Coursework Guideline
Contents
1. Page 6 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE give extra credit What other steps did you make in the actual implementation programming of your coursework How did you decide about which software to use Did you compare some alternatives maybe Mention here steps you did like testing evaluating improving your program What difficulties and problems did you encounter What steps did you take to overcome them In general try to make here a nice list of planning steps you could have did It should look professional try to follow the program life cycle remember you should know about system design analysis feasibility etc Give it all a nice layout you could use a flowchart program to show your planning stages Powerpoint does a good job there A good overview is really helpful distinguish between planning and realisation 0 1 2 3 points Description of Hardware and Software used Describe the different stages in your work Explain for each stage WHAT SOFTWARE you used WHEN HOW and WHY e g a word processor to describe your problem to make some enquiry questions a spreadsheet to produce CHARTS a GRAPHICAL application to draw flowcharts a SCREEN GRABBER to capture images Photoshop to change images the Internet to get information E mail What HARDWARE did you use when how and why what hardware would be necessary for your computer solution2. Pascal or others Creating a sophisticated multimedia Presentation Check out before you make your decision if the software is available in the Lab Maybe the teacher needs to install some features that are not standard in the lab Also think about the software you can use at home If the systems at school and at home are not the same e g Apple Mac s and Windows consider software that runs well on both platforms Microsoft office products Excel Powerpoint Word Claris products Clarisworks Filemaker Pro database and Claris Homepage Metacard http www metacard com is the much improved alike of Hypercard object orientated programming and is also Page 3 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE supporting multiple platforms Check with your teacher how you can exchange files between Home and School at the ISH we support 1 4 MB and 120 MB Floppies 100 MB Zip drives E mail attachments and CD Rom If you write your own CD RW disk make sure you finish close the session otherwise you can only see the contents of the disk on your own computer Install at home a screen capture utility as well so you can make screen copies of work done at home as well You can do major parts of the work at home but make sure that you bring the work to school on a regular base Some students prefer to do the documentation at home some prefer to work more at school Ask friends and other stud
3. what hardware could be used in addition Describe the used system and peripherals all input and output devices Think about the hardware that you could use with your coursework maybe at a later stage when money is not a problem Think about scanners Internet connections digital cameras touch screens local and wide area networks modem ISDN Just include your last years birthday wish list you gave your parents Think about backup systems like CD ROM writers removable disks tape streamers optical storage And last but not least mention things that could be used later maybe for better data input like OCR OMR bar code reading scanning Can voice Page 7 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE recognition be of use for your system Automatic translation maybe check Altavista on the Internet to see practical examples of that technology etc etc Just a simple list I used a keyboard a computer and a mouse will not be awarded any points Some detailed info about our lab can be found on the intranet 0 1 2 3 points OUTPUT of Reports Lists Charts sample Runs etc Add in your documentation your SAMPLE RUNS hardcopies that show the actual working of your program Points will be given for the availability of sample runs of your program Here you have to prove that your solution works and you need to show HOW it works The sample runs should also be part o
4. look at e g the chapters 9 Databases 13 How to describe a computer system program 29 Spreadsheet Stephen Doyle Computer Systems for You Stanley Thornes ISBN 0 7487 2809 0 Always meet the announced deadlines Remember the exam seems to be still far away but remember the number of practical lessons see above One more time examiners in Cambridge won t look at your database or website on line We cannot send floppies or ask them to look at a website It s all paperwork we send them So be prepared and work continuously on your documentation Save it often don t take any risk Last but not least 20 students in a lab is for a teacher any teacher not an easy workable situation You will have to take a high responsibility for your own work Don t expect you can finish it all in the last week it won t work Don t waste time surfing on the Internet use it for dedicated searches only Don t count pages you must go for quality not for quantity Remember all you never printed was never sent in the first place Good luck happy working Page 14
