unit 30 - P1

P1 - To create the materials needed, you will need to create graphic images.  You need to specify and describe the hardware and software needed to create the imagery digitally.  Consider the computer system, input devices, and output devices and also file storage

To have a computer that fully works with creating images and shapes, the computer will need basic things such as the monitor for the user to look at and evaluate their work. Also the computer needs a keyboard so you can write things onto the computer to either help you with your work, or to write reminders on what you need to do. Then one of the most important things a computer needs is the mouse, this is important because you need the mouse to click on to different documents and software’s in order to complete the work that you want to do. These are the basic things that you need with a computer to do most of the things that you need to do, if you didn’t have a monitor, a keyboard or a mouse then you basically won’t have a computer.

To create graphic images and materials, you will need certain software’s; for example Photoshop and serif for example. On software’s you will find photo manipulation, this is an application where you can edit images using techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception through analog or digital means. On Photoshop you can also use drawing packages for logos for example, drawing packages are readily available and range from CAD packages, through adaptable drawing, drafting and illustrating packages via multimedia and photographic to specialist flowcharting and brain mapping. Desk top publishing is also a software available on a computer; desktop publishing can produce text and images with attractive layouts. A desktop publishing system allows you to use different type faces, identify different margins and reasons, and insert illustrations and graphs directly into the text. The most powerful desktop publishing systems enables you to create illustrations; while less powerful systems let you insert illustrations created by other programs. You need software’s such as Photoshop and Illustrator in order to create different graphic images and change the layout of the images used to make it look a lot better if it’s by blending, shading or transforming the image. Photoshop and Illustrator have lots of different things on them to enable you to create lots of different images; these are really useful programmes because it has allowed lots of different images to be created that are really famous.

There will have to be input devices in the computer to make sure that you can create images or make changes to them to fit the way you like your work for example a digital camera, this helps because a digital camera captures information and stores it on the device via the memory card (which is a storage device). There are a few devices you can use this on, most of the time you use them on an Apple Mac computer though. A scanner has to be in the computer, this stores data in a computer, this also can be used to scan and input data onto the computer. This is very useful because you can scan images and store them onto your computer then make changes to it. Another input device that a computer needs is a graphics tablet, a graphics tablet is an input device used by artists to allow them to draw a picture onto a computer screen without having to use a mouse or keyboard. It consists of a flat, touch-sensitive pad and a drawing device, usually a pen. The tablet is most suited for artists and those who like to have that natural feel of a pen-like object to use the marker on the computer screen.

There also needs to be output devices for the user to show their work off to everyone. These include things such as a printer, this is needed because if you didn’t have a printer, then you would not be able to show your work to people because it will constantly be on the computer at all times, without having a hard copy. A projector is also an output device that would be needed. This is used for showing work onto a bigger screen, the projector helps with this because it can connect to the computer and what is shown on the computer screen, will be shown on the projector. A vinyl cutter is also an output device; the vinyl cutter is an entry level machine for every signage business. It's important for sign making. Vinyl cutters are mainly used by to make signs, banners and advertisements. Advertisements seen on automobiles and vans are often made with vinyl cut letters, vinyl cutters can also be used to cut out shapes from thin cardboard. 

All of these output devices, input devices; software’s and basic computer things all make creating and adjusting images work.

Unit 30 - P2

Unit 30 – P2

Printed Materials

For the Kingswood Secondary Academy’s option and parents evening, they are going to need to have printed sheets of paper to give out to everyone. The file type Vector is probably the best type of programme to use for this because it has a lot of things that come with it to make it printer friendly. Vector has a lot of characteristics such as it can scale to any size of paper which will be useful because the school might want to use different kinds of paper to explain different types of things. It also doesn’t have a background which can be useful because it will print off in a better image because it won’t have to overcome anything that is in the background. Vector is also more printer friendly than Bitmap so the school would most likely want to use this programme to produce brochures and materials to the parents that come to the evenings. File types that are associated with Vector are EPS, AI and CDR. The file type AI is the best way to save something as because it doesn’t take up as much data, if you saved a few things under EPS then it would take up quite a lot of data, but in AI, it will be a lot smaller so that’s what the school would be better off using. AI is better than EPS and CDR because Ai is smaller in size; it is supported by many popular graphic software, paid version and free open source. Also Ai is the industry standard in design & printing. This doesn’t mean that CDR and EPS are bad though, CDR is a file extension for a vector graphics file used by Corel Draw, a popular graphics design program. Corel Paint Shop Pro and Adobe illustrator 9 and later can also open some CDR files. Whereas EPS requires PostScript language to draw its image. The school must have a specific software application to create an EPS file, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXpress. EPS file is often used when exchanging vector graphics (logos for example) that are only to be read but not edited by the receiver, such as sending the file to a print house. PDF is also a very important file that can be used for printing, in many ways it might be the best file to use. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, each PDF file captures a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it. Also if a file is saved under PDF, it can be reopen on any computer which is good for the school because some files can’t be open on computers such as Mac’s.  So Vector files are the best way for the school to print of brochures for their evenings.

