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Bronze 2 - Entry Level 2

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Activities supporting the assessment of this award

Assessor's guide to interpreting the criteria

General Information

  • The Bronze 2 Award is designed to provide progression from the Entry Level 1 Bronze award to Entry Level 3 Award and as a foundation for Level 1 ICT user qualifications particularly the ITQ.

  • The definition of an entry level qualification is to recognise 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. 

  • The criteria are designed to provide opportunities to promote numeracy, literacy and social skills as well as ICT capability and are fully compatible with the UK National Curriculum programmes of study.

  • The Bronze 2 Award is designed to promote a wider range of participation by providing coherent progression from the Bronze 1 to Bronze 3 and/or Silver Level 1 qualifications. We want especially to include people with special needs or specific learning difficulties and younger children. Contexts for learning should be chosen appropriately for the learner.

  • The specification for the Bronze 2, Entry Level 2 Award 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. The INGOTs family of qualifications are designed for personalising learning rather than targeting arbitrary groups. Assessors have discretion about the contexts used as long as the assessment criteria can be matched and the guidance below should be read with this in mind.

Requirements

  • Standards must be confirmed by a trained Bronze Assessor or higher.

  • Assessors must at a minimum record assessment judgements as entries in the on-line mark book on the INGOTs.org certification site.

  • 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 should be available at the annual visit and/or by video conference.

  • 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.

  • Completing the criteria entitles the candidate to the Bronze 2 Award. In general, the candidate should demonstrate that matching criteria can be sustained over time with continued practice.

  • We expect at least 15 hours of guided study to be under-taken before the award is made assuming learners are new to computers 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 and competence.

Assessment Method

Assessors can use the criteria to determine levels of prior learning through dialog with the candidate, direct observation and any other appropriate and relevant evidence. They can score each of the criteria for each candidate N (No evidence), L (some progress but still lower than the level) S, secure at that level and this criterion, H, the candidate is performing beyond the required level. Candidates are required to achieve S or H on all the criteria to achieve the full award. This means they provide evidence of "Secure" competence across all the criteria. 

Expansion of the assessment criteria

The Entry 2 learner will be becoming more self-sufficient in carrying out simple familiar tasks following instructions and using practiced and routine sequences and steps. They will on occasions take responsibility for the outcomes of their work. 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 co-operative and respect the advice and support given by more experienced users.

1. The learner will be competent to plan the use of IT to meet requirements

1.1 I can identify the advantages of using IT for the task

Building on the requirements for Entry 1, the candidate should identify why the use of IT is an advantage in specific tasks often referring to more than one advantage. They should have sufficient experience of completed tasks to identify advantages in several different contexts e.g. drawing a diagram with software with pre-defined shapes, ease of editing text, making a simple presentation, copying some information several times, sharing information with other people.
 
Evidence: Direct observation, planning and recording documents from day to day activities.
 
Additional information and guidance
The main difference between Entry 1 and Entry 2 is that learners will be drawing on greater background experience and they will be able to identify more advantages in a wider range of contexts.

1.2 I can plan how to complete the task using appropriate IT systems and software

Building on the requirements for Entry 1, candidates should increase the range of planning activities under guidance and supervision. They should be beginning to make suggestions about planning sequences comprising of simple steps drawing on their growing experience of IT based tasks. Typical planning activities will include asking questions to find useful information, ordering tasks, organising information resources into groups, simple file management, commenting verbally on how successful they have been in in finding answers to questions.

Evidence: Direct observation, planning records and documentation from day to day activities.
 
Additional information and guidance

They should where possible, be provided with the opportunity to plan their work as part of a group demonstrating co-operative behaviour with peers making contributions without being over-dominant. They will need structured guidance and support. They will ask questions of peers in the planning process and comment on the success of gaining answers. At this level some simple factors are enough, there is no requirement for a comprehensive and detailed analysis.

1.3 I can identify any safety and security issues affecting the use of IT for the task

The candidate should show capability of following simple sequences of instruction identifying within them elements related to safety and security. When they use IT to communicate with others they should show that they can follow instructions on safe use. When instructed to do something on the grounds of safety they should respond positively in such a way that safety and security will not be compromised. They should know routinely that password security is important and that they should not make personal details available on the internet.
 
