| Standard |
Big Idea
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| colspan="2" System fundamentals
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| Identify the context for which a new system is planned. |
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| Describe the need for change management. |
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| Outline compatibility issues resulting from situations including legacy systems or business mergers. |
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| Compare the implementation of systems using a client’s hardware with hosting systems remotely. |
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| Evaluate alternative installation processes. |
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| Discuss problems that may arise as a part of data migration. |
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| Suggest various types of testing. |
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| Describe the importance of user documentation. |
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| Evaluate different methods of providing user documentation. |
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| Evaluate different methods of delivering user training. |
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| Identify a range of causes of data loss. |
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| Outline the consequences of data loss in a specified situation. |
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| Describe a range of methods that can be used to prevent data loss. |
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| Describe strategies for managing releases and updates. |
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| Define the terms: hardware, software, peripheral, network, human resources. |
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| Describe the roles that a computer can take in a networked world. |
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| Discuss the social and ethical issues associated with a networked world. |
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| Identify the relevant stakeholders when planning a new system. |
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| Describe methods of obtaining requirements from stakeholders. |
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| Describe appropriate techniques for gathering the information needed to arrive at a workable solution. |
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| Construct suitable representations to illustrate system requirements. |
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| Describe the purpose of prototypes to demonstrate the proposed system to the client. |
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| Discuss the importance of iteration during the design process. |
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| Explain the possible consequences of failing to involve the end-user in the design process. |
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| Discuss the social and ethical issues associated with the introduction of new IT systems. |
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| Define the term usability. |
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| Identify a range of usability problems with commonly used digital devices. |
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| Identify methods that can be used to improve the accessibility of systems. |
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| Identify a range of usability problems that can occur in a system. |
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| Discuss the moral, ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of the interaction between humans and machines. |
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| Computer Organization
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| Outline the architecture of the central processing unit (CPU) and the functions of the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and the control unit (CU) and the registers within the CPU. |
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| Describe primary memory. |
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| Explain the use of cache memory. |
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| Explain the machine instruction cycle. |
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| Identify the need for persistent storage. |
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| Describe the main functions of an operating system. |
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| Outline the use of a range of application software. |
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| Identify common features of applications. |
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| Define the terms: bit, byte, binary, denary/decimal, hexadecimal. |
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| Outline the way in which data is represented in the computer. |
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| Define the Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR. |
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| Construct truth tables using the above operators. |
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| Construct a logic diagram using AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR gates. |
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| Networks
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| Identify different types of networks. |
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| Outline the importance of standards in the construction of networks. |
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| Describe how communication over networks is broken down into different layers. |
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| Identify the technologies required to provide a VPN. |
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| Evaluate the use of a VPN. |
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| Define the terms: protocol, data packet. |
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| Explain why protocols are necessary. |
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| Explain why the speed of data transmission across a network can vary. |
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| Explain why compression of data is often necessary when transmitting across a network. |
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| Outline the characteristics of different transmission media. |
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| Explain how data is transmitted by packet switching. |
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| Outline the advantages and disadvantages of wireless networks. |
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| Describe the hardware and software components of a wireless network. |
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| Describe the characteristics of wireless networks. |
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| Describe the different methods of network security. |
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| Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each method of network security. |
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| Computational thinking, problem-solving and programming
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| Identify the procedure appropriate to solving a problem. |
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| Evaluate whether the order in which activities are undertaken will result in the required outcome. |
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| Explain the role of sub-procedures in solving a problem. |
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| Identify when decision-making is required in a specified situation. |
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| Identify the decisions required for the solution to a specified problem. |
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| Identify the condition associated with a given decision in a specified problem. |
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| Explain the relationship between the decisions and conditions of a system. |
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| Deduce logical rules for real-world situations. |
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| Identify the inputs and outputs required in a solution. |
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| Identify pre-planning in a suggested problem and solution. |
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| Explain the need for pre-conditions when executing an algorithm. |
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| Outline the pre- and post-conditions to a specified problem. |
