.
When databases are used to store information, it is important that people can rely on it. There
are various methods for ensuring that the information contained within databases is correct and
a number of these will be considered. Particularly effective techniques are those that control and
validate the information as it is being entered.
Documentation is necessary for every application and system so that they can be maintained and
adapted over time. Learners will gain knowledge of the documentation necessary to support the
databases that they create, to show how it works and what features have been used. They will
also learn how to check their databases to ensure that everything works correctly. - Although traditionally associated with financial applications and mathematical calculations, spreadsheet software is very versatile. A spreadsheet can be used to store, manipulate and analyse data and to present it in easy to understand formats, such as charts and graphs. Many people also use spreadsheets in preference to word processing software when creating complex tables. Learners will investigate these different ways of using spreadsheets, find examples of real uses and develop the practical skills to use spreadsheet software effectively.
Spreadsheets can be used in many different situations such as finance and engineering and the unit content includes a wide range of spreadsheet features, formulae and functions. In addition, spreadsheet users need to be able to choose from a variety of different ways of presenting and analysing spreadsheet data, including producing graphs and filtering and sorting lists of data. Successful learners will be able to combine the skills learned to produce a spreadsheet solution that is tailor-made for the specific needs of the user. To speed up the use of spreadsheets, shortcuts are often employed to enter data or duplicate particular combinations of keystrokes. Learners will be able to create such shortcuts and recognise their potential in improving efficiency.
In the IT industry, documentation is necessary for every application and system so that they can be maintained and adapted over time. It is important that creators of spreadsheets are able to check and if necessary sort out problems with their solutions to ensure that everything works as it should and that it is fit for the intended purpose.