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Overview
This is the ability to use a software application designed for planning, designing and building websites. At Silver level, the requirement is to use basic website software tools and techniques to produce straightforward or routine single web pages from pre-set templates. Any aspect that is unfamiliar will require support and advice from others. Website software tools and techniques will be defined as ‘basic’ because they will be pre-defined or commonly used. The range of inputting, manipulation and outputting techniques are straightforward or routine and the template used for the content will be pre-determined or familiar.
Example of context: Personal web page or blog created in social networking, learning or auction site; information pages created within web or content management system.
Note that the facilities to support this unit are provided freely on the INGOTs.org web site at www. theingots.org. Make an account and go to the "How tos" section or use the free on-line course. This is recommended but not mandatory. As long as we can access evidence via a URL to the learners' work we can apply the quality assurance procedures. Assessors should contact their Account manager early to discuss their methods of providing evidence.
Assessor's guide to interpreting the criteria
General Information
QCF general description for Level 1 qualifications
- Achievement at QCF level 1 (EQF Level 2) reflects the ability to use relevant knowledge, skills and procedures to complete routine tasks. It includes responsibility for completing tasks and procedures subject to direction or guidance.
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Use knowledge of facts, procedures and ideas to complete well-defined, routine tasks. Be aware of information relevant to
the area of study or work
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Complete well-defined routine tasks. Use relevant skills and procedures. Select and use relevant information. Identify whether actions have been effective.
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Take responsibility for completing tasks and procedures subject to direction or guidance as needed
Requirements
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Standards must be confirmed by a trained Silver Level Assessor or higher
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Assessors must at a minimum record assessment judgements as entries in the on-line mark book on the INGOTs.org certification site.
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Routine evidence of work used for judging assessment outcomes in the candidates' records of their day to day work will be available from their e-portfolios and on-line work. Assessors should ensure that relevant web pages are available to their account manager on request by supply of the URL.
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When the candidate provides evidence of matching all the criteria to the specification subject to the guidance below, the assessor can request the award using the link on the certification site. The Account Manager will request a random sample of evidence from candidates' work that verifies the assessor's judgement.
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When the Account Manager is satisfied that the evidence is sufficient to safely make an award, the candidate's success will be confirmed and the unit certificate will be printable from the web site.
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This unit should take an average level 1 learner 30 hours of work to complete.
Assessment Method
Assessors can score each of the criteria L, S, H. N indicates no evidence and is the default starting position. L indicates some capability but secure capability has not yet been achieved and some help is still required. S indicates that the candidate can match the criterion to its required specification. H indicates performance that goes beyond the expected in at least some aspects. Candidates are required to achieve at least S on all the criteria to achieve the unit.
Expansion of the assessment criteria
1. The candidate will plan and create web pages
1.1 I can identify what content and layout will be needed in the web page
Candidates should provide evidence of being able to identify suitable pictures, text and tables to support their work. This is likely to be part of the planning process linked to the IPU unit in order to develop a reasonable structure for their work. In keeping with Level 1 criteria, these items can be identified from a guided set of options. Candidates should show awareness of why the resources are relevant to the particular application. (PLTS)
Evidence: Web pages with a sensible choice of content.
Additional information and guidance
At this level the most likely content for web pages is graphics and text perhaps using tables to help organise layout. This is not mandatory and other media can be used, however, it is advisable to keep things simple initially and go for clear organised and consistent presentation of two or three identified content types. Remember that with text there is an issue of styles and with graphics, the need to use software tools such as an image editor to prepare images to be suitable sizes and formats for a web page. There are then issues of copyright and finding suitable materials to be used. For these reasons it is better to control the number of variables and treat a limited number with high quality than to be over-ambitious. Wikipedia is a good source of images because it has a big range of copyright material that is licensed to be shared.
www.openclipart.org is another free resource.
1.2 I can identify the purpose of the web page and the intended audience
Candidates should provide evidence that they have a clear purpose in creating their web page highlighting the benefits of the use of ICT and any limitations for the intended audience.
Evidence: Expression of purpose in the day to day documentation of their work.
Additional information and guidance
Intended audience could be family, future employers, customers or peers. e.g. "I will use this page to show a future employer what I have learnt, the main problem will be that it won't show everything I know and can do". Or "I will make an e-portfolio of my work in several subjects so I can see how I have progressed and show other people"
1.3 I can select and use a website design template to create a single web page
Candidates show evidence of creating a web page to a pre-defined format. This could be in a Web 2.0 environment such as Drupal (INGOT Learner site software) using a theme or pre-defined template or in web design software such as Kompozer or Dreamweaver or using wizards provided by Google sites.
