James teaches in a school that uses a local area network and a wide area network.

(a) Give one example of a wide area network. (1)

Internet

(b) Some Learners have accessibility needs.

Complete the table to describe how two peripheral devices designed specifically for accessibility could improve the learning of people with accessibility needs. (4)

(c) Describe two benefits to teachers of using a local area network. (4)

1 Centralised backup: User data is protected from loss because backups can be automated for all users. This makes it more likely that backups will happen then if individual users were asked to complete backups themselves.

2 Shared software: Application servers can provide access to shared software. Some servers can provide access to operating systems.

(d) One type of backup procedure the school could use is incremental backup.

State one other backup procedure the school could use to secure its data. (1)

The school could use to secure its data by using a differential backup which creates a copy of all files that have changed since the last full backup.

(e) Explain the purpose of an acceptable use policy. (3)

An acceptable use policy is a document specifying constraints and practices that a user must agree to for access to a corporate network or the internet. Many businesses and educational facilities require that employees or students sign an acceptable use policy before being granted a network ID to prevent them from behaving inappropriately.

(f) The learners use Communication software.

Describe the purpose of communication software. (2)

Communication software provides remote access to systems and allows users to contact people using the internet. It can be used to send files and messages as text, images, audio and video.

(g) Discuss the impact of VLEs on learners. (8)

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a great tool to help learners throughout their studies. It gives access to a big span of functions, such as -

Giving the learners the access to their homework or tasks online, it can be accessed from any device at any place of the world, which makes the learning more interesting and effective.

It encourages collaboration and communication between the teacher and the learner. The time flexibility is the main advantage of the VLE and a learner or student can post a question at any suitable time. And the teacher also has flexibility in replying to the questions. Rather than have a particular time period to study the portal enables both the teacher and the student to work at their individual pace.

Some of the support tools that can be found in a VLE portal are-noticeboards, course online, conferences, tutor and student email, class lists and student homepage, assignments and quizzes, etc. These notice boards and conferencing encourages discussion and debates on specific topics.

The various integrated tools of VLEs support students with both class assignments and home assignments. Likewise it also encourages learners to study at an intensive level thereby including links with course materials, submit and assessing the assignment via personal home page and quick feedback.

(Total for Question 5 = 23 marks)