hello everyone thank you for waiting and welcome to this online event from pearson before we get started i'd like to go over some few housekeeping items that you will know how to participate in today's event before we discuss how to download any associated materials and use the platform i would like to inform you that this session will be recorded for regulatory purposes and for our quality assurance you will have the opportunity to submit text questions to today's presenter anytime by typing your questions into the chat box which is located at the bottom right side of your screen you may also use the same chat box if you have any questions or concerns about today's event the chat box is for sharing ideas with the whole group and anything you type into this window can immediately be seen by other delegates in the room to enter a question or comment type into the bottom section of the chat window and hit enter on your keyboard you may also use the same chat box resistance in case you encounter any technical issues in viewing or listening to the webinar content at this time everyone is joined on mute but will have the control to unmute themselves so please stay on it if you don't need to speak to you for questions click on raise hand at the menu bar at the bottom if you don't see this click on the icon labeled participants and select raise hand otherwise try holding the alt and the letter y on your keyboard all right that's all i need to go through for now our presenter for today is jeffrey hold and it's with great pleasure that i hand you over to him now thank you please go ahead hi thank you um good afternoon and welcome to the as level and a level music technology support session um there's an update for summer 2022 just as an overview and an agenda for the session is um having a look at the the current situation and how we've got to this point um then we'll run through the various adaptations uh they're in place for component one and component two um and then have a look at component three and four and then around advanced information um and then we'll go through uh some information uh that details how information uh can be used uh when it could be used and a little further detail around that as well that applies to component three and four so um as an overview of the situation um the outcomes of the consultation for nea were published on the 16th of june 2021 and that confirmed that the arrangements that were in place for summer 2021 submissions would carry forward to 2022 submissions there was also a consultation on the arrangements for summer 2022 that focused on the exam components and that closed on the 1st of august 2021 and then we have the outcomes of that published on the 30th of september 2021 that consultation and the outcomes from that confirmed that exam boards would provide advanced information about the focus of the content of the exams for all gcses as a level subjects except gcse english literature history ancient history and geography for the summer 2022 exams dfe has confirmed that advanced information will be provided by 7th february 2022 at the latest and we're heading up to that date quite close now so a guidance document giving some detail um about the presentation of advanced information was published online on the 9th of december as well so you've got that available and this session really outlines some of that as well so looking at component one and the changes to nea here i'm sure you're all familiar with anyway is that the brief was released on the 15th of september um and the changes to the adaptations to nea were that capture uh had been removed as a requirement of the component um pearson would provide the audio files for students to create a mix and students should emulate the original recording as provided by pearson the recording length is determined by the audio files provided by pearson but for as level that would be between one minute 30 seconds and two minutes and for a level that would be between two minutes and three minutes so therefore assessment grid 1 isn't used as that assessed capture and then the component will continue to be externally assessed by an examiner but because of assessment grid 1 being removed recording would be marked out of 48 rather than the 60 and a scaling factor would be used to ensure that the correct weighting remains in the specification um if you are looking for details around the scaling factor um on the general summer 2022 support pages on the pearson website there is a document that outlines all the scaling factors for each component where we've had to use this as well the submission for nea has remained as the 15th of may so that needs to be submitted by the 15th of may 2022 for component 2 um again the brief was released on the 1st of september 2021 as normal the live capture is permitted but students would not be disadvantaged if they didn't use live capture in their technology-based compositions the duration of the technology technology based compositions was changed and for a s level uh that has changed to one minute 30 seconds and for a level that's uh two minutes so um i had some questions here and there come in around that and those are set times so composition should last for those durations and shouldn't go over or under as there are various uh penalties um depending on if they're under or over and that's outlined in the specification so there are no changes uh to the mark scheme for this and again the component would continue to be externally assessed by an examiner they'll continue to be marked out at 60 and the submission is by the 15th of may 2022 so for component 3 and component 4 the exams are intended to go ahead in summer 2022. um dfe and ofqual as previously stated published a joint consultation on the outcomes on 30th september and that outlines that the advanced information about the focus the content of the exams um for gcse's as an a-level subjects uh would be provided um apart from those uh listed there and the advanced information is going to be provided by 7th of february so really this is going into a bit of detail around what advanced information is now and how it can be used so advanced information is intended to communicate in advance some of the aspects of the specification that will be assessed in the exam papers information will detail the focus of particular aspects of the exam so for example that could be certain content context text topics subtopics themes and skills that will be assessed it's intended to support revision in time in the time before the exams as well so the advanced information doesn't