Basic Skills Online - Level 2 - Information Technology Standards

The IT skills your students will need are:

• to search for and select information.
• to explore and develop information.
• derive new information.
• to present combined information, including text, images and numbers.

In searching for and selecting information they must feel confident about being able to:

• identify suitable sources of information (e.g. handwritten documents, material to be scanned, files on disks, CD ROMs, databases, the Internet)
• search for information using multiple criteria (e.g. operators such as 'and', 'greater than' and tools such as search engines)
• interpret information and decide what is relevant to their purpose (e.g. to respond to an enquiry, write a project report, help solve a problem, design or make something).

This is what they have to do to demonstrate these skills:

• search for and select information for two different purposes
• identify the information they need and suitable sources
• carry out effective searches
• select information that is relevant to their purpose.

These are the type of tasks that will produce this evidence:

They will have opportunities to develop and apply their IT skills during their work, studies or other activities.

For example when:
1. researching and reporting findings from a project or assignment
2. researching and designing a product
3. dealing with enquiries from customers or clientsv 4. exchanging information and ideas with work colleagues or other students.

What can they use as evidence?

• Printouts of the relevant information with notes of sources and how they made searches
• A record from an assessor who observed they using IT when searching for information.

Can they?

• identify suitable sources of information (e.g. handwritten documents, material to be scanned, files on disks, CD ROMs, databases, the Internet)
• search for information using multiple criteria (e.g. operators such as 'and', 'greater than' and tools such as search engines)
• interpret information and decide what is relevant to their purpose (e.g. to respond to an enquiry, write a project report, help solve a problem, design or make something).

In developing information they must feel confident about being able to:

• enter and bring together information (e.g. 'copy and paste' or import text, images, numbers)
• use formats that help development (e.g. using tabs rather than spaces to align text, using tables or frames to position information)
• explore information as needed for their purpose (e.g. follow lines of enquiry, explore the effects of changing information in a spreadsheet model to make and test predictions)
• develop information in the form of text, images and numbers (e.g. link information, organise information under headings, restructure tables, generate charts and graphs from data, select records or fields and prepare reports from a database)
• derive new information (e.g. compare information from different sources to reach a conclusion, use formulae to calculate information such as a total or average).

This is what they have to do to demonstrate these skills:

• explore and develop information, and derive new information, for two different purposes
• enter and bring together information using formats that help development
• explore information as needed for their purpose
• develop information and derive new information as appropriate.

These are the type of tasks that will produce this evidence:

• The purpose for using IT can be decided by they or by other people.
• However they must make sure that the work they produce suits this purpose.
• Using IT can contribute evidence for other key skills, such as communication and application of number.

What can they use as evidence?

Printouts, or a record from an assessor who observed they using IT, with notes to show how they explored and developed information and derived new information.

Can they?

• enter and bring together information (e.g. 'copy and paste' or import text, images, numbers), using formats that help development (e.g. using tabs rather than spaces to align text, using tables or frames to position information)
• explore information as needed for their purpose (e.g. follow lines of enquiry, explore the effects of changing information in a spreadsheet model to make and test predictions)
• develop information in the form of text, images and numbers (e.g. link information, organise information under headings, restructure tables, generate charts and graphs from data, select records or fields and prepare reports from a database)
• derive new information (e.g. compare information from different sources to reach a conclusion, use formulae to calculate information such as a total or average).

In presenting information they must feel confident about being able to:

• select and use appropriate layouts for presenting combined information, (e.g. document structures such as margins, columns and headings, borders for images and text, record structures, tables, spreadsheets)
• present information in a consistent way, (e.g. paragraph layouts, sizes and styles of images and text, alignments, fonts)
• develop the presentation to suit their purpose and types of information, including text, images and numbers (e.g. highlight information to improve its impact, refine layouts and make sure it suits the needs of their audience)
• ensure their work is accurate and clear (e.g. proof read, use a spell checker, seek the views of others) and is saved appropriately (e.g. use suitable folders/directories and file names, avoid loss).

They will also need to know:

• the benefits and disadvantages of using IT
• when it is necessary to observe copyright or confidentiality
• how to identify errors and their causes and minimise risks from viruses
• how to work safely and minimise health risks.

This is what they have to do to demonstrate these skills:

• present combined information for two different purposes
• select and use appropriate layouts for presenting combined information in a consistent way
• develop the presentation to suit their purpose and the types of information
• ensure their work is accurate, clear and saved appropriately.

Your work must include at least one example of text, one example of images and one example of numbers.

These are the type of tasks that will produce this evidence:

They will need to think about the quality of their IT skills and check their evidence covers all the requirements in part b.

What can they use as evidence?

• Working drafts, or a record from an assessor who observed their screen displays, with notes to show how they have developed content and presentation.
• Printouts, or prints of static or dynamic screen displays, of their final work, including examples of text, images and numbers.
• Records of how they saved information.

Can they?

• select and use appropriate layouts for presenting combined information, (e.g. document structures such as margins, columns and headings, borders for images and text, record structures, tables, spreadsheets)
• present information in a consistent way, (e.g. paragraph layouts, sizes and styles of images and text, alignments, fonts)
• develop the presentation to suit their purpose and types of information, including text, images and numbers, (e.g. highlight information to improve its impact, refine layouts, make sure it suits the needs of their audience)
• ensure their work is accurate and clear (e.g. proof read, use a spell checker, seek the views of others) and is saved appropriately (e.g. use suitable folders/directories and file names, avoid loss).

They will also need to know:

• the benefits and disadvantages of using IT
• when it is necessary to observe copyright or confidentiality
• how to identify errors and their causes and minimise risks from viruses
• how to work safely and minimise health risks.

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