Online materials

When the school wants to display graphical images on the Kingswood website, they will be better off using Bitmap because this programme is more used and is more effective for online things than what Vector is. When you go to a website and see a static image, it is almost certainly a bitmap. Bitmaps are made up of pixels—dots lined up next to each other in a grid that represent what you can see on the screen.  Bitmap used files such as JPEG and GIF, but use image compression systems that can significantly decrease their file size. For this reason, JPEG and GIF images are used on the Web, while BMP images are often used for printable images. This would be useful for the school to use because even though Bitmap takes up more storage and memory, it also makes it easier to store things online and make images look professional. Bitmap graphics also takes less processing power than what Vector graphics does, and it is better that Bitmap is made up of pixels because Vector is made up from lines equations and calculations, so this will make it easier for the school to process images online. When you zoom in on a bitmap image you can see the individual pixels that make up that image. Bitmap graphics can be edited by erasing or changing the colour of individual pixels using a program such as Adobe Photoshop which is a system that the school will have. Vector formats are not well supported on the web. The two most popular image formats used on the Web are GIF and JPEG which of course are Bitmap formats. Most vector images must first be converted into bitmaps images before they can be used on the Web. So for the school to post things onto the school website they should use Bitmap Files. 

Unit 1 - skills audit

	Initial audit
	A	I	T
Word Processing
Level 1
I can open a new document	A
I can open an existing document	A
I can save a new document	A
I can save a document using the ‘save as’ facility and I understand why it is important to do so	A
I can format a document	A
I can change fonts	A
I can spell check	A
I can insert text	A
I can insert images	A
I can wrap around text	A
I can use templates appropriately	A
I can use headers and footers appropriately	A
I can use the Thesaurus	A
I can format the background	A
Level 2
I can change the print/page setup	A
I can paginate a document	A
I can import external data from other packages		I
I can use mail merge		I
I can insert footnotes and end notes	A
I can search and replace	A
I can create/format tables	A
I can use Styles	A
I can use Word count	A
Level 3
I can create a customised dictionary	A
I can create an automatic table of contents	A
I can create an index			T
Spreadsheets
Level 1
I can open a new worksheet	A
I can open an existing worksheet	A
I can add new worksheets to exiting ones	A
I can rename worksheets	A
I can move or copy sheets	A
I can add columns	A
I can add rows	A
I can delete columns	A
I can delete rows	A
I can enter data	A
I can copy a formula or a data series along a row or a column	A
I can sort data in ascending and descending order using primary and secondary sort functions		I
I can format data to show different data types	A
I can format data to show different data types, including date	A
I can format data to show different data types, including percentage	A
I can format data to show different data types, including currency	A
I can format cells to show bold	A
I can format cells to show italics	A
I can format cells to show underline	A
I can format cells to show font style	A
I can format cells to show font size	A
I can format cells to show cell border and shading	A
I can format cells to show text alignment and positioning within a cell	A
I can import data	A
I can create formulas	A
I can use functions	A
I can select non-adjacent columns	A
I can use Goal Seek			T
I can create charts/graphs and modify them	A
I can use filters and sort data into order		I
I can amend data on the spreadsheet in order to get different results	A
I can  change font size, type and colour in a cell and over a range of cells	A
I can move cell contents by using the click and drag approach	A
I can create and edit a graph using the chart wizard	A
I can rename worksheets	A
I know how to print formulae	A
I can preview and print spreadsheets using the appropriate orientation	A
Level 2
I can cut and paste data and graphs from spreadsheets into other applications	A
Level 3
I can use absolute cell referencing	A
I can use relative cell referencing	A
I can group worksheets to allow consistent editing of cells in a work book	A
I can use the Paste Special and the Paste Link commands	A
I can use conditional formatting		I
I can merge cell contents	A
