September 4 2010

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A guide to the Understanding Standards website

A Guide to the Website

  1. About the Understanding Standards Website
  2. Latest additions to the Website
  3. Statistics
  4. Technical Information
  5. Feedback

1. About the Understanding Standards Website

Welcome to the Understanding Standards Website (USW), a website where we attempt to explain and illustrate the assessment principles underpinning the SQA courses featured. This site is specifically designed for use by subject teachers (rather than pupils or parents) and therefore assumes subject knowledge and some familiarity with the various assessment arrangements.

The USW has two objectives. First, to make comprehensive and definitive assessment guidelines easily accessible on a dedicated website. And, second, to provide a structure enabling subject teachers/lecturers to develop their marking skills online. This we have done by providing examples of candidate work and inviting the user to submit their marks and comments for these examples. When this has been done, the user can then see how their marking compares with that of senior examiners in the subject.

We hope that you find the website a helpful way of developing your skills in marking and assessment.

New Website Coming

We are aware that the current Understanding Standards Website has been around for some time and its advanced age (in web terms) has been causing some issues with various browsers*. For this reason - and to align ourselves with the new SQA website -  we have been working with the site designers to produce a new style and updated software that should remove any browser problems and hopefully give visitors to the site a better experience.

2. Latest additions to the website

Details of new content/ changes will be posted here:

  • 23 August 2010 - Int 2 Hosp: Practical Cookery UPDATED (new example for Practical Assignment)
  • 22 June 2010 - Mathematics Higher UPDATED (new Question Paper examples)
  • 17 May 2010 - Higher Gaelic published as a NEW COURSE
  • 19 April 2010 - Higher Economics published as a NEW COURSE
  • 23 February 2010 - Higher & Int Administration UPDATED (command words & some examples)
  • 22 October 2009 - Intermediate 2 Modern Studies published as a NEW COURSE
  • 20 August 2009 - Higher ESOL published as a NEW COURSE
  • 17 August 2009 - Higher German UPDATED with new examples
  • 14 May 2009 - Adv Higher English published as a NEW COURSE
  • 24 April 2009 - Adv Higher Modern Studies published as a NEW COURSE
  • 23 April 2009 - Intermediate 1 and 2 English UPDATED with new examples (Critical Essay)
  • 9 April 2009 - Higher Art & Design UPDATED (new Question Paper examples)
  • 3 March 2009 - Higher Modern Studies further UPDATED (Paper 2 examples)
  • 3 March 2009 - Intermediate 2 Travel & Tourism UPDATED (Internal Assessment)
  • 4 February 2009 - Higher Media Studies UPDATED
  • 14 January 2009 - Advanced Higher Geography UPDATED (Folio & Internal Assessment)
  • 6 January 2009 - Intermediate 1 Administration published as a NEW COURSE
  • 18 November 2008 - Higher Modern Studies UPDATED and RE-PUBLISHED
  • 30 October 2008 - Personal Development (various levels) published as NEW COURSES
  • 7 October 2008 - Higher English UPDATED with Critical Essay material from the 2008 examination
  • 17 September 2008 - Higher Administration UPDATED with examples from 2007 paper
  • 11 July 2008 - Higher Accounting UPDATED with examples from the 2007 examination
  • 8 July 2008 - Intermediate 2 Administration published as a NEW COURSE

3. Statistics

The website received 28 842 hits in January 2010.

The top ten courses for the month:

1  English Higher, 2860
2  History Higher, 1853
3  English Intermediate 2, 1703
4  Business Management Higher, 1448
5  Intro Tutoring Adult Literacies PDA, 1430
6  Mathematics Higher, 1246
7  Drama Higher, 950
8  Modern Studies Higher, 934
9  Modern Languages Higher, 921
10 Biology Intermediate 2, 811

4. Technical Information

The Understanding Standards website uses pdf files. To be able to read the pdf files you will need a pdf reader. See below for how to download this free.

PC Users
If you have a PC running Windows and you do not already have a pdf reader, the Adobe Reader is available as a free download. To install Adobe Reader use the link below and follow the instructions there.
Link to the Adobe Reader download page

Mac Users
If your Mac is running OS 9 and you do not already have a pdf reader, the Adobe Acrobat Reader is recommended for viewing the Examples, this is available as a free download. To install Adobe Reader use the link below and follow the instructions there.
Link to the Adobe Reader download page

If your Mac is running OS X then it already come with a reader called Preview installed, however this may not display the pdfs the way the website was designed to show them. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is recommended for viewing the Examples, this is available as a free download. To install Adobe Reader use the link below and follow the instructions there.
Link to the Adobe Reader download page

Internet Explorer is not supported for Mac OSX and may cause problems when viewing the Examples. Alternative browsers which are supported are Safari and Firefox.
Link to the Safari download page
Link to the Firefox download page

*Anyone using the most up to date version of Firefox or Safari should be aware that the site may not render properly and data may not be visible. Until the release of the new site there is the option to use either an older version of the browser or to switch to Internet Explorer.

5. Feedback

You can contact the project team by email at usw at sqa dot org dot uk or call 0131 271 6744/6715 during office hours. Any suggestions or comments about the Understanding Standards website and this introduction are gratefully received.
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