Site Development


Operating Systems, new download dates - March 2021

Five exercises to support the teaching of Operating Systems have been added to the site.

We are now using CSS Grid for exercise development.

New business model will greatly reduce the cost of subscriptions for schools.

New free download dates for The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens.

Further details are available in the spring 2021 newsletter.

Site update, exercise revisions, user guides, new download dates - September 2020

The site has been updated to use HTTPS.

The site exercises have been revised for iPads.

The site user guides have been revised for HTML5.

New free download dates for The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens.

Further details are available in the autumn 2020 newsletter.

Python Revisions, Free copies of novel - June 2020

All Python exercises have been revised.

We are offering free copies of The BBC Micro:bit and the Moon Dust Aliens to school libraries.

Further details are available in the summer 2020 newsletter.

Novel featuring the BBC Micro:bit, removal of Flash based exercises - May 2020

We have published a novel to promote reading and programming.

We are replacing all Flash based exercises with HTML5 equivalents.

Further details are available in the spring 2020 newsletter.

BBC Micro:bit exercises revised, novel featuring the BBC Micro:bit, login procedure revised - Dec 2019

Two exercises for the BBC Mirco:bit have been revised.

Daisy-i is to publish a novel to promote reading and programming.

The login procedure has been revised to use reCaptcha.

Further details are available in the autumn 2019 newsletter.

Boolean Logic, updated exercise, new login procedure - May 2019

Seven exercises to support the teaching of Boolean Logic have been added to the site.

The 'What is an Algorithm?' exercise from the 'Algorithms and Programs' section has been amended.

A new login procedure will be introduced from September 2019.

Further details are available in the summer 2019 newsletter.

Scratch updates- March 2019

A number of the Scratch exercises have been updated.

We are planning to release exercises to support the teaching of simple Boolean logic in the summer term.

Further details are available in the spring 2019 newsletter.

Sound Bytes - 2, JavaScript - November 2018

The Sound Bytes - 2 exercise has been updated.

Five exercises to support the teaching of JavaScript have been added to the site.

We are in the process of updating the exercises on Scratch.

Further details are available in the autumn 2018 newsletter.

GDPR, updated exercises - July 2018

An exercise on GDPR has been added to the site.

Six exercises in the Algorithms and Programs section have been updated.

We are planning to release exercises to support the teaching of simple JavaScript in the autumn term.

Further details are available in the summer 2018 newsletter.

CSS, Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle - April 2018

Two additional exercises to support the teaching of CSS have been added to the site.

Three exercises to support the teaching of the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle have been added to the site.

We are preparing to revise the sorting and the data protection exercises over the summer term.

Further details are available in the spring 2018 newsletter.

BBC Micro:bit, CSS - Dec 2017

A fourth batch of exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit has been added to the site.

Two exercises to support the teaching of CSS have been added to the site.

We are planning to release further exercises to support the teaching of CSS in The New Year.

Further details are available in the autumn 2017 newsletter.

BBC Micro:bit, exercise amendments - June 2017

A third batch of four exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit has been added to the site.

Two exercises have been amended as a result of student feedback.

We are planning to release further exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit in the autumn term.

Further details are available in the summer 2017 newsletter.

BBC Micro:bit, binary addition, levels and grading - January 2017

A further batch of four exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit has been added to the site.

Two exercises to support binary addition and overflow have been added to the site.

We are changing the way that grades and descriptors will be used on the site.

We are planning to release further exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit in the summer term.

Further details are available in the spring 2017 newsletter.

BBC Micro:bit, levels and grading - September 2016

A new batch of four exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit has been added to the site.

In view of the changes on grading at KS4, we are requesting input from schools on the use of levels and grading on the site.

We are planning to release further exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit in October and in November.

Further details are available in the autumn 2016 newsletter.

HTML5 exercises: update, revision of exercises, BBC Micro:bit - April 2016

We have completed the conversion of the site's exercises to HTML5.

The PDF versions of the site's exercises have been withdrawn.