PowerPoint
Level 1
I can open a new document	A
I can open an existing document	A
I can save a new document	A
I can save a document using the ‘save as’ facility and I understand why it is important to do so	A
I can format a document	A
I can change fonts	A
I can spell check	A
I can insert text	A
I can insert images, change font and layout	A
I can create and run a slide show	A
I can add animation and transitions	A
I can insert hyperlinks	A
I can add timings and animations to a slide show	A
I can add slides	A
I can amend slides	A
I can delete slides	A
I can create my own backgrounds on a slide	A
I can use backgrounds that are already created	A
I can insert graphics	A
I can use ClipArt	A
I know how to use animations appropriately	A
I know how to edit images by cropping	A
I know how to edit images by resizing	A
I can view a presentation on a mouse click	A
I can set up a show to run automatically on timings	A
I can insert transitions and animations	A
Level 2
I can create a slide master			T
I can import sound – KS 4 & 5		I
I can import video – KS 4 & 5			T
I know how to present printouts as handouts	A
I know how to present printouts as notes pages	A
Email
Level 1
I can send emails	A
I can receive emails	A
I can reply to emails	A
I can forward emails to single recipients	A
I can forward emails to multiple recipients	A
I can attach a file to an email message	A
I can attach multiple files to an email message	A
I can appropriately set the importance of a message	A
Level 2
I can use Cc	A
I can use Bcc	A
I can use an address book appropriately and can store an address	A
I can use an address book appropriately and can retrieve an address	A
I can use an address book appropriately and can use addresses	A
I can create and use an email signature		I
Internet
Level 1
I can navigate to known websites, and do basic searches	A
I can save images from a website as required and use them appropriately	A
I can save text from a website as required and use them appropriately	A
I can connect to the internet using a URL	A
I can navigate around a website	A
I can access and download appropriate information from the internet	A
I can bookmark websites and add to favourites	A
I understand the restrictions of copyright	A
I can use a URL to connect to a website from an intranet	A
I can use a URL to connect to a website from favourites	A
I can use a URL to connect to a website from bookmarks	A
I can use a URL to connect to a website typing accurately	A
Level 2
I can use Boolean Operators to undertake more accurate searches	A
I can save video from a website as required and use them appropriately			T
I can save animations from a website as required and use them appropriately		I
Desktop Publishing (Publisher or Adobe Indesign)
Level 1
I can open a new document	A
I can open an existing document	A
I can save a new document	A
I can save a document using the ‘save as’ facility and I understand why it is important to do so	A
I can format a document	A
I can change fonts	A
I can spell check	A
I can insert text	A
I can insert images, change font and layout	A
I can design documents from scratch	A
I can decide which publication to use at the appropriate time; for example, newsletters, worksheets, brochures, etc.	A
I can use text boxes	A
I can use Word Art	A
I can insert tables	A
I can insert picture frames	A
I can insert Clip Art	A
I can use Shapes and Auto Shapes	A
I can add text	A
I can amend text	A
I can delete text	A
I can use colour	A
I can format backgrounds	A
I can format colours	A
I can format images	A
I can copy text and images	A
I can paste text and images	A
I can move text and images	A
Level 2
I can use templates	A
I can use text effects	A
I can insert tables	A
I can edit tables	A
I can reposition tables	A
I can resize tables	A
Multimedia (cameras, scanners etc.)
Level 1
I can use a digital camera	A
I can use a digital camcorder	A
I can transfer images from a camera to a computer and edit these images	A
I can use software to import images into appropriate applications	A
I can use software to import images into appropriate applications, including Moviemaker			T
I can use software to import images into appropriate applications, including Publisher		I
I can crop and change file size and format as appropriate to purpose, e.g. save as jpeg	A
Level 2
I can use software to import images into appropriate applications, including Photo Editor	A
I can recognise the difference between different image files, such as vector based	A
I can recognise the difference between different image files, such as bitmapped	A
I can use a scanner to import images into appropriate applications			T
I can use a scanner to capture images			T