National Diploma
I was studying a National Diploma at my local Further Education College before starting university.
The course I was on was equivalent to 3 A-Levels; it was a BTEC National Diploma in IT PRACTITIONERS (Software Development). The reason I chose to do this course instead of staying in at school to do A-levels was because I knew I wanted to work with computers and do a degree that focused on computers.
If I stayed at school I would have ended up doing A-Levels in ICT, History and Psychology and the only one that would be of use to me would be the ICT A-level and the other two would be because I was interested in them.
Where as with the National Diploma I’d be getting 3 A-levels in a subject that I’d use and need in my higher education. I’m glad I did this course as I ended up doing better then I probably would have done if I had stayed doing A-Levels and probably wouldn’t have gotten the grades to get in to University.
The skills I learnt at college are helpful to the ones I’m developing now at University. The subjects that were covered in the National Diploma are:-
- Language and Communications
- Introduction to Software Development
- Software Applications
- Business Information Systems
- Expert Systems
- Computational Methods
- Communication Technology
- Computer Systems
- Visual Programming
- Software Applications
- Systems Analysis and Design
- Software Development Project
- Programming Concepts and Practise
- Applications Software Development
- Website Management
- HCI
- E-Commerce
- Systems Justification
- Website Development
