• Explain the use of global communications between single or multiple sources and recipients, including public networks e.g. Internet.
   

• Describe the hardware, software and services required to access the Internet.
   

• Describe the facilities offered and the relative merits of: telephone, fax, e-mail, teleconferencing, viewdata, teletext, remote databases and other relevant communication systems.
   

• Explain the use of the Internet for a range of activities including communication, information searching and information publication.
   

• Candidates should be aware of the recent developments in the area of communication systems.

Note from FatMax: For this topic more than any other students need to keep abreast of current/future developments in ICT. Use the excellent resources from Teach-ICT and the news page.

See the books page for more details about the titles listed below

Mott & Leeming pages 43 - 60

Heathcote Ch. 6 pages 24 - 29

Doyle Ch.18 Pages 296 - 315

De Watteville & Naughton  Pages 185 - 241

McWeeney - AS01 pages 15 - 24

AQA past papers
Past papers. Not as useful as the Psionica database AQA shamefully closed but...

Practice Questions
These notes from North Chadderton contain practice questions and skeleton answers

Practice questions
More practice questions for 10.6 (.rtf file - opens in Word/Writer)

Practice question answers
Answers to the questions above. Password protected .doc file. Sorry but the password is only available to teachers.

Older Exam Papers
Past papers (pre 2000) not included on the official AQA site from Colchester VI Form College. These still contain some relevant questions for this topic.

Links to general online resources for 10.6. I'd recommend right clicking links/icons and "Save Target As..." for anything other than web pages (see key below)

	Flash Notes
Steve Longley's excellent revision flash notes for 10.6 - Role of Communication Systems. Offline version.  Right click link and Save Target As...
	Internet and Communication
Comprehensive summary notes from the KJS. Some parts of this document, as you'd expect, have dated fairly quickly but it's still a very useful resource for introducing this topic.
	Internet and Communication
The above KJS notes presented in PowerPoint format. It's looks a little bit prettier but is essentially the same information.
	Communication and Internet
Collection of selected BBC news stories from the Teach-ICT news archive. Excellent resource which is v. v. useful for planning topical lessons and/or answers.
	Communication Systems
Short PowerPoint presentation based on chapter 6 of the Heathcote textbook. It covers the basics and that's about it.
	The Register
"Biting the hand that feeds IT". News site updated daily. Cutting edge developments in ICT from a slighltly left-field angle. This is a FatMax favourite. Bookmark it!
	Role of Communication Systems
Summary notes and questions for this topic from North Chadderton High. This is a nice set of revison notes with a bunch of practice questions and answers thrown in for good measure.
	How to get broadband
BBC link describes the different ways of connecting to the Internet. Covers the "...services required to access the Internet" bit of this topic in a nutshell.
	Revision Checklist
Revision checklist for Communication Systems from Alcester Grammar School. This document is a *bit* old so make sure you always x-reference it against the current spec.
	BBC Digital Nation
Have a look at the "Modem Monks" and "Online Identities" case studies for a couple of pretty good examples of communication systems in real-life (TM) .
	Role of Communication Systems
Revision summary for this topic from the rather good www.ict-teacher.com. Good work Maths person!
	Role of Communication Systems
An excellent PowerPoint presentation from www.ict-teacher.com. It's a *bit* bright pink but this is as good as excuse as any for wearing sunglasses indoors. Unless you're blind ;)
	Communication Systems
Page of links from Alcester Grammar School covering this topic. It's a bit dated now but worth having a look anyway (just in case it gets updated!)
	Revision
Very cool revision booklet for this topic from James Irvine. FatMax recommended

Key to resources:

PowerPoint presentation Word file Web page Macromedia Flash