The exercises on Copyright and Plagiarism have been revised.

We have begun development on exercises to support the BBC Micro:bit.

Further details are available in the summer 2016 newsletter.

HTML5 versions of exercises: update, withdrawal of PDF exercises - January 2016

Over a hundred of the site's exercises have now been converted to HTML5 format.

The PDF versions of the site's exercises are to be withdrawn.

Further details are available in the spring 2016 newsletter.

HTML5 versions of exercises: update, learning objectives, revised menu, Chrome and Edge - September 2015

Fourteen HTML5 versions of the site's PDF exercises have been added to the site. A further five exercises are currently in development.

Learning objectives are being added to the site's exercises.

The exercises menu now shows the format of each of the site's exercises.

Chrome no longer supports Adobe's Acrobat plugin. Microsoft's new Edge browser also will not support the Acrobat plugin. Alternative workflows are available for both browsers.

Further details are available in the autumn 2015 newsletter.

HTML5 versions of exercises, request for feedback, price increases - June 2015

A first batch of six, HTML5 versions of the site's PDF exercises has been added to the site. A road map for the conversion of the remaining exercises to HTML5 format has been published.

A request for feedback on the new HTML5 versions of the exercises has been made.

Price increases have been announced for new subscribers; prices for existing subscribers will remain unchanged.

Further details are available in the summer 2015 newsletter.

New exercises, help pages - February 2015

Three additional exercises have been added to the site to support Algorithms and Programs.

Help pages have been added to the site to support students in setting up their browsers to use the site exercise files.

Further details are available in the spring 2015 newsletter.

New exercises, revised levels and descriptors - September 2014

Two new sets of exercises have been added to the site. These are on Algorithms and Programs, and on Computer Files

Levels and descriptors for the site exercises have now been linked to the new Computing Curriculum.

Further details are available in the autumn 2014 newsletter.

New exercises, student site guide - June 2014

A new batch of exercises to support programming in Python has been added to the site.

An animated student's guide has been added to the site.

Further details are available in the summer 2014 newsletter.

Site name change, new report, site guide and new exercises - February 2014

The ICT Homework site has been renamed to Computing Homework.

A new diagnostic report has been added to the site. This is designed to support students who may be experiencing problems in using the site from home.

An animated teacher's guide has been added to the site.

A new batch of exercises to support programming in Python has been added to the site.

Further details are available in the spring 2014 newsletter.

Exercise revisions, changes for Curriculum Managers - September 2013

Twelve of the site's exercises have been revised.

Filters for Curriculum Managers have been reversed so that CMs will now see their own classes in the first instance on management screens.

Further details are available in the autumn 2013 newsletter.

New exercises, revised menu and minor report changes - June 2013

Seven new exercises have been added to the site. These are included in a new section entitled Programming: Python.

The Exercises Menu has been reorganised and there are two minor changes to reports which export homework data.

Further details are available in the summer 2013 newsletter.

New administrative functionality - January 2013

Three new reports have been added to the site: The first enables teachers to give students additional attempts at exercises by year group. A second enables teachers to view summary data by year group. Finally, a diagnostic report has been added to enable teachers to access our browser and PDF log file data.

A number of diagnostic alerts are now being displayed to help students who may be experiencing problems in completing the site exercises from home.

The FAQs page has been updated.

Further details are available in the spring 2013 newsletter.

New exercises, additional administrative functionality - September 2012

Three new exercises have been added to the site. These are included in a new section entitled Computer Networks.

New functionality has been added to support school teachers. Teachers now have a greater degree of control over student marks and exercise attempts.

New functionality has been added to support school DBAs. DBAs can now upload school data via the icthomework site.

Further details are available in the autumn 2012 newsletter.

New administrative functionality - June 2012

The form that is used to set homework tasks has been revised to allow teachers to set a homework task for one or more teaching groups.

New functionality has been added to support school DBAs. DBAs can now manage all aspects of their school data.

Further details are available in the summer 2012 newsletter.

