[brendanm]

23/09/2020 at 1:54 pm

Looking for advice from anyone who has taken L5/6 candidates through the SOLAR assessments. When I looked at the SQA openAssess (on SOLAR) I notice that most of the L5 and L6 questions (Data Security) are identical. Also found some of the questions tricky to match to the PC for each LO. I asked SQA for comment regarding the alignment of questions to PC and the comparative standards between the openAssess and final assessments. The response didn’t really clarify anything! Want to know I have given the pupils sufficient prep after using the SQA materials (Learner notes and worksheets). Any advice appreciated!

[Ken Milligan]

06/11/2020 at 10:45 am

I’m with you on this, not convinced that these are really up to doing what we want them to do. Like so much of this course, the potential is excellent but the gaps we need to fill to make it work are pretty massive.

[Tracey McWilliams]

06/11/2020 at 11:31 am

I’m ready to assess my class on L6 Data Security and worry that I have not prepared them well enough. It would be useful to see the type of content in the assessments just to make sure I have covered everything. I will be annoyed if they are asked a question on something I haven’t covered because I haven’t gone into enough detail using the specification document and the workbooks issued. Has anyone else tried the assessments with a class? How did they get on?

[Darren Brown]

06/11/2020 at 12:43 pm

I think the course is a great idea but unless it is clearly set out for assessment and there are realistic setup requirements it seems really difficult to do. It is really shooting the award in the foot, it should be learnable and accessible to every CS teacher in Scotland.

Why is there no exact content table showing what can be assessed at Level 4/5/6? My IT provider and council have been in a daze since I sent them the Virtual setup. Do the supplied tasks cover the practical assessments? The L5 assessment pack I read had a scenario then said teacher will setup task. Surely a full virtual pack and system should be supplied as one national task.

It’s frustrating as I’d love to deliver this NPA

[Ken Milligan]

06/11/2020 at 1:15 pm

Tracey, with the reservations noted previsouly, I used the SOLAR Data Security assessment with my mixed set. Of 17 pupils, 10 passed first time, 5 have achieved the required 60% with one more attempt and 2 remain without a pass. Based on the fact that this is a SOLAR resource, I’m working on the assumption that this is indeed SQA valid for outcome 1. Outcome 2 on the other hand…. 🙁

[Ken Milligan]

21/10/2021 at 9:01 am

Are SOLAR assesments still working for anyone? Nothing is now possible for us on any school machines, we believe due to an authority level block on surpass redirects. Need to confirm others are still using this system in order to break an impasse with authority network managers, please help!

[tracy_m]

21/10/2021 at 9:15 am

I have Solar working in my school. I don’t currently teach Cyber but have used it last year for other courses. My IT Tech and I spent some considerable time getting it set up and running but it was a bit of a fiddle. Even now that it is working it’s a faf and you cannot update when it prompts you to, or the system breaks again.

Our pupils run the installer each time and then copy the web address from it into the viewer. It works but it’s not a great solution.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by tracy_m.

[Ken Milligan]

21/10/2021 at 10:49 am

That the installer insists on installing to the local user profile is nuts, but I’m dealing with that insanity. Good to know you have it working, @tracy_m where about are you working?

[mcgivernj]

21/10/2021 at 11:41 am

Faffing about in Renfrewshire, but it is indeed working here.

[Viv MacDonald]

24/10/2021 at 6:18 pm

I gave up faffing with the formative assessment on Solar in Highland and have created an alternative which has gone through the WHC internal prior verification of material procedure (we are an assessment centre). I used a Google Form and have multiple choice questionnaires (2 papers) for Level 5, am currently working on level 6. Happy to share.

[brendanm]

24/10/2021 at 8:08 pm

@vivmacdonald many thanks for the offer to share, I’d really appreciate a copy!

[donna eardley]

25/10/2021 at 12:32 pm

We are having issues accessing Solar in Inverclyde Academy too! Not doing Cyber this year but currently need it for PC Passport.

[Ken Milligan]

25/10/2021 at 1:15 pm

The HTML versions of the actual unit assessments work, but need to be requested, even if you are already subscribed to the original assessments (which is a bit deranged, but there you are) Actual assessment will now work on standard browser, but formatives are still beyond my pupils via school machines.

[Viv MacDonald]

25/10/2021 at 2:53 pm

Hi – happy to send you the Ethical Hacking and Digital Forensics now – Data Security is just going through the college quality processes. might be easier as an email?

[brendanm]

26/10/2021 at 10:03 am

Hi @vivmacdonald you can reach me at brendan.mccart@westlothian.org.uk
Cheers!