Cambridge National in Creative iMedia: Frequently asked questions

How can I find out more about the Cambridge National in Creative iMedia (J834) qualification?

You can view our specification and sample assessment material on our public website. If you sign up for Teach Cambridge so you can access all our additional resources to learn more about the qualification delivery and assessment, please talk to our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email support@ocr.org.uk 

Our subject advisor team is also available to provide support to you. You can contact them using the phone number and email address provided here. 

You can access all our teaching resources on Teach Cambridge, a secure website for teachers. You will have to liaise with your exam officer to register.

What planning and teaching resources are available for this qualification?

All of our resources are available on Teach Cambridge. The list of resources is shared below:

• Switching guide – if you are moving from BTEC Tech Award in Creative Media Production you can compare our course again this one.
• A curriculum planner – an editable high level planning aid for two or three year delivery with suggestions on how you may want to structure the course. 
• Schemes of work - for every unit as well as a template for you to create your own scheme of work.
• Progress Tracker – an editable spreadsheet to help track students’ progress through the units.
• Options toolkit – especially for options evenings including student guides, information leaflets, posters and a presentation that you can amend/update for your school setting. 
• Student guide to NEA assignments – document which must be given to students before they start their NEA. Gives guidance on completing their assignment including important information on avoiding plagiarism.
• Guide to understanding the assessment - for both the exam and NEA units.
• Understanding the NEA video – a short video from the principal moderator with 5 top tips for successful delivery for the NEAs
• Online courses – the mandatory essentials for the NEA course and the optional focus on internal assessment online courses
• The live set assignment for the NEA units for the current academic year. These are updated every year with new assignments being released on the 1 June for use in the following academic year for both the January and June series.
• The sample assignments - for using with students to practice. No other OCR set-assignment should be used for practice. 
• Moderators’ report for past series and a teacher’s guide to administration.
• Candidate style work – examples and commentary for the NEA units to help understand and apply the marking criteria.
• Candidate exemplars for all units (for teacher use only) 
• Forms including the unit recording sheets (URS), candidate authentication statements and set assignment feedback forms to use for the NEA units.
• A sample paper for R093 is available on the public website for teaching and learning tasks. Candidate style answers shows example responses and how they are marked. An additional practice paper is available on Teach Cambridge only and the most recent past-papers so they can be used for mocks without students having access. 
• Past papers are added to Teach Cambridge within 2-10 days of the exam date, mark schemes for  are added on results day.
• OCR endorsed student textbook and planning and teaching resources for teachers are available from publishers including Cambridge University Press and Hodder Education.

What software can be used for different units?

Our software recommendations document (Software Packages for NEA Units) suggests possible software for each unit. There are many others that could be used by students. If you want to check other software not listed in this document, then please email support@ocr.org.uk .

Can we have an example of the kind of NEA tasks that students might develop?

Please use our sample assignments for your chosen unit(s) from the qualification webpage assessment section as well as Teach Cambridge (secure) website for teachers.

Candidate style answers showing example responses and how they should be marked, are provided through the teach Cambridge web site and are based on the sample assessment materials for each unit. These are currently available for the mandatory units R093 and R094 with the optional unit candidate style answers due to be released soon.

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Will OCR provide training for teachers and/or students?

There are many CPD events on offer with a focus on developing knowledge, skills and understanding of teachers planning to deliver our Creative iMedia qualification successfully. Please book your places on our ‘teachers only’ CPD events using our professional development website.

Is there any guidance on how the assessment of NEA unit(s) should look like?

We have provided NEA exemplar material for mandatory units (R093, R094) for teachers to understand the assessment of these units which are available on our new and secure Teach Cambridge website for teachers. We continue to develop exemplars for other optional units so please check for these later.

We recommend that you review the ‘assessment guidance’ included within the specification for each of the units; which appears after the marking criteria within the specification for each unit, and covers all of the mark bands (MB1, MB2 and MB3)..

Can our students use an online software application for their final assessment tasks?

Yes, students are allowed to use an online version of the software for their chosen unit. However, it is important to remember that they need to submit their final solution as a standalone digital product and not a product stored on line or a web link to a stored product.

You must be able to authenticate students work which has been completed online. It may be possible to provide access during classroom time only; when they are under direct supervised and in a controlled environment (as stated within the specification). It would be necessary to limit access to assessment products outside of scheduled assessment time.