What training is available for Cambridge Nationals IT?

What training is available for Cambridge Nationals IT (J836)? 08 October 2024

Vinay Thawait, Computer Science, IT and Creative iMedia Subject Advisor

Vinay_Thawait

This blog was first published in 2022 and has been updated to reflect current courses.

Whether you are new to teaching our IT courses or are just new to the redeveloped specification, we have professional development (PD) to support you. In this blog I’ll share a round-up of our courses and event this year.

You can register for a course via our Teach Cambridge website, Train@OCR page or our Events page.

On-demand online courses

Cambridge Nationals (teaching from September 2022): Essentials for the NEA

This is a mandatory course for all teachers delivering any of our Cambridge National courses. It is a free eLearning course designed to prepare and support you for the delivery of the NEA set assignments. The course provides you with a good understanding of the qualification requirements and helps ensure consistency. As it covers all Cambridge Nationals, if you do teach more than one you only need to do this course once. It is ideal to do as a team together as part of a department meeting.

It is available on demand from Teach Cambridge or Train@OCR.

Cambridge Nationals in IT (J836)

This is our other free eLearning course specifically for the Cambridge National IT qualification. It gives insight into the internal assessment and your responsibilities. It would be ideal to use in a department meeting just before starting the NEA tasks with students.

It is available on demand on from Teach Cambridge or Train@OCR.

Live webinars and face-to-face courses

Starting to teach

This is a free webinar that gives you everything you need to know to get started. The course aims to develop your understanding of key aspects of the qualification and focuses on teachers and non-specialist teachers. The session will cover specification content, structure, question format and assessment requirements, as well as offering practical guidance on getting started in the classroom.

Please check regularly for dates here.

Using the Blippbuilder platform to create an AR model prototype for unit R070

As part of the NEA assessment task for unit R070 of our Cambridge National in IT (J836), students are required to use an augmented reality (AR) software development kit (SDK) platform to create an AR model prototype solution. We currently recommend a range of AR SDKs for teachers and students to use, including Adobe Aero, XR+ and Blippar/Blippbuilder AR software.

Building upon the success of former skills-building events with Adobe Aero, we are now working with Blippar/Blippbuilder to deliver a new series of webinars designed to help you to upskill your students, so that they can use AR software with confidence in preparation for their unit R070 assessment.

You will need to have access to a laptop with Microsoft Teams installed to be able to join the event.

Ask the subject advisor/subject briefings

We have merged and changed our “ask the subject advisors” and teacher networks to “Subject Briefings”. These free webinars are held regularly throughout the year to give an opportunity for us to share any subject updates we have and for you to ask questions. It’s helpful to us if you send any questions beforehand to vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk, but you can also join to listen to other centres’ queries.

Please check regularly for dates here.

Remember, you don’t have to wait for one of these sessions to ask questions. You can email us anytime and we will do our best to answer you.

Exploring the NEA

This is an extended, paid for, online session for new, experienced and non-specialist teachers.

This course builds upon the principles mapped out in our eLearning and free courses we already offer, which discuss how you can support students to develop the skills required for successful NEA work.

The Exploring the NEA event focuses more on practice and application: providing you with opportunities to work through past series’ materials, including candidate exemplars. Led by moderators, this course is designed to support you in understanding how and why a range of exemplars secured the marks they did, empowering you to apply this knowledge to your own teaching and delivery.

Ask the moderator

These free webinars are held regularly throughout the year to give you an opportunity to ask questions of a moderator, one of the team of people who look at the sample work you send to us. It’s helpful if you send any questions beforehand to support@ocr.org.uk, but it’s also great to just join to listen to queries from other centres.

Exam review

Our exam review sessions for Cambridge Nationals IT (J836) are designed to highlight key findings from the most-recent exam series, providing an overview of student performance and outcomes. The event is intended to complement our examiners’ reports and existing exemplar materials, focusing on where students performed well and where they struggled.

Enhancing your teaching: supporting students with the R070 NEA (webinar)

This is a paid for online session for new, experienced and non-specialist teachers. Our expert trainer will offer tips and practical advice on preparing students and supporting them to understand the requirements of the NEA tasks, empowering you to deliver our Cambridge Nationals IT qualification with confidence.

Enhancing your teaching: supporting students with the R060 NEA (webinar)

Exploring the exam (webinar)

This is another extended paid for session. It gives you the opportunity to develop your skills in supporting students to succeed in the exam unit R050. It builds on our free events and is a longer session to allow time for a hands-on approach. You will use the candidate exemplars and practice papers to review topic areas.

It would be ideal if you could attend together with your colleagues, or it could be something to share afterwards with others in your team. You’ll have opportunities to practice marking real candidate responses, receive guidance on how and why candidate responses secured a range of marks, interact with expert trainers and explore ideas to enhance teaching and learning for future preparation and delivery.

Stay connected

If you think there is any additional professional development we could offer, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If you have any questions please comment below, or email us at vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk or support@ocr.org.uk. You can also call our customer support centre on 01223 553998.

Make sure you are signed up for email updates. You can also follow us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). You can stay up to date using our dedicated support area.

If you are considering teaching any of our qualifications, use our online form to let us know, so that we can help you with more information.

About the author

Vinay joined OCR in July 2014 to support the GQ reform and development of the AS and A Level Computer Science qualifications. Since then, he has been involved in the development of the reformed GCSE (9-1) Computer Science, Entry Level Computer Science, and Cambridge National in IT, new Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in IT: Data Analytics and the Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in Computing: Application development qualification. He is currently working on the Wave 2 Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in Cyber Security and Digital Networking qualification.

Before joining OCR, Vinay spent more than 25 years in IT and Computer Science teaching and leadership roles, working for several schools as well as local authorities educational support team. He was the National Bid Lead for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative within Capita IT, and also the Head of Operations for an audio-visual educational software development company. Vinay has a degree, three post-graduate masters and NPQH from Warwick, Coventry, and Nottingham Universities. Outside work, he takes part in karate, cricket, and badminton. He doesn’t believe in ‘just sitting down and watching TV’.