Evidence: from direct observation and lack of any personal details evident in general circulation unless they can explain a clear rationale demonstrating an understanding of the risks. If they can do this they are operating well above this level.
 
Additional information and guidance
At this level free and unrestricted self-sufficiency is unrealistic but they must participate to learn. Of fundamental importance is not giving away details of their personal data or passwords. Don't reply to unsolicited messages and don't install any software applications without asking a knowledgeable person. Windows applications from arbitrary unsolicited sources on the internet are most dangerous, the most obvious being files with a .exe extension. There are many e-safety sites with free web based games and puzzles related to safety and security. These are recommended as motivating ways of raising awareness of safety and security issues.

2. The learner will be competent to use IT systems to complete planned tasks

2.1 I can use an IT system to complete planned tasks following identified safe practices

The candidate should demonstrate that they can use simple editing and formatting techniques to develop their work. They should behave cooperatively and respect and obey instructions related to safety.
 
Evidence: Direct observation and records of day to day work recorded in files.
 
Additional information and guidance
Tasks should include deleting and adding words, checking spelling with guidance and making corrections and putting in punctuation marks such as full stops and capital letters (using the SHIFT key). The work should be in the context of activities that are interesting to the candidate. They should have two hands at the keyboard and sit with good posture. They can use a word processor or other text editor such as that built into web applications. They should be starting to use standard formatting features such as centre, tab, bold with an ability to change font styles and sizes where appropriate. It would be useful to provide candidates with experience of more than one editor such as two different word processors and/or a web page editor to demonstrate common features and to enhance transfer of skills (PLTS). Free examples are OpenOffice.org which can be downloaded and installed from www.openoffice.org and the rich text editor CKEditor, available on the INGOT community web site for creating pages. They should present their ideas through these applications using text pictures, and tables given specific guidance.

2.2 I can check that the outcome meets requirements

The candidate should be able to identify the success of the outcome of their task in relation to the original stated need. 
 
Evidence: From discussion with assessor and where appropriate, written statements.
 
Additional information and guidance
  • Experience of a range of tasks and outcomes is required. 
  • Verbal communication of checking is sufficient at this level but written statements such as as "The diagram let's people understand my design"
  • Entering numbers to vary models including simple graphs will allow checking a numerical context.
  • Provide candidates with experience of more than one editor such as two different word processors and/or a web page editor to demonstrate common features and to enhance transfer of skills (PLTS).
  • Try and avoid giving the message that a single piece of software can achieve everything or that currently popular applications are all they will ever need to use. Give them the opportunity to experiment and try out new and unfamiliar applications.
  • Graphs and charts at this level will be limited to appropriate mathematical capability. Simple tables and block graphs produced from sorting and organising simple data to produce simple graphs using a computer.
  • There is a free graph drawing program at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx.
  • There are also programs to produce graphs from datasets in free spreadsheets and some database software. 
  • Candidates should be able to draw simple diagrams to illustrate their work and present their ideas in diagrammatic form. These can be simple line drawings. The drawing tools can be part of a larger software application such as a word processor or desktop publisher but best practice would be to use a programme designed for graphic illustration. 
  • Typical diagrams will include every day objects such as a ball, car, house with labels presenting their ideas in different ways demonstrating that they can use simple editing and formatting techniques in the graphics software.  
  • Inkscape (www.inkscape.org) is a good example of a free and open source graphics editor that anyone can download and install freely and legally on their computer. It is more than capable of professional work but it is easy enough for beginners to use. 
  • They should be beginning to realise that the format of the file used for their drawing matters because of possible restrictions in opening and editing their work later e.g. in a different program (PLTS). 
  • Inkscape produces and edits .svg (scalable vector graphics) the ISO web standard and can export to the .png format portable network graphics which is the accepted standard for displaying diagrams in web pages. Many utilities and programs can convert to .jpg from png and svg. At this level candidates are not expected to know much detail about graphics formats but assessors should constantly reinforce the appropriate use of .svg, .png and .jpg as the three most important graphic standards in use. 
More detail - graphics formats
Vector graphics formats have taken a long time to standardise because they are internally complex and there have been several proprietary competing interests in maintaining control of particular markets. These persist in some specialist areas such as Engineering and CAD. Vectors graphic files store diagrams as mathematical formulae rather than as multicoloured dots as is the case with formats such as .jpg, .png and .gif. The advantage is that files can be very small and images can be scaled infinitely without the size of the data file growing or the image becoming "grainy" with jagged lines and curves when increased in size. 
 
