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  • In association with
    Truro & Penwith College
  • Truro
  • Penwith

BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Information Technology

If you enjoy learning about computers and Information Technology, then the Extended Diploma in IT will be of great interest to you. Building on your existing knowledge, this course will stretch and challenge your IT knowledge and skills. This course will cover a range of areas related to how Information Technology continues to develop and integrate into a variety of industries and businesses. You will be introduced to industry standard software, programming languages and workflows to explore practical scenarios surrounding the use of IT.

Key information

Computing & IT / Full Time / Level 3 Extended Diploma

Why choose this course?

You will work on a wide variety of interesting practical and theoretical projects. By the end of this course you will be con dent in planning, designing and writing computer programmes, building websites, developing mobile phone apps, configuring and managing networks, and analysing and designing complex computer systems for business. You will understand how to configure and protect an IT system from attack and subsequent data loss. You will be able to describe the impact that IT systems are having on our world and how businesses are using the latest technologies to gain a competitive edge.

Upon successful completion of this course you will have a comprehensive understanding of modern Computer Science. You will be well prepared to enter the work place as an IT professional or to go on and study a Computer Science degree at university.

Lessons take place in specialist IT rooms with networked PCs. Your lecturers will be specialists in their field who will teach you through a variety of demonstrations, lectures and by helping you undertake a variety of practical tasks. You will have access to hardware and networking lab facilities for the practical parts of the course.

What will I learn?

The course is Modular consisting of two externally and four internally assessed units.

Information Technology Systems: Information technology (IT) systems have a significant role in the world around us and play a part in almost everything we do. Having a sound understanding of how to effectively select and use appropriate IT systems will benefit you personally and professionally.

You will explore the relationships between the hardware and software that form an IT system, and the way that systems work individually and together, as well as the relationship between the user and the system. You will examine issues related to the use of IT systems and the impact that they have on organisations and individuals.

Creating Systems to Manage Information: In order to produce information to support many business processes as well as our social lives, relational databases are widely used to manage and process data. From the smallest in-house systems to stock control systems for large online retailers, databases are repositories of information that are a significant part of organisational operating requirements.

You will examine the structure of data and its origins, and how an efficient data design follows through to an effective and useful database. You will examine a given scenario and develop an effective design solution to produce a database system. You will then test your solution to ensure that it works correctly. Finally, you will evaluate each stage of the development process and the effectiveness of your database solution.

Using Social Media in Business: Social media websites are a popular way for people to communicate and share information with friends and family. People spend a lot of time on social media websites and they give businesses opportunities to interact with people, for example to promote their business, to encourage people to visit their e-commerce site and buy, to provide customer service. You may be familiar with social media for personal use and in this unit you will discover how it can be used in a business context.

Programming: Organisations and individuals increasingly depend on the functions and services offered by computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and personal desktop computers. You make use of computing programs when using an operating system or application programs such as word processing and spreadsheets. Understanding the concepts of high-quality software application design and development is key to ensuring that products are effective. As a programmer, you will need to understand the characteristics of different programming languages in order to select and apply appropriate methodologies to meet a client’s needs.

You will learn about computational thinking skills and the principles of designing and developing computer programs. You will apply computational thinking skills to design, develop, test, refine and review computer programs for a given range of purposes. By developing your analytical, problem-solving and programming skills, this unit will help you to progress to higher education or to employment as a software developer.

Website Development: Increasingly, organisations rely on websites to serve customers and, in some cases, to generate revenue. With millions of web pages being created daily, the need for websites to be engaging, innovative and desirable is important.

In this unit, you will review existing websites – commenting on their overall design and effectiveness. You will use scripting languages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript® and a simple text editor, or rapid application development tools. Finally, you will reflect on the website design and functionality using a testing and review process.

Computer Games Development: The computer games industry has been growing year on year and has become a multi-billion pound industry. With the prevalence of computing devices, games consoles and mobile devices, this growth shows no sign of slowing.

In this unit, you will investigate the technologies used in the computer gaming industry and the implications they have for users, developers and organisations. You will analyse how user needs and preferences impact on game design and how target technologies affect the design and development of a computer game. Finally, you will design, create and review a computer game to meet requirements and reflect on the skills and understanding applied during the design and development process.

Assessment Arrangements

The course assessment is mainly via assignments, some will be set by your lecturers and some will be set and marked by the exam board. You will normally have 3 or 4 assignments to complete for each subject. All subjects will be taught for a minimum of 60 hours, but they are not all of the same length. Some of the more challenging subjects will have 90 hours and some will have 120 hours. The grades for all subjects contribute towards your overall grade that is awarded at the end of your 2-year course.

Information & Support

Students will take the BTEC Level 3 90-credit qualification in the first year. The qualification is equivalent to 3 AS level qualifications. You will be required to successfully complete the first year to progress to the full BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma.

Where will it take me?

The majority of students continue on to computing and IT related degree courses at university, such as Computer Science, Computer Forensics, Game Development, Digital Graphics and Animation, and Artificial Intelligence. The course also forms an excellent skills base for employment in the IT industry as a technician or developer.

What will I need?