Evidence: Web page template used as a basis for presenting information.
Additional information and guidance
It is fine to use the INGOT community site with the standard theme but bring attention to the options for other themes and that HTML can be copied from another page to provide a template for a new page. Simple layouts usually work best with web pages. Note for Level 1 they only need a single page. If they can make multiple pages self-sufficiently it is an indication of a "H" for the criterion and that might indicate they should be going for Level 2 (Gold).
1.4 I can enter or insert content for web pages so that it is ready for editing and formatting
Candidates should be able to enter their content to their web page template. This might be entering it directly, cutting and pasting, uploading or any other reasonable method. They should ensure that the media is appropriately prepared.
Evidence: Web page populated with content
Additional information and guidance
Many Web 2.0 environments provide direct creation of web pages. Examples are Wikis and content management systems. The Ingot learner site is provided specifically for this purpose but its use is not mandatory. Learners can make accounts and then create a range of different web page types, e.g. a Blog page or an e-portfolio page. They can insert and edit text, graphics and tables and attach files using the CK rich text editor and/or HTML. They can easily make links between pages and the system records a history of all pages created. Any similar environment can be used as long as the URL to candidate's work is available to TLM for moderation and verification.
1.5 I can organise and combine information needed for web pages
Candidates should show evidence that the content of their page provides a coherent message or messages as a result of at least two types of information. eg a picture illustrating text.
Evidence: Web page populated with organised content that conveys a message
Additional information and guidance
Going beyond simple data types to embed links to video or audio "podcasts" is an indicator of higher performance "H". The page, while uncomplicated should have a logical and ordered structure with a minimum of a title in a heading style, text, a related picture and a simple table. For level 1 they might need help uploading a graphic of the right size and format. .jpg or .png trimmed to less than 500 pixels square. Level 2 candidates should be able to do this self-sufficiently and this ability together with appreciation of the file format and graphic size and resolution are definite level 2 characteristics that will differentiate from level 1.
In producing the page they are processing data to provide information by organising the data to have meaning to the intended audience. For example, a picture of a favourite celebrity, with a text description composed by the learner and a table of facts about the person is typical of what is expected. It could be the diagram and method for a science investigation accompanied by a table of results. A graphic of a chart produced from a spreadsheet with either a screen shot of the spreadsheet data or the data entered in a web page table. (Why would the latter give a better result?) They could make a link to a shared spreadsheet in Google Docs contributing to the Collaborative technologies unit. The information they present should be for a specific purpose and to a familiar audience.
1.6 I can identify copyright and other constraints on using other people's information
Candidates should provide evidence that they have considered the copyright of any content they use in their page(s). (PLTS) This should be related to using ICT safely and responsibly and identifying the benefits and limitations of using ICT.
Evidence: Web page comments on the sources of their content and freedom of use.
Additional information and guidance
Text and illustrations they originate themselves belong to them but any clip art, text from other sources and eg music or audio files etc must be checked for copyright licensing restrictions. Wikipedia is a good source because it is Creative Commons licensed and so information is licensed to be re-used and shared.
www.openclipart.org supports clip art intended to be shared. If in doubt don't use it! At level 1 it is sufficient for candidates to be aware of the issue and ask for guidance. There should be no information on their page that is obviously copied from a restricted source and they should always acknowledge the source of information they use if it is not their own. Assessors should provide appropriate support. They should be aware that passing of other people's work as if it is their own (i.e. without acknowledging the originator) is grounds for disqualification from certification no matter how good the rest of their work. At level 1, assessors will pay a key role in ensuring that the learner's work is legal. Candidates should also respect any local guidance on appropriateness of content. There should be no gratuitous violence, material of a sexual nature or anything that could be considered offensive to colleagues, peers or the general public. This is also related to work on acceptable use policies. If a candidate has a good grasp of copyright and associated licensing and they can name a range of sources of materials licensed for sharing and those not, it is an indicator of Higher performance rather than just secure. Avoid using "Copyright-free" as a term. In most cases all work has copyright it is simply that the license allows or encourages sharing and re-use. Such work is NOT copyright-free, it is simply licensed to be used freely.
