1. Unit 1 - Understanding ICT
GCSE ICT
Unit 1 - Understanding ICT

2. Topic 1 Data, Information & Knowledge
GIGO
Data is something with no meaning.
Data, Information & Knowledge
Garbage in, Garbage out.
Information
Adding a rule to something, to limit mistakes.
Information is adding meaning to the data.
Validation
knowledge
To enter something twice or scan read something.
Verification
Knowledge is gaining information.

3. Topic 2 Home Entertainment
Computers and computer consoles are used for the playing of games from chess to fast action games.
pay-to-view services, e.g. films, football matches and other sporting events
Interactive TV
Gaming
Home Entertainment
Music and Sound
Mobile Phones
Hardly need any introduction!
More uses are being found for them all the time
Social Networking
Digital Photography
Webcam services
bulletins
blogs
friend comments
photographs
groups
videos
music.
photos can be passed to social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, etc.
photos can be edited
A web camera (or webcam for short) is simply a digital camera that is used to capture still and video (i.e. moving) images.

4. Topic 3 Home and personal communication systems
Can access the Internet on portable devices such as mobile phones, notebooks, PDAs, etc.
A device that allows a computer to be
connected to the Internet.
Modems
Wireless
Router
Home and personal communication systems
Device that enables a network to be connected to the Internet.
Enables several computers to share the same Internet connection.
Often allows wireless Internet connection.
Bluetooth
Communication System
Bluetooth is a method used to transfer data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices.
It is used to transfer data between portable devices without the need for wires.
Communication systems are the systems used to enable devices to communicate with each other.

5. Home Business Topic 4 Home Business Online Shopping Online Booking
Many people search for and order services and products using the Internet.
Online stores have databases of their goods and services that you can access.
You can browse or search for a specific thing.
Need to check:
credit card number entered is correct by comparing it again with the number on the actual card
card expiry date
all the fields that should have data in them contain data
all the name and address details are correct – this is particularly important with flight tickets, where the name on the passport has to match that on the tickets
passport numbers against the numbers on the actual passports.
Verification of a booking
Online shopping & searing for products online
Home Business
Online Shopping
Online Booking
Purchasing goods and services using the Internet.
Customers browse online catalogues.
They add goods to their virtual shopping basket/trolley.
They go to the checkout.
They then enter their card (debit or credit) details and other details, which are encrypted for security reasons.
Low cost airlines and ease of booking mean many people book flights and hotels direct.
They can get impartial reports from others about resorts and hotels.
They can also book car rental.

6. Topic 5 Organizations: school, home, environment
Used to record attendance.
Used for health and safety – who is in the building and who isn’t.
Used to discourage truancy.
Used to provide statistics to be used in comparisons with other schools.
Supply information to managers and other staff
to enable them to make effective decisions.
Management information systems in school
School registration system
Organizations: school, home, environment
Old paper-based system
Used paper registers.
Teachers record marks next to students.
Recorded twice a day (i.e., morning and afternoon).
Marks added up manually by form teacher.
Disadvantages of above
Computer based method
Registers were often left unattended, which meant students could easily alter the register.
Mistakes in register entries meant registers were hard to understand.
Statistics for attendance tended only to be produced each term.
Teachers were responsible for the accuracy of the registers.
Students could register themselves and then play truant by not attending the lessons.
Features include:
Capturing student attendance automatically.
Very fast recording of attendance details.
Avoiding the misuse of the system as far as possible.
Enabling not only morning and afternoon attendance to be recorded but also attendance at each lesson.
Relatively inexpensive.
Ability to work with other ICT systems used in the school, such as the system for recording student details.

7. Advantages of online tutorials
Topic 6 ICT and Learning
Use ICT for learning.
Contain content to instruct students.
Simulations allow students to see what happens in different situations.
Animations help students understand how things work.
Self-tests let students know how much they have learnt.
VLE’s
Online tutorials
Main features are:
Student assessments.
Allow teachers to add their own content.
Allow teachers and students to communicate with each other.
Students can submit work electronically.
Teachers can mark and return work electronically.
Teachers can set homework tailored for each student.
ICT and learning
ICT and learning
Online assessments
Advantages of online tutorials
The software is often complex and uses lots of animation and graphics, which makes it expensive.
Students often need the interaction of their classmates in order to learn.
Can present an opportunity for students to have a break rather than work on the online tutorial.
It is hard for teachers to gauge progress using some of the packages.
Lack of flexibility as human teachers can explain things in different ways to help you.
Exams and tests performed on the computer.
The computer marks your work and gives you your results.
Flexibility as to where and when students learn.
Materials make use of multimedia.
Materials can be accessed with lots of devices.
Can learn in a car, while out running, etc.
Keeps students using them interested and motivated by the variety of activities.
Students can work at their own pace.
It does not matter if you get things wrong - the computer will not judge you.