5. used achieved Remember 5 points is a lot you need to prepare and show something relevant here as well For example in a database like FileMaker you should show that you can use the different lay outs for reports Show at least ONE COLUMNAR report with several fields in a row and the data in columns Don t forget to SORT your data before you PRINT Show that you can use different FIND s Page 8 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE query for your data and print out the query itself and the records found Spreadsheets should make use of a nice design Show that you know how to print WITHOUT grid lines and make use of BORDERS TEXT BOXES etc Your charts should look well both in colour as Gray scale Also here use HEADERS and FOOTERS Use page layout in Spreadsheets data should fit on whole pages Protect cells show all formulas etc etc 0 1 2 3 4 5 points PRESENTATION Quality of presentation Did you create a good lay out is it easy to read well presented nice designed in total Don t forget a cover page give a title to your course work and add a_ contents page You should make good use of the wordprocessing facilities that are available nowadays Important don t use more than one space at a time Use the tab key or ruler instead Make tables use 2 or 3 different fonts only headers and text e g Check out how to define and use different styles Don t forget to make us
6. EDUCTIONS FOR TRIVIAL PROJ ECTS This can be the case when you enter just a very simple and trivial project anyone could do it A coursework for IGCSE must show that you really learned about modern Information Technology and you have good skills in different applications and software Check out the syllabus to see what they say about it Here it would be allowed for a deduction of up to 25 of your total points IMPORTANT Total points for your coursework can be max 50 points counts for 25 of your IGCSE Grade 75 is for the theory paper of 21 2 hour Don t forget We also have to testify that the coursework is your work only and not even partly copied or done by somebody else Don t forget that you should make a good and clear documentation in total You can achieve a better grade with a poor but good documentated program as with a smart and sophisticated program with weak and superficial documentation Frequently all the time use screen dumps hard copies They are often the only way how you can show what your program is doing Don t feel bad that you are killing trees when you print it all out We will get the courseworks back from Cambridge and then you can recycle Don t forget to have a look at Chapter 27 in your computer book It Page 13 International School The Haque Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE explains a lot about making a coursework If you feel uncertain have a
7. International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE Coursework Guideline Documentation Headers please copy them and paste into your own documentation file Problem Problem identification Objectives to achieve Design Planning of work Description of Hardware Software Out put Sample Runs Hardcopy Report s List Technical Documentation Explanation of programming scripts buttons Use of functions procedures Description of data Database fields etc System Program description User manual help facilities Coursework Evaluation Self evaluation Options for improvement Page 1 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE How to make the documentation about your coursework school based internal assessment for IGCSE computer studies Cambridge As you all know part of the course Computer Studies is the practical coursework The official name is the internal assessment Internal means that the School and teacher involved will do the marking of this coursework The school will have to send 10 samples of the coursework to Cambridge where they will be rechecked moderated and marked again If they think the marking done was not adequate they will adjust the all grades Therefore it is extremely important to follow these coursework guidelines extremely well We will use this guideline for all in between and final grading We strong
8. Problem Identification Description of the problem you wil solve with your coursework disadvantages of the old system how was it done before your computer solution took over Explain how you got the idea for your coursework Who has the problem and why Describe any other alternative solutions for the problem possible what would be the dis advantages of other solutions You can describe other manual solutions but you can also refer to other computer based solutions Think about aspects as costs how complicated it would be how fast a solution could be implemented what training is required Describe what s wrong with the present solution situation how would you do they solve it so far without using a computer system Please make sure to get the full 2 points here Compare before and after with or without the computer solution Try to list as many disadvantages of the situation before you came up with a computerised solution to the problem If you create a program just for yourself use your imagination pretend maybe that you are making your program for a company You may exaggerate here a little it doesn t have to be for real really Describe how the situation will change with the help of your computer solution What are the advantages of using the new your system Explain how far the new system will make life easier Mention the things that your program can will do for better try to lis
