Magherafelt High School is pioneering a paperless approach to GCSE ICT. The LearningNI course contains all learning and teaching resources and activities (for example, video tutorials, topic presentations, activities, homeworks, teacher notes etc) for the two year GCSE specification.  The innovative model, created by ICT HOD Errol Martin, in conjunction with CCEA and C2k, is now available to teachers across Northern Ireland to download and use with students.

 “The new CCEA GCSE ICT specification requires coursework to be moderated electronically so we decided to apply this paperless concept to all aspects of the course from teaching and learning right through to assessment and monitoring”, explains Errol. “We use exclusively online activities to reinforce the learning that takes place through the topic presentations. The learning is then assessed through end of topic quizzes in LearningNI’s Quizbuilder. The workspace area is used to store controlled assessments which have to be sent electronically to CCEA for eModeration.”

LearningNI has supported the transition to controlled assessment, providing students with a secure, seamless portal that facilitates the delivery of not only eLearning but also many aspects of eAssessment as well. Controlled assessment results have been excellent for both short and full course students. More importantly, the students enjoy using the computer to learn in whatever form this takes. We have several collaborative events arranged with other schools in the Magherafelt Learning Partnership which marry well the theory part of the course. We also hope to link with other schools around the province as we travel through the theory section.”

Brian McCluskey, Principal of Magherafelt High School, commented:  “The course is a fantastic resource for our GCSE ICT students and has helped them immensely with the more difficult areas of the course. It features a wealth of activities including video tutorials, mind-mapping, webquests, wikis and blogs to name but a few. This course will be invaluable for the ICT department and students studying GCSE ICT over the next few years.”

To obtain a copy of the above course or other courses /course outlines available in LearningNI, follow the steps below.

• Go to LearningNI by clicking on the desktop icon (in school) or via https://learningni.net (outside school) and log in by entering your C2k username and password;
• Click on Go to  Library;
• Click on the second tab – Staff;
• Under Topic, select Resources for Courses (at the bottom of the drop-down menu);
• Browse or Search for CCEA GCSE ICT

To obtain your own editable copy of the course, see Helpsheet ‘How to Download and Edit Courses’ also located in the Resources for Courses area