1.7 I can identify what file types to use for saving content
Candidates should be able to identify the following file types as important open standards related to the web. HTML, .txt, pdf, .jpg, .png, .svg. They should be encouraged to use these formats whenever possible.
Evidence: Use of appropriate file types in their work. Comments descriptions in day to day documentation.
Additional information and guidance
They should be discouraged from attaching files to pages when the information can easily be presented in the page itself. e.g. attaching a .doc file with text and a picture to the page is pointless when displaying the information directly in the page is quicker and more efficient. They should be discouraged from attaching files in proprietary formats which would require the audience to buy software in order to see the content. (PLTS) A good example is MS Publisher files that can only be opened in Publisher with many people not having that software. These considerations should be raised at the planning stage. Even very popular formats such as .doc and .ppt are at least a bit of a problem for some people. At this level it is sufficient to recognise the basic open standard formats. Supporting open formats is in the long term good for everyone (apart perhaps for those with a commercial interest in a closed format). This is an opportunity to provide an evaluation of their work against a set of criteria to determine how appropriate the quality of their information solution is in terms of its openness. For Level 1 it is good enough to be able to recognise the listed file types and realise that open standards in data are important. If they show knowledge in more detail such as when to use png rather than jpg and why there is an issue using svg directly in web browsers, these all indicate higher performance more in keeping with Level 2.
1.8 I can store and retrieve web files
Candidates should demonstrate that they can attach files to pages and download and save them to sensible places where they can find them again later. They should be able to rename files, delete them, print them and open them in applications for processing.
Evidence: Web pages, data files and direct observation.
2. The candidate will use web site software tools to structure and format web pages
2.1 I can identify what editing and formatting to use to aid both clarity and navigation
Candidates should appreciate that simple and consistent styles and formatting aid clarity and navigation. They should know that formatting is different from in a word processor where the layout is fixed to a particular paper size. With web pages the formatting can change at different screen resolutions e.g. very large images can cause formatting problems particularly on low resolution displays. They should show that they can identify simple links to other pages.
Evidence: Web pages that employ simple but clear formatting that survives change of browser resolution reasonably well.
Additional information and guidance
Use CTRL + and CTRL - in the web browser to see the effect of scale on formatting. It is a good idea to give candidates experience of editing simple HTML as well as editing using a WYSIWYG editor such as the rich-text provided in most web software applications. This prepares the learner for more advanced editing where the editor lacks a particular feature or where the editor produces an unexpected result. If they have no fear of HTML they can begin to identify problems and become more self-sufficient. In the use of HTML the learner can produce precise and accurate sequences of tags to provide predictable effects and they can change the parameters of tags (variables) and explain the effects. For level 1 it is sufficient to have experience of heading tags, breaks and paragraphs and ordered and unordered lists. This is easily achieved in the CK editor in Drupal simply by toggling between plain text and rich text editor and the foot of the edit window. If they can do more in HTML and, for example, tidy up HTML imported from a word processor, this is "H" attainment and indicative of possible level 2 readiness.
2.2 I can select and use website features to help the user navigate simple web sites
Candidates should be able to create links to other pages and web sites and position them logically in the context of the page. They should be able to identify anchors on the page and make links to them.
Evidence: from candidate web pages.
Additional information and guidance
On the Ingot learner site they can use different page types such as a public page to share editing, or use Book pages that will automatically link groups of related pages. There are no mandatory features as long as it is clear that some features of the software are used to aid navigation e.g. identifying where links between pages would be useful e.g. returning the user to an index page.
2.3 I can use appropriate editing and formatting techniques
Candidates should provide evidence that they have used select, cut and paste, undo, redo, find and replace and similar techniques in their work. They should be able to position images, put borders around them and adjust the space between the image and surrounding text. This should contribute to presenting their information so that it is clear and easy to understand.
Evidence: Direct observation by the assessor and web page design outcomes.
Additional information and guidance
It is important to relate appropriate with "sparingly". Simple consistency in layout and styles is best. Use pre-defined headings consistently and check that changing the browser resolution within reasonable limits does not destroy the formatting.
2.4 I check to make sure my web pages meet user needs using IT tools and making corrections as necessary
Candidates should ensure that spelling and grammar are accurate. They can do this using spell checkers and similar tools and by asking peers and others to proof read their work. Their work should be their own and and they should do the editing but it is perfectly reasonable and indeed desirable for others to point out errors and mistakes and to test pages with representatives of their target audience. They should receive appropriate feedback graciously and be prepared to give feedback to others.