8. Topic 7 Applications Software
Applications software is software that is capable of doing a specific job.
A job is called an application.
Examples include word-processing software, CAD software and accounts software.
Specialist software is applications software:
that is specific to the business
includes kitchen design software, software for running a garage, etc.
Applications software
General purpose software is applications
software that:
can be used in any type of business
includes word-processing, spreadsheet, database, desktop publishing and presentation.

9. Topic 8 Information Handling Software (Databases)
Range Check
Records
Fields
Validation
A type of validation
Information Handling Software (Databases)
Data Types
Mail Merge
A mail merge is where the information from a database table is combined (merged) with a standardized letter to create a number of individualized letters.
Tables
Sort
Search
Verification
Primary Key
A unique identifier

10. E-Mail Topic 9 E-Mail Group E-Mail Facilities Address Book
Standard outgoing signature and message
Group
Using cc and bcc
Attaching files
Address books
Naming groups and folders.
You form a group of people from all the people you send to.
You can then send to a particular group of people.
This saves lots of time.
Group
Facilities
Address Book
Allows you to create a list of contact details.
If you want to send an to someone, you just click on their name and their address is inserted.
addresses of people who contact you can be added automatically.
Attaching files
Files can be sent with an .
Useful for sending work from school/college to your home computer.
Can attach any type of file (e.g., image, word-processing document, etc.).
Files are sometimes compressed before sending.
Standard outgoing signature and message
Using cc and bcc
Naming groups and folders
cc means carbon copy
You list the addresses of people you want to send a copy of the to after the cc.
bcc means blind carbon copy
This allows you to send copies of s to others without them being able to see each other’s addresses.
A signature is text that you set up and appears at the end of your message.
It usually contains your name and contact details.
You can have any message you like.
Some people like to add a quotation.
You give your signature a name so you can reuse and have a choice.
Groups can be given names (e.g., People in my form, My teachers, etc.).
It is important to set up named folders for different types of .
This enables them to be found more easily.
Remember to back up s.

11. Spreadsheets Topic 10 Spreadsheets What if… Modelling Simulation
Examples
Rides at theme parks are examples of simulators
Another form of simulator is virtual reality
Safety; mistakes can be made in a simulator
Training is not affected by weather conditions
Emergency situations/rare situations can be simulated
The simulation is only as good as the rules the computer programmer has used to represent the real life event. Simulations can have their limitations.
Simulation Software
drawbacks
Simulation Software
benefits
Modelling
Spreadsheets
Absolute cell referencing
Modelling is when a computer program attempts to represent a real situation using mathematical equations
Absolute cell referencing tells the spreadsheet not to alter the formula as you drag or copy it to another cell.
What if…
Simulation example
Simulation
Weather forecasting – data is collected and calculations are made to forecast future weather.
If a number in one cell is changed, then the value in another cell may also change, if it uses the first number in the calculation.
Simulation programs are designed to predict the likely behaviour of a real-life system which is represented as a mathematical model.

12. DTP Software Topic 11 DTP software Mailmerge DTP Style 1 sheet
Software used to produce
documents including:
Specialist desktop publishing software.
Word-processing software.
Mailmerge
DTP
Used to produce personalized letters to lots of different people.
Uses a standard letter containing blanks.
A data file of the variable information is used (usually containing names and addresses).
Inserts the variable data into the blanks in each letter.
Saves lots of time compared to producing the same letters without using mail merge.
Style 1 sheet
DTP Software
A document where you specify font types, font styles and font sizes for headings, subheadings, main text, etc.
Style 2 sheet
Online thesaurus
Spellchecker
When a heading is changed in the style sheet, all the headings in the document change automatically.
This saves you having to change every heading manually, which saves a lot of time.
Used for creative writing.
Finds words with similar meanings (called synonyms).
Good for when you do not want to use the same word twice in a sentence.
Used to check the spelling of words in a document.
Compares words entered with words in a dictionary.
Highlights words that are spelt incorrectly.
Suggests correct spelling.

13. Topic 12 Web and Presentation software
Navigation – how you move from one webpage or slide to another.
Standard navigation techniques – those methods of navigation used in most presentations and websites.
Standard nav techniques
Appropriate use of standard navigation techniques
Forward/Next and back buttons
Use of home button to take user to home page
Use of menus
Use of links
Bookmarks/favourites
Animations
Web and presentation software
Animations include:
Cartoons
Moving images
Moving text
Links
Disabilities
Target audience
Sight impairment:
Use zoom in/out buttons.
Facility to speak words on the screen.
Increase font size.
Choose font type that is easy to read.
Use plenty of contrast.
Allow user to change colour scheme.
Provide a way of users moving from webpage to webpage or slide to slide.
Allow user to be in charge of what they see next.
Can be provided by text links (i.e. hypertext) or image links (i.e. hotspots).
The people who will be typical users of the website or presentation.
Need to cater to their needs.
Hearing impairment:
Use visual warnings rather than sound warnings.
Use typed versions of any speech used.
Use subtitles for any video used.