AQA AS/A2 ICT Coursework

Stuff for ICT3/ICT6 - Links and resources for coursework. If you've come to this page looking for seperate ICT3 OR ICT6 stuff sorry!! I'm too lazy to create a page for each so you'll just have to pick out the bits you need. This is just stuff I find useful for teaching the coursework modules which you might also find useful. None of the links/resources are endorsed by AQA in anyway (see disclaimer below) and anything you find on this and related linked coursework pages are things FatMax, an underpaid/overworked teaching dog, likes!  If in doubt always refer back to the Official AQA website and the current specification.
 

These guides, from a variety of sites and sources are intended to help you provide the documentary evidence you need to supply to the moderator. Exercise some caution as none are 100% accurate - they've been stuck online by well-meaning individuals who have your interests at heart! Make sure you x-reference these guides to the specification and don't do Gantt charts!!

	Excel Documentation
A brief online guide about what to include in the documentation for an Excel ICT3 project from Psionica.
	ICT3 Project Guide
This useful guide from Kesgrave High School can be used for ICT3 projects using either spreadsheets or databases.
	ICT3 Excel Project Guide
A very clear and concise guide from Clive Morley. Think Jungle Book and Kim for the password but Email me if you're stuck.
	ICT3 Project in Excel
This *looks* a bit boring but notes some very important factors to consider when documenting an ICT3 project.
	Coursework Guidelines
General ICT3 coursework guidelines from The KJS contain some useful hints and tips for tackling ICT3.
	Website ICT3 Projects
Online guide to documenting website projects from Steve Mayer at Bournemouth and Poole VI Form College.
	Special Mention!
Student Chris Hyder used his ICT3 project to help other students understand what they needed to document for each part of the project. Chris' interpretation of the specification is strictly his own but the idea wins him big FatMax respect.

	FatMax ICT6 Projects in Access
Project overkill!! Needs some revision to bring it up-to-date with the current spec but could be a good starting point.
	ICT6 Project Guide
Another useful guide from Kesgrave High School. Note the very important advice about the cyclic nature of an ICT6 project.
	Relational Database Models
This website contains loads of ideas for ICT6 projects. FatMax opinion: Use with extreme caution!
	Module 6 Checklist
Tick the stuff off as you do it! Checklist designed to help you cover all the marking points.

The official AQA 5521/6521 coursework page containing a number of useful documents can be found here Highlights for ICT3 and ICT6 include:

Standardisation Meeting Notes 2004
AQA's advice to teachers and moderators of coursework 2004. pdf file.

Examiners' Reports
It's very useful when preparing for and documenting your project to know exactly what the examiner was/is looking for. If you read nothing else read these!

FAQs
Frequently asked questions about ICT3 and ICT6 answered by AQA.

Standardisation Meeting Notes 2003
AQA's advice to teachers and moderators of coursework 2003. pdf file.

Tutorials are a good introduction to the coursework modules. FatMax students do database projects for ICT3 and ICT6 but most schools use spreadsheets and (an increasing number) websites for ICT3. If there's enough demand I might add more website stuff later but here are some Excel/Access tutorials to get you started.

	Spreadsheet Projects in Excel
Develop the skills/techniques needed for a successful ICT3 project in Excel. The authors recommend 24 x one hour lessons (with teaching and explanation) to complete this book. Note: Many of the techniques in this book can be adapted to OpenOffice.org Calc.
	Professional Excel Tutorials
These are *full* commercial training materials - they just have the word "sample" splashed across every page. A school distributing these could be in legal hot water but I can't see anything in the terms that prevents students downloading them. Big downloads!
	Tutorials CD - Excel
Flash and .wmv tutorials supplied on CD from www.ictgcse.com. Although aimed at GCSE these are a great introduction to ICT3 Excel if you haven't used it in any depth before. £50 for a site licence or £10 for an individual student copy. Very good value for money IMHO!
	A level tutorials
Set of online Flash tutorials for Excel projects from Steve Longley at Psionica cover some of the tools and techniques you'll be expected to use in an ICT3 project. Topics covered include: VLOOKUP, pivot tables and macros.
More on the tutorials page... coming soon
Access Tutorials - Preparation for ICT6   Database Projects in Access Use this book to develop the skills and techniques needed for a successful ICT6 project using Access. Book contains some very good project ideas and neat tips and tricks. Can also be used for projects in Access for ICT3.   Professional Access Tutorials More professional training stuff. The same conditions as the Excel tutorials probably apply i.e. a school/teacher can't legally download and distribute this stuff but they can point it out to students.   Candy Floss Little tips and tricks for snazzing up an ICT6 project. Like the name suggests it is *candy floss* i.e. no substitute for good database design. However, it contains techniques that can be adapted to many ICT6 projects. There's a couple of Excel things in there for ICT3.   Advanced ICT in a Nutshell Big tips and tricks for snazzing up a project! This is FatMax's favourite site by about a mile. Andrew Virnuls has succeeded in producing Access tutorials that need a bit of thinking about but IMHO are very well suited to ICT6.   RDBMS Design & Implementation Photocopiable book on CD guides you through the techniques needed for a successful project. £60 for a book seems a bit steep until you realise that that's all you have to pay for a class set. FatMax recommended.   More on the tutorials page... coming soon Key to resources:
PowerPoint presentation Word file Web page Macromedia Flash Pdf file Book or CD