9. e Computer Studies IGCSE er Here you show the User Manual for an unexperienced user of In general that should be a few pages with a content page describing what functions your program has how to use the program start open sort search print quit etc etc You might even produce some on line help that is in the program your program a spreadsheet database anything else as well then show what happens if you enter extreme very large very small or very wrong data 0 1 2 points User Manual Help facilities available like help balloons fields special pages layout What is the quality of your offered help for the user You need to give the user some instructions about how he or she should work with your coursework program How is it possible to enter data what data what steps are to be taken how can the user print out reports etc etc You should show here e g some hard copies of your screen and explain what the user should do On line user help can easily be made in HyperCard and FileMaker You can use here different cards fields or Lay Outs Make it a separate section in your coursework label it appropriate like User Manual 0 1 2 3 points COURSEWORK EVALUATION er Here you add your own evaluation for your solution to the problem ce You will need to describe how satisfied you are with your solution Did you experience problems as you worked on your coursework is your solu
10. e of a header and footer It helps the teacher a lot if you put your name and date in the footer of each printed document This allows teachers to see who s work is being checking and which version is looked at Don t even think about printing without doing a spellcheck before Make sure that your work is clear to the reader Provide empty pages just stating what the next pages are about Use empty lines to separate paragraphs Have a look do so at some very good examples to get ideas 0 1 2 3 4 points Use of Information Technology Tools IT tools Did you use tools and software for Spelling check grammar check making flowcharts system charts graphics screen capture Presentation Internet E mail Data conversion etc We will evaluate this you can be smart and provide in your documentation a place where you list all the tools and utilities you have used during the making of your coursework Don t forget to list all the beautiful things you did at home on dad s super IBM I buy Macintosh computer 0 1 2 3 points TECHNICAL EVALUATION Technical skills This is the place where you will be awarded points for your Page 9 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE technical skills Here we evaluate as to what level the candidate is using the possibilities of the used software You will get points here for the way you managed to do your coursework Did you use only simpl
11. e or also some more complicated facilities in the software Think of things like using SORT routines UPDATE of records using MAILMERGE giving the user of your program MENUS using CHARTS to show your results in a good looking way using HYPERTALK for better use of HyperCard anybody can just go from card to card using POP UP MENUS VALUE LISTS etc in FileMaker Pro did you use HEADER FOOTER FOOTNOTES PAGE NUMBER INDEX etc in your wordprocessed documentation Did you use buttons and scripts in FileMaker Did you add some J ava scripting to your web page 0 1 2 3 4 points Quality of the solution Here it is checked if your solution is appropriate and plausible You will get points awarded reflecting how far your solution is adequate to your problem description Remember people in Cambridge won t see your program they have to deal with paper printouts only So here you will be marked for your overall solution We will check if you actually did the work on the computer if it is of the appropriate level etc Did you do a nice piece of work Is it all adequate or all very simple Does it meet your capabilities 0 1 2 3 points Clarity of solution Here is checked if the solution is made clear by the candidate Is the documentation showing what the candidate achieved Is the solution a good one can any novice and not experienced user tackle the program or database spreadsheet Does a user know what to do when he she starts the
12. ents you know what they did for their coursework and how much time was involved Most of them will tell you they totally underestimated the time needed Normal lessons times are 2 hours theory and one hour practical a week The total amount of practical hours in year one would then be 40 1 40 hours Now subtract some missing periods exams free s for whatsoever reason etc and you see it ain t much about 32 hours in total Just a few days in a row ever wondered how fast a week holiday is over Well it s the same with the time for practical Your second year is even shorter Some 23 practical hours only your Mock exams will be starting in January last deadline for coursework is usually around the very beginning of April Necessary Contents Of Your Coursework For each logical part of your coursework documentation you can get a maximum of points The total score of the coursework can be 50 points In the following explanation you can see how much you can get maximum minimum in detail All the important parts you should cover are listed Please read the instructions use this guideline as what it is a guideline Page 4 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE ATTENTION the points for this marking scheme are different compared to the official scheme provided by Cambridge We award less points for programming more points for Design and Layout PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