 
Vectors are ideal for drawing diagrams, they are no good at all for photographs. So a simple rule is that if it is a diagram, logo or line-art, create and store the original as .svg and produce .png or .jpg images from the original if displaying in a web page. If the image is a photograph or scan, .jpg is likely to be the most appropriate format. So why not use svg graphics directly in the web page? Simply because not all browsers support the standard at the time of writing but they certainly will in the future. A lot of people still use older versions of Internet Explorer that need additional plugins to display .svg. Until competition from the likes of Firefox, Opera, Apple's Safari and Google Chrome emerged, Microsoft had been slow to support open standards preferring to try and maintain dominant market share by defining and patenting its own proprietary standards. This is a clear example of why open standards are important for end users. Internet Explorer is the odd one out in terms of support for this standard but its dominant market share has made it very slow to change. There is an argument that open standards can stifle innovation but equally, monopolies based on closed proprietary standards can lead to control that is disinterested in what is useful to end users.
 
Since graphics are the next most commonly used format after text, some understanding of the basics of graphics technologies is important if the most efficient and effective practice is to be supported. This is rather like a knowledge of spelling and punctuation rules helping overall literacy. While it might be considered unnecessary for beginners to make distinctions, it is better to get started with the best tools for the job so that choosing the right tools is a natural part of work rather than needing to be specifically taught later.

2.3 I can identify ways to improve the use of IT for the task

Candidates should be able to carry out a simple review of the tools they used in completing their task stating things that were easy or difficult and making simple comparisons. 
 
Evidence: From oral communication, files and examples of day to day work.
 
Additional information and guidance
They should say how they used ICT to develop their work and comment on the success of their work in general terms. Some of this might be oral and some written. At this level written communication is likely to be a limit and so evidence from oral communication is important too. Candidates should be provided with structured support to make simple evaluations at various stages of the work. Classifying simple and obvious strengths and weaknesses and relating these to identifying improvements is sufficient at this stage. Structured guidance such as a table, a list of strengths and weaknesses with blanks to fill in or a task to choose from a list and put strengths into a strengths column and weaknesses into a weaknesses column related to a specific application. This could be on paper or dragging words to table cells in a drawing program such as Inkscape or in a web page. When reviewing work, the candidate should be able to answer questions like "What type of software would you use to write a letter" with word processor rather than a particular brand name. The idea is to encourage learners to think generically because this is a better foundation for dealing with future change. - (PLTS)  They should be able to identify simple errors in text, numbers and similar data and correct them. Candidates should be beginning to show that they can consider informed choices when using ICT even though their level of experience will limit the effectiveness of choice. They might identify ease of use, cost, fitness for purpose or any other significant attribute identified as an improvement. At this level they will need guidance and clear simple information such as "this application is free and legal for you to download at home" or "this software is more likely to attract a virus" or "this software is easier to use for this particular task or is good enough for this particular task". Use of Inkscape at home for free might enable more practice that would improve future outcomes. Watching a You Tube video showing them how to use the software for different tasks, more thorough checking of finished work, discussing work with peers are all reasonable things that could be identified.2.3 I can identify ways to improve the use of IT for the task
Candidates should be able to carry out a simple review of the tools they used in completing their task stating things that were easy or difficult and making simple comparisons. 

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 dialog 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 should it be required by the Principal Assessor or their Account Manager/external moderator. Before authorizing certification, the Account Manager must be satisfied that the assessors judgements are sound. 

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