What training is available for Cambridge Nationals Creative iMedia?

What training is available for Cambridge Nationals Creative iMedia (J834)? 09 October 2024

Vinay Thawait, Computer Science, IT and Creative iMedia Subject Advisor

Vinay Thawait

This blog was first published in 2022 and has been updated to reflect current courses.

Whether you are new to teaching our Creative iMedia qualification or are an established teacher we have professional development (PD) courses and events to help support you. In this blog I’ve included a round-up of all our training courses for 2024-25.

You can register for any of these via our Teach Cambridge website, Train@OCR page, or our Events page.

Free on-demand online courses

Cambridge Nationals (teaching from September 2022): Essentials for the NEA

This is a mandatory course for all teachers delivering any of our Cambridge National qualifications. It’s a free eLearning course designed to prepare and support you to deliver the new Cambridge Nationals suite NEA set assignments.

The course provides you with a good understanding of the qualification requirements and helps ensure consistency. And because it covers all Cambridge Nationals, if you do teach more than one you only need to do this course once. It is ideal to do as a team as part of a department meeting.

This course is available to book on demand from Teach Cambridge or Train@OCR.

Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia (J834)

This is our other free eLearning course specifically for the Creative iMedia qualification. It provides insight into the internal assessment and includes details about your responsibilities. It’s ideal for a department meeting just before starting the NEA tasks with your students.

It is available on demand on Teach Cambridge or OCR Train.

Free live webinars and face-to-face courses

Starting to teach

This is another of our free webinars providing you with everything you need to know to get started. The course aims to develop your understanding of key aspects of our qualification. It’s aimed at both experienced and non-specialist teachers. The course will cover specification content, structure, question format and assessment requirements as well as offering practical guidance on getting started in the classroom.

Please check regularly for dates here.

Ask the subject advisor (online Q&A)

These free webinars are held regularly throughout the year. It’s an opportunity for us to share subject updates and for you to ask important questions. It’s helpful to send your questions to us in advance by emailing vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk If you prefer, you can attend to hear queries from other centres’ you can always ask any of your own as you think of them.

Remember, you don’t have to wait to ask question you can email us anytime support@ocr.org.uk.

Ask the moderator (online Q&A)

These free webinars are held regularly throughout the year to give you an opportunity to ask questions of a moderator, one of the team of people who look at the sample work you send to us. It’s helpful to them if you send any questions beforehand to support@ocr.org.uk but it's also great to just join to listen to queries from other centres.

Exam review (webinar)

Our exam review sessions for Cambridge Nationals Creative iMedia (J834) are designed to highlight key findings from the most recent exam series, providing an overview of student performance and outcomes. The event is intended to complement our examiners’ reports and existing exemplar materials, focusing on key aspects of students performance.

Please check regularly for dates here.

Paid for face to face and webinars

Exploring the NEA (face to face and webinar)

This is an extended, paid for, online session for new, experienced, and non-specialist teachers.

This course builds upon the principles mapped out in the eLearning and free courses we currently offer, which focus on how you can support students to develop the skills required for successful NEA work.

This event focuses more on practice and application: providing you with opportunities to work through past series’ materials, including candidate exemplars. Led by moderators, the course is designed to support your understanding of how and why a range of exemplars secured the marks they did, empowering you to apply this knowledge to your own teaching and delivery.

Sign up for face-to-face on 15 November 2024 10am-4pm
Sign up for face-to-face on 3 December 2024 10am-4pm
Sign up for webinar on 12 December 2024 1:30pm-4pm
Sign up for webinar on 7 February 2025 1:30pm-4pm

Exploring the exam (webinar)

This is another extended, paid for, session. It gives you the opportunity to develop your skills in supporting students to succeed in the exam unit R093. It builds on the free courses we already offer, using candidate exemplars and practice papers to review topic areas.

It would be ideal to attend with colleagues, or it could be something to share afterwards with others in your team. You’ll have opportunities to practice marking real candidate responses, receive guidance on how and why candidate responses secured a range of marks, interact with expert trainers and explore ideas to enhance teaching and learning for future preparation and delivery.

Enhancing your teaching: supporting students with the R094 NEA (webinar)

In this paid for event our expert trainer will offer tips and practical advice on preparing students and supporting them to understand the requirements of this optional NEA unit.

Enhancing your teaching: supporting students with the R099 NEA (webinar)

In this paid for event our expert trainer will offer tips and practical advice on preparing students and supporting them to understand the requirements of this optional NEA unit, empowering you to deliver our Cambridge Nationals Creative iMedia qualification with confidence.

Free teacher network event

Creative iMedia subject briefings

Finally, we hold regular free teacher network online subject briefings, an opportunity to discuss the course with other teachers and share good practice. You can find out when the next one is taking place on the teacher network page. Alternatively, if you fancy hosting your own subject network meeting for you and centres local to you, with support from us, either in person or virtually, please email us at support@ocr.org.uk or networks@ocr.org.uk.

Stay connected

If you think there is any additional professional development we could offer, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If you have any questions please comment below, or email us at vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk or support@ocr.uk. You can also message us @OCR_ICT or call our customer support centre on 01223 553998.

You can also sign up to subject updates and and receive information about resources and support. You can also stay up to date using our dedicated support area.

About the author

Vinay joined OCR in July 2014 to support the GQ reform and development of the AS and A Level Computer Science qualifications. Since then, he has been involved in the development of the reformed GCSE (9-1) Computer Science, Entry Level Computer Science, and Cambridge National in IT, new Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in IT: Data Analytics and the Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in Computing: Application development qualification. He is currently working on the Wave 2 Level 3 Cambridge Advanced National (AAQ) in Cyber Security and Digital Networking qualification.

Before joining OCR, Vinay spent more than 25 years in IT and Computer Science teaching and leadership roles, working for several schools as well as local authorities educational support team. He was the National Bid Lead for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative within Capita IT, and also the Head of Operations for an audio-visual educational software development company. Vinay has a degree, three post-graduate masters and NPQH from Warwick, Coventry, and Nottingham Universities. Outside work, he takes part in karate, cricket, and badminton. He doesn’t believe in ‘just sitting down and watching TV’.