require any changes to the question papers structure which means that the exam assessments will be familiar to teachers and students so you can still use past papers to prepare students it will allow continued relevance of associated assessment and teaching resources and it will support student confidence oh my god [Music] foreign um hopefully you can still hear me um my computer just had a bit of a meltdown there so uh it will support student confidence in minimizing the unexpected in the layout or structure of question papers so this doesn't particularly apply to uh music technology as we are the sole providers um but different qualifications uh require different advanced information solutions uh to maximize the value of the approach um so that does mean that while there is a common approach across specifications um within each subject at a particular level uh that approach looks uh like uh it could be different across different specifications as well um because it's tailored to suit the individual approaches of the assessment um for each specification so uh the advanced information will not always detail everything that is in the exam as well the key principles um are that we've avoided providing so much detail that answers to likely questions could become pre-prepared or memorized and we've made sure that advanced information doesn't undermine the value of the qualification in supporting student progression um but it doesn't directly provide answers to other potentially low tariff questions um and it doesn't compromise the capability of the exam to sufficiently differentiate between students as well so advanced information can be used from the point of release and it can be used flexibly by centers to achieve its purpose of supporting revision the one thing that shouldn't do is uh narrow teaching and learning okay so um you can use it to prepare mocks and things like that and and tests that could focus on the advanced information that is released but you should continue to teach the content of the specification as you normally would um the advanced information can't be brought into the exams um it will not be at a level that allows questions to be predicted or answers prepared um and the presentation will of the advanced information will take the most appropriate form to communicate that information clearly as well so uh using advanced information can be used to develop focus mark papers you can use advanced information to support extended response questions and use past papers exemplars to support advanced information topics on the presentation slides here there's links through to obviously past paper mart schemes um examiner reports to help um in that process and there's also exemplar material on the website uh that you may find useful to help prepare that as well so um what is included in the advanced information um this is taken from the summary document that is released online and there's a link through to that as well so the advanced information for a level music is that it will apply to component 3 listing analyzing and component 4 producing analyzing only so it's only those two components for component 3 it will provide information on the errors of the comparison songs and the topic area of the wider context question as well for component 4 it will provide information on the main topic areas and if relevant the instrument and whether it relates to either capture processing mixing synthesis or sampling um there is a little uh proviso that goes alongside that that says topics not explicitly given in the advanced information could may still be assessed in low tariff items or synoptic questions in on the paper as well um but the advanced information is there to give the broad outline for usually the higher tariff questions that are in the paper for a.s level music technology it is very similar in fact uh basically identical in terms of the advanced information that is available so again it applies to component three and four only and for component three it'll provide the information on the eras the comparison songs and the topic area of the wider context and for component four it provides the information on the main topic areas and if relevant the instrument and whether it relates to either capture processing mixing synthesis or sampling and again there is the the bullet point around the the advanced information and topics that not including that may still be assessed in low tariff items on the paper um there's some useful links here through to various different things so there's guidance um documents force number 2022 for a11 and as there's faqs there's summary of assessment arrangements there's a link through to the general support page for summer 2022 and i would also encourage everyone to sign up to receive the general qualifications bulletin that includes the latest information as we go into summer 2022 and the assessment series and there's also a jcq guidance document for teachers on the use of advanced information as well now really it's time to allow you to ask any questions that you want to clarify anything um there is a question uh that's coming about what is meant by synoptic questions um so synoptic questions uh would draw together the learning uh through the whole of the qualification um or the component there so that's usually the higher tariff questions um as they may bring in other elements um from from that component um into their answer so that's usually what's meant by the synoptic questions there hopefully that answers you there and uh someone has asked around sorry for silly question how the audio midi files normally delivered to the students in component three and four is it cd or digital file they download online so um the intention for summer 2022 is to mainly move to a download service where your exams officer would sign up to uh that service and access the audio materials uh for um each of those papers and they can download that 24 hours in advance centers could if they want still request cds to be sent to them um with that material on but the intention is to mainly move to the digital download process with that in regards to component one will students be penalized if they don't correct timing errors in the provided drawing tracks um so students are expected to replicate the mix with that um looking at the task and what they're expected to do and where correcting those timing areas would fall um it's uh they've got to weigh up if how much impact that would have on their overall marks uh going through that process um and if uh that would make a significant difference to