Assessor's guide to interpreting the criteria
Activities supporting the assessment of this award
General Information
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My First INGOT is a more friendly name for the qualification also referred to as Bronze 1 or Entry Level 1
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The definition of an entry level qualification is to recognize basic knowledge and skills and the ability to apply learning in everyday situations under direct guidance or supervision. Learning at this level involves building basic knowledge and skills and is not geared towards specific occupations.
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The criteria are designed to provide opportunities to promote numeracy, literacy and social skills as well as ICT capability and are compatible with the UK National Curriculum programmes of study as well as the qualifications and credit framework. This provides opportunities to satisfy both needs concurrently.
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My First INGOT is designed to promote a wider range of participation, for example, for people with special needs or specific learning difficulties or younger children. It provides a low barrier to entry to formal certification.
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The specification for the Entry Level 1 certificate provides an outcome framework for assessment and is not intended to dictate any particular context for learning and so can be used with young children or adults and be applied to a wide range of existing courses.
Requirements
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Standards must be confirmed by a trained Bronze Assessor or higher
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Assessors must as a minimum record assessment judgements as entries in the on-line mark book on the INGOTs.org certification site.
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It is expected that there will be routine evidence of work used for judging assessment outcomes in the candidates' records of their day to day work. Samples, including related plans and schemes of work should be available at the annual visit and/or by video conference.
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Different approaches to learning will be required in order to match differing needs, for example, the needs of children will be different from the needs of adults with learning disabilities.
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There is a single unit to complete for the award. When the candidate demonstrates secure capability against each of the criteria in the unit they are entitled to a certificate for passing the unit and the overall award.
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We expect at least 6 hours of guided study to be under-taken for the award for complete beginners generally new to formal education but discretion can be used to take account of prior learning where this is sensible in individual cases. In terms of making the award, what matters is outcomes. Can the candidate securely meet the criteria?
Certificates must be printed on INGOT template paper available from The Learning Machine Ltd for which there is a charge of 50p per template.
Assessment Method
Assessors can use the criteria to determine levels of prior learning through dialogue and with the candidate, direct observation and any other appropriate and relevant evidence. They can score each of the criteria L, S, or H. N indicates no evidence and is the default start position. "L" indicates some capability but some help still required to fully meet requirements. S indicates secure capability, H that the candidate can operate beyond the requirements of the criterion. Candidates are required to achieve S or H on all the criteria to achieve the award.
Expansion of the criteria
The Entry 1 learner will work co-operatively in planning that underpins the use of skills, knowledge or understanding related to immediately available technologies. They can identify a purpose for their activities and that some resources are necessary to complete a task. They can name some commonly used IT tools for activities that are straightforward or routine. They can appreciate that automated routines can help improve their productivity when this is made clear to them. Support and advice from other people will be a common feature in their work.
An activity will typically be ‘straightforward or routine’ because:
- the task or context will be familiar and involve few factors (desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, opening a document, selecting an object, naming keyboard, mouse, screen); and
- the techniques used will be familiar or commonly undertaken with support from other more experienced people.
Learners should show willingness to be cooperative and respect the advice and support given by more experienced users.
1. The learner will be competent to plan the use of IT for a task
1.1 I can identify the advantages of using IT for the task
The requirement is for the candidate to identify advantages of using IT in their general work and simple planning. They should be able to identify such advantages verbally when guided in more than one context on more than one occasion.
Evidence: Direct observation, planning and recording documents from day to day activities.
Additional information and guidance
The candidate should talk about their work and say why they think IT might be useful to the task they are attempting. They should be encouraged to communicate verbally and with help using electronic means. They should be able to identify items from a computer based menu or a display of a range of applications or pieces of information, observing the effect as advantageous to them or others. Varying the context to include more than conventional desktop computers is important to demonstrate the increasing variety of computer technologies that provide advantages to people in every day life, for example, the immediate use of a mobile phone to contact the emergency services on coming across an accident.
Additional information and guidance
The candidate should talk about their work and say why they think IT might be useful to the task they are attempting. They should be encouraged to communicate verbally and with help using electronic means. They should be able to identify items from a computer based menu or a display of a range of applications or pieces of information, observing the effect as advantageous to them or others. Varying the context to include more than conventional desktop computers is important to demonstrate the increasing variety of computer technologies that provide advantages to people in every day life, for example, the immediate use of a mobile phone to contact the emergency services on coming across an accident.
The candidate should talk about their work and say why they think IT might be useful to the task they are attempting. They should be encouraged to communicate verbally and with help using electronic means. They should be able to identify items from a computer based menu or a display of a range of applications or pieces of information, observing the effect as advantageous to them or others. Varying the context to include more than conventional desktop computers is important to demonstrate the increasing variety of computer technologies that provide advantages to people in every day life, for example, the immediate use of a mobile phone to contact the emergency services on coming across an accident. Additional information and guidance
The candidate should talk about their work and say why they think IT might be useful to the task they are attempting. They should be encouraged to communicate verbally and with help using electronic means. They should be able to identify items from a computer based menu or a display of a range of applications or pieces of information, observing the effect as advantageous to them or others. Varying the context to include more than conventional desktop computers is important to demonstrate the increasing variety of computer technologies that provide advantages to people in every day life, for example, the immediate use of a mobile phone to contact the emergency services on coming across an accident.
