IT – Level 3 Extended Diploma

Entry Requirements:

Minimum of five GCSE grades 9-4 (or A*-C) including either English or Maths

OR

Level 2 Vocational Programme at Merit or above (e.g. BTEC/NVQ/OCR National) PLUS three GCSEs 9-4 (or A*-C) including either English or Maths.

Please Note: You do not need to have studied ICT or Computing at High School

Course overview

BTEC Extended Diploma in IT is suitable for students who areinterested in computers, and would like a career in Computer Science,ICT or Business. The course covers a range of subjects and is entirely assessed by coursework assignments. Some assignments require extended writing about theoretical topics while others involve learning practical skills such spreadsheets and databases. There are also some assignments that require both practical and theory topics.

I completed the Extended Diploma in IT and now I have a career with Lloyds Bank. I am earning a good salary plus a day release to study for a degree in Computer Science.

-BTEC IT student

Course Details

This course has 18 units. Core units which make up 33% of the total course units and these include:

Unit 1- Communication and Employability Skills
Unit 2 – Computer Systems
Unit 3 – Information systems
Unit 4 – The Impact of IT in Business Organisations
Unit 7 – Organisation Systems security
Unit 8 – e-Commerce

Optional units which make up 67% of the course and chosen from the following banks:

Computing

Unit 6 – Software Design and Development
Unit 11 – Systems Analysis and Design
Unit 14 – Event Driven Programming
Unit 16 – Procedural programming
Unit 17 – Project planning with IT

General IT

Unit 18 – Database Design
Unit 23 – Human Computer Interaction
Unit 17 – Project planning with IT
Unit 34 – Business Resources
Unit 42 – Spreadsheet Modelling

Website design and development

Unit 20 – Client-side customisation of webpages
Unit 28 – Website Production
Unit 27 – Web-Server Scripting
Unit 30 – Digital Graphics

Skills

You will develop advanced skills Information Systems, Graphic Design, Project Management skills, to mention but a few ICT topics. You will also learn fundamentals of computer science and develop programming skills using VB.Net, Python, HTML and PHP languages.

Careers/Destination

On successful completion of the BTEC Extended Diploma, you can progress to employment or apprenticeship, or you can progress to higher education and continue with degree studies in the same, or related vocational area such as Business Studies, Accounts, Law, Criminology etc. the Extended Diploma gives the flexibility of choice.