13. f your user documentation On the MAC s you can make a screen dump by pressing the lt shift gt key the lt gt key and 3 all at the same time With the mouse you then can select any part of the screen you want It will be saved in the scrapbook or clipboard and from there it can be easily imported in your documentation copy and paste Don t forget to empty the scrapbook after use please If you use a database program make sure you present hardcopies of all records in a columnar report and some records in a full screen report Print out and explain with hardcopies your solution showing how you designed and implemented your computer solution That means don t just print out a report or database list but also explain in words what the purpose of the list is can be Remember the Cambridge people will only see your documentation they won t see your program unless you provide that printed out on paper And don t expect them to guess what it is all about Treat them like dummies explain all bits and pieces Show and explain your LISTS and or REPORTS of output data especially when you use a Database or Spreadsheet All software allows data output You should print out examples of everything you achieved Don t leave anything out as simple as you even think it might be You should of course provide also lists of all fields cells variables all formulas scripts functions and all other things you
14. ly advise you to copy the headers from the first page into your documentation This is the best way not to forget an important part Realise as well that the coursework only counts for 25 and the theory exam with a 21 2 hours paper for 75 of your final IGCSE exam grade Unfortunately we are not allowed to send floppy disks with your program on it to Cambridge Your coursework must be handed in documentated on PAPER only This means that you will have to spend a lot of your time doing wordprocessing describing and explaining what you have been doing and what the results are That also means that a good documentation is as important as a good program In fact you will maybe even spend more time doing the documentation as you worked on the program e g database or website itself So therefore be sure to know how the things in your computer lab work You should be familiar with in doubt Ask the teacher or another student Using a screen capture facility on the Mac Apple Shift 3 Using the spell check thesaurus webster s all compulsory Making headers footers please include your name and date Saving your work on a regular base making backup s Using the scanner minimising the size of files etc Using the Internet how to download copy text and pictures Finding old examples of coursework see white folders in class Places to find more info IGCSE folder on the intranet Server The
15. program Is there help provided Is there any good logic in the solution of the student We will check here if your solution makes good sense Here important it is evaluated if your final coursework meets your goal aims you mentioned long way before Also we will check if your documentation is clear and describes what you have done in an understandable and logical chronological way 0 1 2 3 points User friendliness of the result Is your solution user friendly Can it easily be used by a new and not experienced user Did you make use of value lists Pop up fields menu buttons styled layout not too many fields cells etc on one page etc etc We will check here if you have thought about the later use of your Page 10 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE program Will the user understand what to do Is there any user help on the screen available Is it all obvious to someone who needs to work on his own with your program 0 1 2 points TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION Explanation of all programming and scripting Are you explaining all your programming scripting and other programming techniques You should explain The working of all your scripts e g in HyperCard Filemaker MS Access The functions and formulas used in your Spreadsheet what why The functions scripting calculations buttons etc used in your Database or other software program You can get 4 points here remembe
16. r again that all you did will only be known to the moderators in Cambridge if you describe explain it in your documentation Please really list all you have done even if you think it is trivial This is the spot where you can show and prove your computer skills 0 1 2 3 4 points Description of Data Did you describe all your used Data in your coursework Think about FILES FIELDS VARIABLES DATA FLOW Explain why you have used certain data List if data used is of a certain type kind e g numerical text date formula value list has a range or other validation rules etc Why did you use each data Explain it Filemaker allows to print a list of all data fields print and include it as attachment 0 1 2 points System Program description Here you should explain the overall working of your program solution Describe any used modules routines menu structures algorithms Make a flowchart that shows an overview of all components of your coursework Files Webpages etc Show how you did your data testing Prove that your program works both with right and wrong input data Show your validation rules and show prove hard copies of how it works Testing a program is always necessary For a database e g you will have to set up validation rules e g AGE cannot be negative cannot be more than 120 TEST RESULT should be in between 0 and 100 etc etc If you have Page 11 International School The Hague Coursework Guidelin
