Applied ICT A Level Unit 8 - Project Management
The Checklist
Make sure your pages are numbered and that everything's clear and easy to read. Hold it together in a sensible sort of way. Having screenshots nice and clear (and possibly numbered if they are in a library of some kind) would be convenient as well.
You probably want to put your portfolio together in this sort of order:
The Story:
This is the main section of the portfolio. Please feel free to use sub-headings and so on to break this down. You'll probably want to break it into at least three main sections:
- Starting Out - all the planning and brainstorming bits
- Creating the Thing - the stage when you were all working on your bits
- Finishing Off - the testing, evaluations and so on
I would probably include some evidence directly in the story - things like group roles or ways I used specific pieces of software. Other bits, like reference to minutes or tables summarising skill development, I might cross reference. It is up to you to an extent - so long as you cover everything and make it as easy as possible to see the story developing!
Some ideas about how to cross-reference while telling the story
Story Part 1 - Starting Out:
- introduce the project
- roles
- group objectives
- personal objectives
- setting up protocols etc...
- planning for unexpected events
- mention of timeplanning (with cross-reference to section B)
- planning how to use ICT (or cross-reference to section B)
- success criteria
Story Part 2 - Creating the Thing
- how you did it - both the team as a whole and you (see AO4 row 3)
- what software you used and how you used it
- what problems you had
- how you overcame them (cross-reference to proactive skills developed and providing ICT support to others)
Cross-reference to skills, project management tools, communications etc... throughout
Story Part 3 - Finishing Off
- bring the story to an end
- evidence of the project being assessed against success criteria (AO4-4)
- evaluation of project (AO4-5)
- evaluation of your part in the project (AO4-5)
You might want to cross-reference to project management aspects (Section B) quite a lot in this
Section B - Managing the Project:
You can evidence a bit more than just the standard timeplanning stuff here:
- the timeplan - clearly filled in to show progress. Versions which show how progress has been monitored are more useful in this portfolio than in other units
- use of ICT to manage project - this may relate to other areas, such as skills development, as well. You cold have this in the main story element without too many problems. It should almost certainly include things like using Google Calendar and Google Task Lists to manage your element of the project - and cross reference the use of e-mail distribution lists and templates (see section D below)
- planning how to respond to unexpected events - this could be elsewhere (as a protocol in section D below or in the first part of the main storytelling area), but it might be convenient to have all the managing stuff together
- responding to unexpected events - but make sure the storytelling is clear about these and then cross reference to this to show the evidence (you could include the evidence within the story if you wanted to)
- evidence of using standard ways of working (this may well cross-reference to section D)
If necessary, use a
Section C - Skills section:
This stuff can be referred to when required in the story telling element. Deal with:
- skills audit - used at the beginning to help set personal objectives and decide on roles
- existing skills and how they've been used - at beginning and referred to whenever required to show use
- existing knowledges - as above
- new skills developed - related to objectives and referred to whenever a new skill is used in the story. This might also provide some evidence for the use of new pieces or features of software
- proactive skills development - can be included in the above, but make sure this is well evidenced. You might want to cross-reference this to a bibliography perhaps (but don't need to)
- providing ICT support to others (this is the hard AO3-2 part)
Section D - Meeting and Communication Record:
NB: many of these bits can have be produced by someone else in the team
- minutes and agenda of meetings - refer to these and use them as the backbone of the story
- e-mail and other communications record - this could include letters, memos, text messages and so on. This should probably show evidence of using distribution lists etc...
- protocols developed - for example, for backing up, filenaming, meeting conduct
- templates developed - for agenda, minutes etc...
- documentation of any kind that you produced or that someone else produced and you need to refer to
This will probably have lots of bits of paper in it (preferably all numbered up nice and easily please!) but not actually have very much story telling or linking together. You're just going to refer to the individual documents as you use them
Section E - Bibliography:
You might want a bibliography, perhaps to cross reference sources you've been proactive in using to develop your skills? You don't need this (I think) but it might be handy as evidence possibly
You might or might not need an additional screenshot library. I don't know - it depends how you'd prefer to work in the whole story telling bit.
You should probably look at That Blue Square Blog for all the really good other A Level stuff.