The candidate can demonstrate best practice in managing their digital material and producing work for a specified purpose.  Candidates will show a clear understanding of the need for good management and storage of digital material so that it is easy to search and retrieve as required.  They will demonstrate an understanding of the implication of "Big Data" on society.  They will demonstrate the ability to create or modify a digital management environment to suit their needs and be competent when importing and exporting different types and formats, including an understanding of the permissions involved.  They will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various methods and systems and recommend best practice and suitable tools.

 

A work activity will typically be ‘non-routine or unfamiliar’ because the task or context is likely to require some preparation, clarification or research to separate the components and to identify what factors need to be considered. For example, time available, audience needs, accessibility of source, types of content, message and meaning, before an approach can be planned; and the techniques required will involve a number of steps and at times be non-routine or unfamiliar. 

 

Example of context – this unit can underpin other units. For example, if learners are working on a DTP poster and a presentation to pitch the poster to a local company, how do they know what applications to use?  How do they know how much time it will take?  How will they organise their files and understand how to solve problems that arise?  All of these are part of this unit so as long as they start planning using IT tools from the beginning, they will be gathering information to use for the IPU unit. This unit should be the start, middle and end of the course as it is related to all other units.

Learners will appreciate the volume and variety of data now captured about them or by them.

 

Evidence: report on data volume and type

 

Learners will begin to explore the range and nature of data that is currently being produced. Some of this will be generated by them,
but some will be generated about them and much of it without their knowledge or consent. Some of the different mechanisms are listed here for reference.

 

Learners should be able to define some basic management needs based on their understanding gathered as part of their preliminary research. Learners should be able to begin to discuss some digital material related to them and know some of the facts and figures related to this level of data collection such as number of CCTV cameras in use or the nature of data collected at airports etc.

1.2 I can outline the ways that digital material is managed and stored

Learners should be able to begin to understand and therefore demonstrate an understanding of the different ways that data is
managed, either privately, publicly, locally or in the cloud etc. Some of the following areas can be explored for reference and guidance.

• public and private servers
• shared or protected folders
• compressed or uncompressed
• laws about location (i.e. UK based etc)
• social media account preferences
• evaluate the rise of “Big data”
• need for HPC (High Performance Computing)

Some of these areas will form the basis for more in depth analysis and evaluation later, such as location of data. Do they know where their data is stored and who can access it? How can they know and find out? Is it that important etc.

You need to read carefully before you click thing that may affect you later, especially when you are not protected by local laws.

1.3 I can explain the issues related to the amount of data now being collected and stored

Learners should begin to investigate some of the issues around this phenomenal increase in material and the storage implications. Since this has a potentially huge impact on their future, what are the main concerns. Some are listed below for investigation.

• data centres consume more power than most large cities
• data once created never goes, so take care what you post
• Iceland emerging as “ethical” data centre due to natural cold for storage
• leaks and their impact - for good or bad

In 2013, IT consumed 10% of all the world’s electricity. It is quite difficult to find out how much energy Google uses in its data centres.
The last published data was in 2011 when they were consuming 260,000,000 watts, equivalent to the power for 200,000 homes. This
equated to 2 metric tonnes of carbon.

There is good scope here for some cross curricular work with science and mathematics to look at these numbers in context.

1.4 I can describe the need for open standards when sharing information

Learners may find it helpful to contrast open versus closed standards when describing some of these elements. The list below is a few of
the areas of investigation.

• list some standards used: http, smtp, ftp, pbx etc and their purpose
• explore WC3 (World Wide Web Consortium) and its impact
• explore interoperability issues and reasoning

Learners will cite examples of open versus closed standards with examples to illustrate their views.

1.5 I can describe the difference between local and remote storage solutions with working examples

It is clear that in the last couple of years and going forward, there is a big move from local storage solutions to cloud or online ones.

Learners will discuss the various issues involved in deciding on the best options. Some potential areas for investigation and discussion
will be:

• types of storage: HDD, SSD, tape drives etc
• costs of different solutions
• local server vs cloud
• access speed
• transmission rates
• RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives)

Learners will carry out some practical tasks on local versus remote servers such as file transfer speeds and moving files between folders
etc. to get a practical feel for advantages. Some cloud based services can be accessed on a trial basis for testing purposes such as Amazon AWS.

1.6 I can recommend storage solutions based on specific requirements

The above skills and knowledge, coupled with some hands on practical experience, should be a good grounding for learners to be
able to make some recommendations. For example, a local charity may wish to move their services from their offices to the cloud. What would the learner need to do in order to advise them. Some areas to explore and tools to use could be:

 

In the last of these bullet points, learners should be prepared to be able to say that staying local is the best approach, as long as they
can back it up with evidence.

2. Candidates will plan, create and manage different digital material as required

It is getting easier and easier to create and share digital material, from images on social media to videos or blogs about yourself. The
speed of this creation process makes it imperative to not send out the wrong message. The extension of cloud based services also
makes it easier to work with others across the world, what issues does this bring and what advantages.

2.1 I can create different forms of digital information for a specified purpose

• documents
• web pages
• podcasts
• videos
• presentations
• spreadsheets
• databases

Many of these materials they will be creating for other subject areas, but they can use their IT skills and understanding to fully evaluate
the way they have been made, the tools and formats that have been used, and how they meet their stated purpose. They can also
evaluate materials from other areas such as local companies.

Much of this material will go towards building their electronic portfolio in their extended project work.

2.2 I can describe the file formats and standards required for my digital information

Learners will appreciate that open standards offer more choice, though may come with some limitations.

Learners will have done some basic investigations of files in Unit 1 (2.3 and 3,2), and here they can describe the choices more in terms
of the standards that they are working towards and the the needs they are trying to fulfil. This could be related back to their extended
project.

2.3 I can import and export different digital materials and merge the results as required

Learners will be proficient in choosing the right format to import/export depending on some of the tasks further on during the
process. This overall understanding of the entire lifecycle of the material they are using and creating will help them make more
informed choices.

Learners working on digital files should appreciate that an svg file will allow them more modification of an image as it progresses towards
an end point than some less flexible formats. They should also demonstrate an appreciation that collaborative tools work better with
open standards and starting with a heavily modified proprietary format will force others to find that same software, rather than use
more flexible choices.

2.4 I can collaborate with colleagues on digital information projects

It seems obvious, but working as part of a team on projects does not always come naturally to everyone and there are certain soft skills
that learners should be encouraged to employ in their collaborative work. Some of these are:

• politeness
• appreciation
• critical feedback, not criticism
• understanding of differences - cultural, linguistic, personal etc

Learners will be able to apply these skills to their collaborative project work and take them forward into their further studies or work
based learning.

2.5 I can organise shared digital information to make collaborative work more efficient

Learners will structure their systems in a way that helps their best practice. They should show competence in creating clear names
and structures so that it is easier for them to find and therefore share their work. On large and complex documents they should be able to
work to add clear comments to others working on the system so that the overall work is carried out efficiently and effectively.

2.6 I can apply the permissions and access rights required for successful collaborative work

3. Candidates will assess the strengths and weaknesses of digital material management and systems

3.1 I can determine the best type of digital information to use for a project