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| Identify exceptions that need to be considered in a specified problem solution. |
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| Identify the parts of a solution that could be implemented concurrently. |
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| Describe how concurrent processing can be used to solve a problem. |
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| Evaluate the decision to use concurrent processing in solving a problem. |
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| Identify examples of abstraction. |
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| Explain why abstraction is required in the derivation of computational solutions for a specified situation. |
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| Construct an abstraction from a specified situation. |
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| Distinguish between a real-world entity and its abstraction. |
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| Describe the characteristics of standard algorithms on linear arrays. |
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| Outline the standard operations of collections. |
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| Discuss an algorithm to solve a specific problem. |
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| Analyse an algorithm presented as a flow chart. |
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| Analyse an algorithm presented as pseudocode. |
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| Construct pseudocode to represent an algorithm. |
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| Suggest suitable algorithms to solve a specific problem. |
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| Deduce the efficiency of an algorithm in the context of its use. |
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| Determine the number of times a step in an algorithm will be performed for given input data. |
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| State the fundamental operations of a computer. |
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| Distinguish between fundamental and compound operations of a computer. |
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| Explain the essential features of a computer language. |
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| Explain the need for higher level languages. |
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| Outline the need for a translation process from a higher level language to machine executable code. |
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| Define the terms: variable, constant, operator, object. |
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| Define common operators. |
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| Analyse the use of variables, constants and operators in algorithms. |
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| Construct algorithms using loops, branching. |
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| Describe the characteristics and applications of a collection. |
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| Construct algorithms using the access methods of a collection. |
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| Discuss the need for sub-programmes and collections within programmed solutions. |
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| Construct algorithms using pre- defined sub-programmes, one- dimensional arrays and/or collections. |
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| Web science
|
| Distinguish between the internet and World Wide Web (web). |
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| Describe how the web is constantly evolving. |
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| Identify the characteristics of the following: HTTP, HTTPS, HTML, URL, XML, XSLT, CSS. |
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| Identify the characteristics of a uniform resource identifier (URI) URL. |
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| Describe the purpose of a URL. |
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| Describe how a domain name server functions. |
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| Identify the characteristics of the internet protocol (IP) transmission control protocol (TCP) file transfer protocol (FTP). |
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| Outline the different components of a web page. |
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| Explain the importance of protocols and standards on the web. |
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| Describe the different types of web page. |
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| Explain the differences between a static web page and a dynamic web page. |
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| Explain the functions of a browser. |
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| Evaluate the use of client-side scripting and server-side scripting in web pages. |
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| Describe how web pages can be connected to underlying data sources. |
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| Describe the function of the common gateway interface (CGI). |
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| Evaluate the structure of different types of web pages. |
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| Define the term search engine. |
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| Distinguish between the surface web and the deep web. |
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| Outline the principles of searching algorithms used by search engines. |
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| Describe how a web crawler functions. |
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| Discuss the relationship between data in a meta-tag and how it is accessed by a web crawler. |
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| Discuss the use of parallel web crawling. |
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| Outline the purpose of web-indexing in search engines. |
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| Suggest how web developers can create pages that appear more prominently in search engine results. |
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| Describe the different metrics used by search engines. |
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| Explain why the effectiveness of a search engine is determined by the assumptions made when developing it. |
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| Discuss the use of white hat and black hat search engine optimization. |
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| Outline future challenges to search engines as the web continues to grow. |
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| Define the terms: mobile computing, ubiquitous computing, peer-2-peer network, grid computing. |
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| Compare the major features of: mobile computing ubiquitous computing peer-2-peer network grid computing. |
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| Distinguish between interoperability and open standards. |
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| Describe the range of hardware used by distributed networks. |
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| Explain why distributed systems may act as a catalyst to a greater decentralization of the web. |
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| Distinguish between lossless and lossy compression. |
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| Evaluate the use of decompression software in the transfer of information. |
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| Discuss how the web has supported new methods of online interaction such as social networking. |
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| Describe how cloud computing is different from a client-server architecture. |
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| Discuss the effects of the use of cloud computing for specified organizations. |
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| Discuss the management of issues such as copyright and intellectual property on the web. |
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| Describe the interrelationship between privacy, identification and authentication. |
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| Describe the role of network architecture, protocols and standards in the future development of the web. |
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| Explain why the web may be creating unregulated monopolies. |
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| Discuss the effects of a decentralized and democratic web. |
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