Important notice for teachers of Cambridge Nationals ICT re the OCR assignments

We have made updates to the OCR assignments for Cambridge Nationals in ICT. This is to:

• Add additional guidance for both the teacher and the learner to the assignments
• Add clarification on when you are able to make changes to the assignments
• Include more information about conducting the assessment.

Although the instructions and guidance have been updated, there are no changes to the actual tasks, evidence requirements, marking criteria or the standard of work required.

What has changed for units R002–R007?

We have renamed the model assignments to ‘OCR Set Assignment’ to reinforce the message they must be used for the summative assessment of Cambridge Nationals ICT. We don’t provide an assignment for unit R011 (the learner-initiated project).

Information for learners

• We have greatly expanded the ‘General Information for Learners’ section to include information on group work, teacher help and feedback, referencing and plagiarism as well as the labelling of files.
• A prompt has been added to the scenario to guide the learner to the marking criteria grid. A copy of the grid is now included with the assignment.
• We have added additional prompts and guidance to the tasks where appropriate. There are no changes to what the learner is expected to do, just additional guidance on the completion of the task and what is expected.
• We have added a learner checklist to help ensure all of the marking criteria have been covered in the work, as well as any evidence requirements and the form the evidence may take.

Information for teachers

• Scope of permitted changes: for some assignments, the scope of permitted changes section has been amended considerably. For creative units where a change in context can make tasks more relevant to the learner, changes are still permitted and the scope of permitted changes section will list what can be amended. For other units, changing the context will have no positive effect on the learner’s ability to complete the tasks so now cannot be changed. 
• We have added additional guidance on the tasks. 
• We have added additional guidance on the learning outcomes (to help you with marking). 

What has changed for units R008, R009, R010 (Diploma qualification only)? 

We have renamed the model assignments to ‘OCR Set Assignment’ to reinforce the message that they must be used for the summative assessment of Cambridge Nationals ICT. No other changes have been made to the assignments for these units. 

Frequently asked questions 

Use the updated version for learners just starting an assignment. These assignments are for summative assessment (once the teaching phase is complete) so your teaching is not affected by the updates. 

My learners are part way through an assignment. Do they have to switch to the updated version? 
No, a switch is not necessary. The tasks (what the learner is expected to do) have not changed, only the guidance and information. However, you can provide the learner with the additional guidance from the updated assignment which will support them further in the generation of evidence for the summative assessment. 

My learners have completed the older assignment but I have not submitted it for moderation yet. Is any extra work needed before submission? 
No extra work is needed but we strongly recommend checking the ‘Information for Teachers’ section of the new assignments, specifically sections 7 and 8 before marking and submitting the evidence for a particular examination series. 

Yes, but for your next cohort you should change to the updated OCR Set Assignment. 

Why has this additional guidance not been made available before? 
The additional information and guidance was previously available from various sources, including the specification and the OCR reports to centres. We have now brought the guidance together in one place for clarity and ease. 

How will I distinguish the old and new assignments?
The older versions will have the following message on the front cover:

Qualifications

• ICT Level 1/2 Award/Certificate - J800, J810, J820