New exercises, revised reports and guides to the site - March 2012

Three new exercises have been added to the site. These are included in a new section entitled Health and Safety.

Teacher and student reports have been revised to show a greater level of detail.

Two user guides have been added to the site to support teachers.

Further details are available in the spring 2012 newsletter.

New exercises, NC levels support and new student reports - September 2011

Eleven new exercises have been added to the site. These are all part of a new section to support programming. Scratch programs are used to support many of these exercises.

A table has been added to the site, which shows how the site exercise are related to the NC level descriptors for ICT.

Student reports now show level descriptors that students accrue as a result of doing the site exercises. Student reports now also include grade information.

Further details are available in the autumn 2011 newsletter.

Animations, modifications and new exercise - June 2011

Two new animations have been added to the site. Some modifications have been made to existing animations.

Modifications have been made to two of the exercises on the site.

A new exercise on Bullying has been added to the site.

Further details are available in the summer 2011 newsletter.

Logging in/Management functionality added - March 2011

The logging in procedure has been made easier by the use of an alias for the school postcode.

Some additional searching and management functionality has been added to the site. Further details are available in the spring 2011 newsletter.

A new report has been added to enable teachers to export all completed homework data by class. This is supported by a complementary report, which exports all uncompleted homework data.

Animations added to Modelling and Graphic sections - February 2011

In response to student feedback, we have added new animations to a small number of exercises. The animations are interactive and are designed to provide additional support for students to complete the exercises.

Four animations have been added. These are for:

  1. Modelling - Key Spreadsheet features
  2. Modelling - Building a Model: Holiday
  3. Graphics - Working with Bitmap Tools
  4. Graphics - Modifying Bitmap Images

Further batches of interactive exercises are in development. We would welcome feedback from schools on the exercises listed above, prior to releasing new material.

Student reports modified/Feedback form added - November 2010

Student reports have been modified to provide additional feedback to students. This makes it easier for students to see their marks. At the same time, they can also see which homework exercises they still need to complete. Further details are available in the autumn 2010 newsletter.

A comments form has been added to enable students to provide anonymous feedback on each exercise that they attempt.

As a result of student feedback, a number of exercises are being revised to include short animations.

New exercises - June 28th 2010

Additional exercises on spreadsheet functions have been added to the modelling section of the exercises menu. These look in detail at the SUM and IF functions. A number of common spreadsheet functions, such as AVERAGE, MEDIAN and MODE are also covered. These exercises are supported by interactive models.

An exercise on sorting data has been added to the database searching section. This exercise covers the idea of nested sorting.

An exercise which explores the idea of gestural interfaces and people as input devices has been added to the hardware section. This supplements the other input/output exercise in this section.

Further details are available in the summer 2010 newsletter.

New exercises - April 26th 2010

ICT students have a great deal of exposure to software tools. As a consequence, they are fairly adept at manipulating virtual environments. They are perhaps less aware of the physical tools that are available to support virtual activities.

To help students to develop a greater appreciation of the hardware that supports their curriculum, we have added a new hardware section to the exercises menu. This contains exercises on keyboard shortcuts, input/output devices, storage and ports.

Supporting Assessment for Learning - February 2010

Students are now given greater feedback when they complete exercises:

They are given a mark and a grade. This is accompanied by a comment.

If students achieve less than 100% for an exercise, they are given some guidance on how to improve their learning and hence their marks.

Students are now also told which questions they have answered correctly.

Students have always been able to tackle an exercise as many times as they wished. They can still do this. However, since they are now being told which questions they have answered correctly, the reporting system only records the marks for their first three attempts. Subsequent attempts are still reported to students but their marks are not recorded.

To help students migrate to the new marking system, they are shown the following message panel when they now log on to the student page.

The assessment reports for students have changed.

You have always been able to do an exercise as many times as you wanted. Now, however, you will be able to see the marks for your first three attempts.

You will also be told which questions you have got right. This should help you to think about how you can improve your learning and your marks.

Your results page will now include three columns, which will show the marks for your first three attempts. These will be labelled M1, M2 and M3.