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Desirable Features for UICT

CCEA has developed and produced the Desirable Features as non-statutory guidance to support you in your planning and assessment of Using ICT. They have been produced in response to requests from schools for more detailed guidance on how the requirements of the Levels of Progression can be satisfied.

Each set of Desirable Features:

represents the characteristics pupils might display if involved in that particular ICT activity;
is non-software dependent so that you can make the most appropriate and efficient use of the resources available in your own school;
has been written with characteristics appropriate to Levels 1 to 7 from the Levels of Progression document;
contains a number of bullet points typical of each level of competence in that particular Using ICT activity. Depending on the task itself and on the context, it is anticipated that pupils demonstrate a majority of the bullet points that characterise work at a particular level. However, not all of the bullet points may be appropriate in every task; and
has colour-coded bullet points to help you refer back to the Levels of Progression document in order to confirm which aspects of the 5 ’E’s are being covered by an activity.

The Desirable Features are non-statutory and therefore, schools are not required to provide opportunities for pupils to cover the complete range of activities. However, the more variety schools can offer across the curriculum, the broader the ICT experience the pupils will have.

The Desirable Features reflect the range of ICT activities currently available for use in post-primary schools. Some may be familiar already while others may be more aspirational at present. If you plan to provide an activity which you feel is not covered by any of these Desirable Features, please contact CCEA.

You need to ensure that you plan for coverage of the UICT Requirements across the 5’E’s. In particular, you should provide opportunities, wherever possible, for your pupils to work collaboratively online (Exchange) and to showcase their work online (Exhibit).

The Desirable Features guidance can be found in Appendix 3 and includes updates for 2010/2011. N.B. If any of your approved tasks from 09/10 use updated sets of Desirable Features, please contact Dorothy Orr on dorr@ccea.org.uk for guidance on how to deal with this.

Using the Desirable Features

Many teachers have already found the Desirable Features useful, both in planning relevant Using ICT activities and in assessing pupil work.

Teachers have reported that they have:

identified appropriate assessment opportunities within their own subject context;
sought advice and support from specialist ICT teachers if and when necessary;
decided on the set(s) of Desirable Features which will be used;
decided on the most appropriate software for the pupils to use;
decided on the pitch of the task and the range of levels that are appropriate to the pupils in the class/year group;
identified whether or not the focus of the task is on one or more of the 5 ‘E’s and subsequently whether demonstration of all of the bullet point characteristics is necessary;
identified the prior ICT learning that is required and where it has taken place(which department);
communicated the expectations/success criteria across the departments involved in the acquisition, development and assessment of the particular application to ensure that pupils are only assessed on what they have learned. In this way, ICT skills can be reinforced consistently across the curriculum;
ensured that teachers involved in the assessment of the task are both competent and confident with the specified software at the levels being accessed by the pupils;
shared the success criteria with the pupils to develop their understanding of what is expected; and
used Desirable Features to assess the pupil work by mapping the bullet point characteristics and aligning it with the ‘best fit’ judgement about the level. Teacher observation of the process involved may also influence this judgement, especially if the pupils are working in groups, or if the task has a particular focus on Evaluate.

The use of the appropriate set/sets of Desirable Features is central to the design of effective assessment tasks for Using ICT. The bullet point statements within the Desirable Features are a starting point to help subject teachers consider exactly what pupils will be doing in the task. They will form the basis of the success criteria for your task and you can customise them to your own context.