them so that's kind of the general answer to that it's it's looking at that task and and how that would impact their overall marks overall if they did or didn't correct those errors the files that are provided do include the general sorts of problems that students would encounter when they you know record the material themselves and they can obviously make those decisions when they are mixing so does two-minute composition time include reverb tails etcetera so yeah i mean composition should uh be ending on two minutes um and that usually would include reverb tails as well um there is usually a little bit of leeway either side depending because of different audio players um how they in interpret the time code on that um so maybe one second over or under um but uh yeah composition should be planned to to complete on two minutes there and do you have a specific date for the release of the advanced information um well i mean the the term is that it's uh 7th of february at the latest um so and and we're heading up to that date now um so i uh that's the kind of information there so realistically um i think we're heading towards uh the release of that on the 7th of feb um got some questions come in um there are we submitting coursework online and component for project files so audio files do we need to include the logic file for component 4. so with the coursework the nea um the intention again with that is to move to uh online digital submission um and uh yeah we're uh currently in the process of um providing the uh asg for that with all the details of how you would go about that um some of you may have provided um material for quality assurance processes um from summer 2021 and had to upload material uh online through that process um and the online submission for nea will work in in the same way where there's essentially a list of learners and you can drag and drop files with that um so in terms of project files um they're normally asked for for the nea components with the component 4 that's usually audio that's required to be submitted with those but the instructions for what needs to be submitted are in the asg um and uh also what files need to be made by the students in the in component four the details would be detailed on the paper as well um and uh when will the digital logbooks be available for students complete as referenced in the spec but the pdf version of the logbook person has provided is non-editable uh there are um word versions of the log books available online under the exams materials tab right now so they are available online okay so just going through some of the other questions that are in the chat now will exam submissions be uploaded or do we have to post them to you um as in do we have to upload them once the exam has finished um so yeah as i said the intention is to um move to uh digital submission um for everything um i've actually had a few questions coming from exams officers i think over the last couple of days as they're starting to see some codes come on on the mis systems for component 4 which because of the digital submission process for that we've had to split the codes for uh component 4 for the written part and the practical part so yeah so that's had to happen in terms of the submission although the paper works in exactly the same way um so uh yes it will the intention is to to be the digital submission there um is there any plans to move to upload submissions rather than sending dvd cds and dvds um yep so uh the intention is that uh everything will be moving to the digital uh upload system so yeah there is uh plenty of uh space for project files as well um so i when we've uh talked about it um as a process i've brought up the the sennheiser files that will be submitted for music technology so what procedures are in place for students missing exams through covet illness so obviously there is a special consideration process that's in place in normal academic years um for any candidates that are unable to assist assessments um so it would be a case of going through the the usual special consideration group with with those so it should be a process that exams officers are familiar with there as well okay um that's answered all the questions at the moment i don't know if there are any more questions going to come in i'll give people a minute to type questions if needed as well someone said they're typing now so i'll give that a minute um when i do that um i'll just skip onto the the next slide there um so on that side uh the various ways that you can contact myself so there is the online support portal where you can submit uh questions um you can email teachingmusic pearson.com uh there's the phone number um there as well so you can phone in and uh there's also the uh pearson music community page um that's a group online in our community portal um so you can join that and submit any questions in there as well and then there's also you can follow me on twitter okay uh on the log book there is only 24 tracks of audio but there are over 40 audio files provided how would students show the extra tracks are they permitted to make extra track section on the logbook so with that if they are using more tracks than 24 um then it is possible to uh have another sheet of the tracks um it should be possible just to print out another page of that from the logbook just that page and use an exact copy obviously make sure that it is clearly labeled with the center and student information as well but it is possible to to use an extra sheet for that as well if needed but obviously in terms of that students may also [Music] condense those 40 tracks into less if they if they need to yeah so on the digital logbook um they could add an extra sheet in there so they could uh copy that page as well so that's a possibility okay um just having a look see if there's anything else coming um doesn't look like there has been um so i mean i suppose if there is um any further questions um coming in i'll just give that a minute but um if not i hope you found this session useful um we finished uh half an hour earlier than planned and uh probably will be another session um coming up uh after the advanced information has been released i'll i plan to put another one in for those uh just run through that and make sure everyone's kept up to date with the information as well um so keep an eye out um for those sessions as well um but i hope you found this useful and thank you very much for attending ladies and gentlemen this concludes our session for today we hope you found it useful have a great day and stay safe
2022-02-07