Four GCSEs at grade 4 or above or a Level 2 Diploma in appropriate subjects (to include English Language or Literature and/or mathematics at grade 4 or above).

Additional Information

To obtain more information about this course, please call: 01208 224000 or email enquiry@callywith.ac.uk

From the course

Tristan George

Tristan

Progression: Level 6 Digital and Technology Solutions Apprenticeship with Rowe IT, University of Exeter

Courses studied: Level 3 IT Diploma and A Level Maths 

Previous school: Liskeard School

How much time do you spend in the workplace vs classroom?

We have online lectures one day a week, with a one-week residential per term. The rest of the time is spent working for the company (four days a week).

What’s a typical day for you when you are in work?

A typical day would start with having a catch-up meeting with my team where we discuss what we did the day before, and what we will be doing that day. I've recently been involved in a project where I had to develop a web app for a transport company, with guidance from my team I spent my days coding, helping to get the project complete. Amongst this I undertake training to develop my skills.

What’s a typical classroom/study day?

I have two online lectures in the morning, the afternoon is spent doing a mixture of assignment work and work set in the morning lectures.

What made you choose the apprenticeship route?

I chose this route as I was very set on going into a career in IT. To me the benefits of an apprenticeship greatly outweighed the benefits of a traditional university route, particularly in the IT sector. I get the best of both worlds, a full degree and four years of invaluable work experience.

Why did you choose IT?

The sector is forever growing with new and interesting jobs being opened all the time. Even if you aren't thinking of pursuing a full career in IT, the skills you could learn from these courses will help you in almost every workplace where technology is used and assist you in your day-to-day life.

How did the College support and influence your decision to do an apprenticeship?

My lectures were very supportive of me going down this route. They gave me guidance and offered me support along the way.

What is the best thing about an apprenticeship?

The best things would be getting four years of on-the-job work experience in a field I love, whilst earning a full degree at the end of it. Over the last six months I have surprised myself with how much I have learnt. Other stand-out benefits are getting a full salary and no student debt.

What will your next steps be?

My next step would be to hopefully continue to work for my current company and hopefully in the future become a senior software developer.

Do you have any tips for students considering apprenticeships?

Apprenticeships are great if you know the career path you want to take. They are a great way of developing your skills alongside gaining a qualification.

George

Progression: MIS and IT Administrator for Apprenticeship Training Provider - GFTS Ltd

Courses studied: Level 3 Information Technology Diploma and AS Maths

Extra Activites: Esports Academy

Previous School: Wadebridge School

How are you finding your role as a MIS and IT Administrator?

I have absolutely loved every minute of my job. Having a daily routine has not only benefited me in terms of discipline, timeliness and work ethic, but has also be vital during lockdown – it has been so important for my mental health to keep getting up early in the mornings and having a plan for the day. I am very thankful that I have had this job to keep me busy. It has often been challenging and on occasions very stressful, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of overcoming the problems that I have been presented with.

How did Callywith support you in your career choice?

I found that Callywith put a huge emphasis on ‘opportunity’ – making the most of what you’ve been given and never missing a chance to do something beneficial to you and to others. It is because of this, that I opted to go for full-time work instead of going on to higher education and it has been without a doubt one of the best decisions in my life so far and I have my lecturers and everyone else at Callywith to thank for that!

Why did you choose your job role?

I chose to be in the job that I am currently in for a variety of reasons. I wanted to go in to full-time work as soon as I could so that I could start earning, start developing a good work place attitude and to gain experience applying the knowledge that I currently have in to real-life situations. The role itself was very enticing – it started out as me being “The IT Guy”, which was a perfect way for me to get comfortable within a working environment and something that I was very much prepared to do, but has since developed in to a role of much higher responsibility that utilises more of my knowledge and skills.

How have your studies at Callywith helped you in your job role?

The IT course at Callywith was fascinating for me because it covered a whole variety of topics within IT, and due to my unwavering passion for computers, it was incredibly enjoyable to expand my knowledge of technology even further. I was then able to incorporate new things that I had learnt in to topics that I was more comfortable with and vice versa.

AS Maths was nearly always a challenge and I get a huge sense of satisfaction from solving problems: particularly when there is a structured method to the process. This skill that I developed - to be able to recall formulas (methods) for solving specific problems – bolstered my IT skills, too, and resultantly has been incredibly helpful in my day-to-day tasks at work.

Having knowledge of so many different IT topics at my disposal has been especially helpful when I have been presented with general IT problems at work – I am able to build on it with each incident that occurs, too, which allows me to solve issues much faster in the future. It has also given me the tools to be able to create new systems and manage the IT infrastructure within the company very effectively and think about different considerations for each choice that I make i.e. the level of security, the usability, the efficiency etc.

I would say that Maths has further improved my problem solving and intuition skills, which is beneficial regardless of what job you are in, but particularly for me with managing IT systems.

What are you hoping to do in the future?

In the short term, my aim for the future is to be as much of a valuable asset to this company as I can be for the period that I am here, so that when the time comes for me to move on, I have made a genuine impact on the company and that they are in a stronger position than they were when I started. I would like to have a career in computer programming – likely games or software development. Then if the opportunity arose, I would love to become a teacher/lecturer further down the line, in either teaching IT or Maths.