Evidence: Direct observation by the assessor recorded feedback from potential users.
Additional information and guidance
They should know that not everyone has the same software as they do and that they should, where possible, use open standards that are independent of particular products from individual suppliers. This will ensure that the information they provide is available as widely as possible. They should be aware that people with disabilities (PLTS) such as blindness might use the site and so text descriptions of images should be included in appropriate places and colour contrasts should be appropriate. At level 1 they will need reminding. Self-sufficiency and routine consideration of accessibility and wider user needs is indicative of Higher and Level 2 performance. Checking with several web browsers is desirable so they are sure all users can see their pages formatted correctly.
3. The candidate will publish web pages to the internet or an intranet
3.1 I can upload content to a web site
This means demonstrating that they have at least one web page with meaningful content on-line and accessible from a URL. Assessors should be able to verify that the learner was able to transfer the content to the page themselves.
Evidence: Direct observation by the assessor. Candidate web page(s) on-line.
Additional information and guidance
If they are using the INGOT learner site (Drupal) the text content is automatically uploaded to the web site when it is saved. The candidate should provide evidence that they have uploaded images and/or other files to their user space to display or make available from their web page. At this level some assistance is reasonable in preparing content especially getting file sizes and resolution of graphics optimal. If they can do these things self-sufficiently for a range of file types and understand things like the limits for file sizes and types it is again indicative of higher level 2 (Gold) performance. Assessors should point out to candidates that uploading a lot of content to a particular page will slow down the speed with which it loads. It might be better to divide the content between more than one page, particularly if users with slow connections are to be included. Routine consideration and planning for this is indicative of higher and/or level 2 performance.
3.2 I can respond appropriately to common problems when testing a web page
The candidate should recognise when a page is not displaying as intended, fixing simple issues (eg a spelling error, text misalignment or a graphic failing to display) and asking for help.
Evidence: Direct observation by the assessor. Candidate web pages free from significant problems including spelling errors. Using i instead of I etc.
Additional information and guidance
This is an opportunity to use criteria to evaluate the quality of their solution and identify improvements and ways to refine their work and can be linked back to the IPU unit. Since the reasons for problems vary from trivial to technically at a much higher level, responding appropriately broadly means doing something about it rather than just leaving something that isn't working as intended. If the page does not display at all, candidates should know to check the URL to make sure it is the same as for the saved page. They should check that layout is as intended and seek help (PLTS). If aspects do not turn out as intended there could be a variety of reasons beyond the scope of a Level 1 candidate but the candidate should check and identify the problem and seek appropriate help if solving it is beyond their current skill level. Encourage them to learn about the nature of the problem and what led to it. They should check spelling and grammar and if not strong in that area ask for a second opinion working to improve. They can document their evaluation and fixed problems on a web page as part of their work (also relevant in the IPU unit). If they need help linking this to the rest of their work that is a good indication that they are at Level 1 if they can organise this fairly self-sufficiently it indicates higher performance and perhaps Level 2.
Errors that are difficult to fix in a rich text editor can be easy in HTML. Line spacing for paragraphs could simply mean replacing a <p> tag with a <br> tag. While this is not expected at this level for assessment it is worth introducing some simple HTML eg by making a heading in the rich text editor and switching to HTML to show the learner that <h1>Heading</h1> switches heading style on and off. Confidence to edit HTML tags will make a big difference later and can form a foundation for eg Javascript programming. If pages do not display properly in Internet Explorer version 6 and earlier, it is most likely that it is due to IE not conforming to the agreed standards. Try a later version and consider upgrading. Fixing that sort of problem is well beyond level 1 and might well be beyond the technical expertise of the assessor. Consistent browser display is a further illustration of the need to conform to open standards.
Moderation/verification
The assessor should keep a record of assessment judgements made for each candidate and make notes of any significant issues for any candidate. They must be prepared to enter into dialogue with their Account Manager and provide their assessment records to the Account Manager through the on-line mark book. They should be prepared to provide evidence as a basis for their judgements through reference to candidate e-portfolios. Before authorizing certification, the Account Manager must be satisfied that the assessors judgements are sound. Assessors must use the guidance here to inform their judgements.