17. resources in the Library at school and outside school Page 2 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE The IGCSE website on the Internet go to igcse The IGCSE Yahoo club on the net http clubs yahoo com clubs igcsecomputerstudies You should know the deadlines announced see Time schedule And last but least always use this guideline Some Software you could use for your coursework Calculations for business commerce finance grades etc with the help of a SPREADSHEET e g Microsoft Excel Storage and retrieval of information in a DATABASE e g Claris FileMaker Pro Microsoft Access Multimedia programming animation storage of data with HYPERCARD and its programming language HYPERTALK Hyperstudio Metacard for windows mac are great as well Professional software also called Authoring Tools for creating multimedia software e g for educational uses AuthorWare or Macromind Media Director are some good examples Desktop publishing with sophisticated software like Adobe Illustrator Aldus Freehand Adobe Photoshop Quark XPress ClarisWorks Microsoft Word or WordPerfect for the documentation of your coursework Web page design WWW Internet Using html language and layout programs Claris Homepage Adobe Pagemill Microsoft Frontpage Animations and J ava scripting programming Making an application with programming languages C Visual Basic
18. t also the advantages for the daily business it is o k to make a link here to business eco Will the system be of an advantage for customers too Think about what your output can do reports overviews bills mailmerge letters charts with percentages sales costs profit analysis different print sizes labels business cards labour costs think about aspects as marketing worldwide on the Internet maybe professional presentation competition social impacts Just don t be too shy here Imagine your program would be very successful and people would be using it for real and you will end up as a rich person You should really investigate your problem Go and ask the people involved library shop canteen teachers etc Make use of questionnaires if appropriate go and visit a shop where they Page 5 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE rent out CD s for example etc You will see most people are really happy to show you around give you some papers or other materials just do it 0 1 2 points Objectives to achieve What are your goals your aims what do you want to solve with the computer program What do you propose Explain what you expect to do Try to relate this to your problem description try to be realistic but also state specifically what you will create don t tell here e g what fields you will use in your database that comes later but list here
19. tion what you expected aimed for What did others think about your program be as honest here same as when you explain the teacher why you were late What bugs mistakes are still there Did you use the right program s or applications after all to solve your problem Could you have chosen something else maybe better 0 1 2 3 points Now it is time to list options for improvement Here you can state what you have still in mind what items facilities etc could be added What could be better in your solution What possible future developments would be useful or even necessary Will you use your coursework later in reality Think about improvements in the software You can mention also hardware that could be used in addition Don t be shy here go for the 2 points available 0 1 2 points DEDUCTIONS FOR HELP Page 12 International School The Hague Coursework Guideline Computer Studies IGCSE This is the place where we can subtract points for any extra HELP you have received in the realisation of your coursework Normally we won t subtract here anything Help from books tutorials demo programs etc are all fine Nothing against help as long as you understand what you are doing and you are not just copying from others But don t let daddy do the job Instead have a look at old courseworks talk to friends and don t wait till the last minute It is allowed for a deduction of up to 10 of your total points D
20. what functions you will offer like a detailed report a menu a place to see books not returned yet library a list of all customers a mailmerge for writing letters bills a search facility a template for sticky labels password protection a different layout mode interface for shop users and shop owners etc etc Have a look at examples hear around surf the web go to shops ask your parents yeah that could help too maybe somebody will give you the ultimate idea for a great coursework that will be off practical use There are a dozen of shops in your neighbourhood that still don t have a web site yet or don t even know what a database is Don t underestimate yourself 0 1 2 points DESIGN Planning of the coursework Describe your way of setting up your coursework What was your overall plan Explain in logical and or chronological order How did you analyse and investigate the problem Whom did you ask for information and how did you have inquiries interviews with people questionnaires How did you collect your data for INPUT necessary for your solution what data information is needed used in your coursework How did you investigate how the OUTPUT of your program should be Did you compare to existing other solutions maybe Remember a little fantasy can do no harm How did you plan your actual programming use of the package Did you make some simple flowcharts They always
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