1.2 I can plan how to complete the task using IT
The candidate should be provided with a simple plan e.g. as a sequence of pictures, verbal or text instructions. They should be able to identify this as a plan and work towards it with support. They should show that they can follow simple instructions in order to be productive. Planning requires some knowledge of common tools.
Evidence: Direct observation, planning records and documentation from day to day activities.
Additional information and guidance
Instructions are most likely to be verbal at this level but they can be written or in pictures or any other method. The candidate should respond positively to help with making simple plans including rough estimates of how long a task might take. They should have some understanding of why planning is useful. They should be able to identify a range of basic computer parts and software applications by name in order to relate plans to the immediate environment and tools.
For those at a basic literacy level take the opportunity to read words, label diagrams or interact with games or puzzles that reinforce the vocabulary associated with computers. Planning should also start considering ownership of information. What information can be used freely and what can't? (PLTS) Anything they produce is free for them to use and they can allow other people to use it but they need permission to use other people's information. On the other hand you might discuss the benefits of sharing resources.
1.3 I can identify the main safety and security issues affecting the use of IT for the task
- Personal data
- Passwords
- Co-operative behaviour
The focus is on 3 key aspects. Of fundamental importance is not giving away details of their personal data and understanding the need for passwords. Don't reply to unsolicited messages and don't install any software applications without asking a knowledgeable person. Being co-operative with other people is an important aspect of safety when working in groups.
Evidence: from direct observation, willingness to ask about potential risks they have identified.
Additional information and guidance
Sharing digital resources is very easy using the internet so where it is legal it is very powerful for social benefit. (PLTS) This ease of sharing also presents risks because it is just as easy to share bad information or malware (viruses, spyware etc) as good information. The saying "give a brick and get a house" is a good way to visualise the potential. If everyone got a house by simply donating a brick there would be no housing problem. In principle, Wikipedia and YouTube show the practical possibilities this presents. The downside is that some people could donate defective bricks that looked like good ones. It is therefore important to learn how to prevent this from happening. At this stage candidates should know that there is a clear safety issue and that they should refer to more experienced users they know they can trust to check their activities are not potentially dangerous. At this level showing awareness that there are potential problems and being willing to ask rather than take risks is a good starting point.
2. The learner will be competent to use IT to complete a practical task
2.1 I can use IT to complete a task following identified safe practices
The candidate should show that they can navigate a simple Graphical User Interface to find and start up an application e.g. by double clicking a file associated with the application or on the application icon directly. Any simple and straightforward tasks are enough at this level. They should give due regard to any identified safety issues and instructions (that might be verbal or written).
Evidence: From observation of candidate behaviour and the ability of the candidate to complete simple IT based tasks with due regard to safety when brought to their attention.
Additional information and guidance
The candidate should show that they can follow simple instructions in order to be productive and safe. These are most likely to be verbal instructions at this level. In order to complete tasks some background skills are required. Candidates should be able to identify some common selection devices such as mouse, tracker-ball or touch screen by name so that these can be used in completing the task. For those at a basic literacy level take the opportunity to read words, label diagrams or interact with games or puzzles that reinforce the vocabulary associated with computers.
Suitable tasks include the opportunity to explore a computer simulation of a physical environment. A free on-line puzzle based virtual world is at "I Know that dot com" and there are web based games and puzzles at
http://theingots.org/community/LinkPuzzles. Numpty physics provides a problem solving environment (PLTS) exploring the effects of gravity on user drawn screen objects. Any of these activities will introduce some very basic ideas about virtual representations of the physical world at the same time as providing suitable tasks to do with support, characterising Entry Level 1. They should demonstrate their capacity to talk about their work which they can do while engaging in these activities.
The candidate should demonstrate willingness to co-operate. This includes being patient and waiting their turn if the teacher is busy, sharing resources with their peers and being generally helpful. Co-operative attitudes are essential to safe practice and fundamentally important at this level. Occasional lapses are permitted but the candidate should have shown good character for at least a month prior to certification.
2.2 I can identify and correct errors
The requirement is to identify and correct the simplest and most obvious errors, asking for advice in areas of uncertainty.
Evidence: From direct observation and records of day to day activities.
Additional information and guidance
If a technology appears not to be working, the candidate should recognise when devices are switched on e.g. from an indicator light or the position of a switch. They should realise that if a technological device appears not to be working, it could be simply because it is not switched on. Candidates should be able to use a text editor to identify and correct simple errors. The text should be as simple as possible to ensure that basic literacy is not the limiting factor. Candidates should notice messages that might be prompting the user to take an action. At this level it is good enough to show they have noticed the alert and brought it to a more experienced person's attention, they are not expected to understand what all these messages mean or what action to take at this point.
2.3 I can identify any improvements that can be made
The candidate should make simple comments about plausible actions that could improve their work. These can be verbal and informal at this stage.
Evidence: From direct observation, general planning and records from day to day activities.
Additional information and guidance
In terms of using the keyboard, candidates should know how to use the shift key with one hand and press another key with the other to get a capital letter to start a sentence, or for the first letter of a proper noun. With help they can progress to typing a simple sentence and finish it with a full stop. Encourage the use of two hands and to comment on why this might help improve their work in terms of productivity. While touch typing is not explicitly required, consider that for someone learning to write, learning to type efficiently is probably an easier skill to master and in their life-time they are likely to use a keyboard a lot more than a pen. Good typing posture and style also contributes to improving health and safety. The candidate should be able to make simple adjustments to seating position in relation to the computer, subject to simple prompts. Any recognition or suggestions for improving the way they work can be used in addition to the above factors.
