[Lee Murray]

14/01/2020 at 4:20 pm

Hi all,

I’m looking into the delivery of NPAs as an alternative to N5 and Higher and Digital Media seems right up my street. I’m keen on photography, animation and video editing and I’m sure pupils would be queueing out the door come course choice time.

I’ve been reading all of the available material that I can find (which isn’t much) and was just wondering how you know what you are meant to teach. I understand that the assessments are on Solar (never heard of it before), so I suppose getting access to that would be a good start, but is there any other source of information out there?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Lee Murray]

16/01/2020 at 9:30 am

Has anyone ever taught Digital Media? Will I be the trail-blazer?

[Kate Farrell]

16/01/2020 at 12:27 pm

Ah, sorry Lee, you won’t be the first! Here’s my website from around 2011-14 with teaching and learning activities for the NPA DMC. I haven’t taught the new version though.

http://www.digitalmediacomputing.org.uk

I’m very happy to give accounts to anyone who wants to add to this site, and I am open to take-over attempts 😉

[Kate Farrell]

16/01/2020 at 12:27 pm

The Media Computation resources for schools that Mark Guzdial has produced are pretty cool too – editing images using Python to do things like remove all the green in an image with a line or two of code! It’s all embedded in a web browser, and you can keep track of each learner’s progress

coweb.cc.gatech.edu/mediaComp-teach

[Lee Murray]

17/01/2020 at 8:56 am

Hi Kate, I did find your website while I was rooting around, lots of good stuff there. I noticed it was the older course but wasn’t sure how much had changed. I recently discovered the Unit Search feature so I do have a lot more information than when I posted this original thread.

How did you initially figure out how to assess and what to teach? I’ve noticed that all assessments for DMC are now in Solar, but I’m having trouble finding out my school’s username/password.

Cheers.

[Fiona Jorgenson]

24/01/2020 at 3:40 pm

Hi Lee,

I’m in a similar situation in that I’m considering offering Digital Media next year instead of Games Development. How did you get on with your search for assessments? Also what software are you planning to use?
Thanks!

[Kirsteen Nakau]

21/04/2020 at 10:47 am

I am also teaching Digital Media for first time this year, I have just downloaded the SQA assessments and converted the level 4 multiple choice into google form assessments.
Just looking for any powerpoint or ideas for delivering the theory. SQA academy materials not differentiated by level and don’t want to reinvent the wheel either.

[Lee Murray]

11/12/2020 at 10:33 am

Sorry for not noticing your replies earlier! (Something must’ve distracted me, haha)

I have since found that the assessments aren’t on Solar – I must’ve been confused with my search for other courses – but are on the secure site. I’ve had a scan through the multiple choice tests and noticed a number of wrong answers in the marking grids. Most worryingly is the level 6 Moving Images test where 11 out of the 20 questions are marked incorrectly. There are other worrying things like terms being mixed up (containers and codecs) and I’m sure there’s more that I’ve missed. Who would be the correct person to contact to get these errors fixed? I checked the SQA website and I can’t find the correct form or email address.

Regarding delivering the course, I have been asked to teach two classes next year: S3 and S4 (level 4/5).

I’ll be using Adobe CC (photoshop, audition, animate, premiere pro and maybe after effects) as well as Audacity.

I like the idea of using a Google Form for the tests. Marking will be much faster and more accurate and pupils can get instant feed back. I’m stealing that idea 😀

[Alastair Scott]

27/08/2021 at 10:23 am

Has anyone taught this recently at level 5? I’ve just finished my probation year and am trying to create the NPA module for Level 5. I’ve got some material from the SQA, but not a lot.

I’m really not sure how much actual teaching I should be doing – the pupils I have have (mostly) done Nat 5 Comp Sci or are doing Higher Photography.

I’ve got them creating blogs of the work that they’re doing, but as I’m not certain as to how much I should be doing with them, I’m concerned that they lose interest.

If anyone had an example of a completed portfolio, that would be extremely useful.