BTEC Tech Award in Digital IT

As digital technologies and organisations continue to evolve, each new development offers new and exciting ways of completing tasks and interacting with our hardware devices. Each new development opens up a new project with a new set of user requirements that needs to be solved. In this component, you will learn different project planning techniques that can be used to both plan and deliver a project that meets a set of user requirements.

User interfaces allow individuals and individuals in organisations to interact with digital technologies. The design of the user interface is crucial in ensuring that users are able to interact positively with their hardware devices. In this component, you will learn the different design principles that can be used to design effective user interfaces and apply appropriate project planning techniques to create a user interface that meets user requirements.

This component will build on Key Stage 3 where you have learned about computer systems and software applications. You will learn how effective design and planning has a major impact on the user experience. This component will help you to progress to further vocational or academic qualifications. It will also enable you to develop transferable project planning skills that can be used across all areas of study and employment.

In order to make decisions, organisations collect vast amounts of data from a range of different sources. They need to use appropriate data-collection methods to ensure that the data is of sufficient quality to enable decision making. Data must then be converted into information to allow it to become useful. In this component, you will learn the different data manipulation tools that can be used to change the way that data is presented.

You will provide clear summaries of the data and present them in a dashboard that will allow organisations to make effective decisions. Even when data has been converted into information, it will not provide any conclusions on its own. It is up to the data user to be able to look at the information and draw conclusions, so how the information is presented is key to ensuring that effective and accurate decisions are made. In this component, you will learn the different presentation features that can be used to ensure that information is understood clearly in an objective way so that it is not misinterpreted. This component will build on Key Stage 3, where you have learned about how to create programs.

This component will help to develop your understanding of how to represent information in different ways to give it more meaning. The component will help you to progress to further vocational or academic qualifications. It will enable you to develop transferable data manipulation tools that you can use to make effective decisions in all areas of study and employment. It will also help you to focus on your chosen specialism in more detail, for example managing big data, business analytics.

Modern organisations are increasingly reliant on the use of digital systems to complete every day, business-critical tasks. The development of these systems has presented organisations with many opportunities to work in new, inventive and flexible ways to achieve their aims. The systems have also brought new challenges and a range of responsibilities. This component will give you an opportunity to explore how the developments in technology over recent years have enabled modern organisations to communicate and collaborate more effectively than ever before.

The component is designed to allow you to explore the digital systems available to organisations and how their features have an impact on the way organisations operate. You will explore how developments in technology have led to more inclusive and flexible working environments, and how regulation and ethical and security concerns influence the way in which organisations operate. You will analyse information in a range of vocational contexts so that you develop a greater understanding of the use of digital systems by organisations and so that you are able to make reasoned judgements on the systems.

This component builds on Key Stage 3 where you will have learned how to use technology responsibly. In this component, you will learn about how organisations can use technology safely and about the cyber security issues when working in a digital organisation. The knowledge and skills you develop in this unit will give you a basis for further study in a range of subject areas, including computing, IT, engineering, creative and scientific, or you may go on to an apprenticeship or entry-level employment where your understanding of technology will be relevant.