Talk:Applied Science BTEC Nationals/Forum

Applied Science BTEC Nationals

Other discussions
Here are some posts to other forums about the course, and about BTEC Firsts in Applied Science:

Resources
Please add links to useful resources on the book's front page if they are useful for all/several units, or to each unit's chapter if it's more specific.

Ewen (talk) 13:46, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

"To do" list
Has anyone any requests about which units should be tackled next/first? Does anyone want to volunteer to write a unit? Don't all speak at once...

Ewen 20:04, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

is there any more information you can put on for other subjects

like forensic psychology or microbiology?

Contributors
If you want, add some details about yourself below:


 * User:Ewen teaching First and National BTECs at Swansea College.
 * User:rah34 teaching A-level Biology and National BTEC at Woking College.

Coded punctuation and assignment writing
When I read the syllabus for BNA applied science, I can see that the learning outcomes are separated by semi-colons or commas. A fellow teacher told me that this was an Edexcel code for compulsory, advisory or voluntary. Does anyone know if this is so, or if there is any good, free information on the web on how to write good assignments to hit all the learning goals. .e.g. key words to be included etc.

19:08, 26 November 2007 Fossa (Talk | contribs)


 * No, I'm sure the punctuation is merely marking topics and sub-topics within a list.


 * Tutor support materials - exemplar material for units 1, 4, 5, 29, 32 and 35. See p14 (and 15-19) for an assignment sheet that can be adapted.


 * (I had to Google this sheet - am I alone in finding Edexcel's website to be impossible to navigate efficiently?).


 * NSS Briefing 2007-08 - the final page is the cover sheet for units.


 * PS Don't forget to sign comments with ~


 * PPS Thanks for giving these pages a try!


 * Ewen 10:52, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Textbooks for BTEC students?
"I went to a meeting at our college on BTEC course and the lady mentioned that all students who are registered on BTEC course get a free book to help them during the course. I have not been able to get any answers from our exam officer."

Not my comment, but one that left me thinking: Where are these textbooks then? Any ideas anyone?

Ewen 09:50, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Scenarios
Can we reject assignments if they do not meet the scenario?

I've had students submit work which was meant to be in the form of a 'Briefing for lawyers' and all they did was churn out the usual essay-style work. At first I thought 'Well, if they want to do the same style of assignment over and over then it's only themselves who get bored...'

However, it also affected the coverage of Key Skills as the students were essentially re-writing the assignment so that it covered the BTEC criteria but not the KS ones. Now I'm having to issue extra work to cover KS because they met the BTEC criteria, but not the scenario. So, how strongly should we / could we enforce compliance with the scenario?

Ewen (talk) 11:06, 1 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Answer from Edexcel: If students meet the criteria, it doesn't matter if they ignore the scenario. Ewen (talk) 19:17, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Course structure
We run the full Diploma, the Award and the Certificate, which allows students to combine A-levels and the BTEC if they want. The Award can be done in one year (the first year of the Certificate) or over two years.

The Certificate is in our timetable blocks 'A' and 'C', and Award students have several options:


 * 1) Join the Cert Year 1 students in block A in year 1 of the Award, and then join the Cert Year 1 students in block C for Year 2 of the Award.
 * 2) Join the Cert Year 1 students in block C in year 1 of the Award, and then join the Cert Year 1 students in block A for Year 2 of the Award.
 * 3) Join the Cert Year 1 students in block A and C to complete the Award in one year.

I think a lot of centres enter all their students for the Award initially, in case a student doesn't progress to year 2 they can still claim 'success'.

What other models are out there?

Ewen (talk) 13:42, 1 June 2008 (UTC)