Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What should we put in our Description?
A: When making your submission it should be accompanied by a description of how you built your web site. This is worth up to 10 % of the overall marks, full details of how these may be allocated can be found in the Marking Scheme.
Typically this write up extends to about one sheet of A4 for each web site entered. It should be a brief description of how the site was built highlighting any important features or innovative uses of the technology. Identify the challenges you enjoyed solving on any aspect of the site.
If it is not clear from the web site itself describe how the work and content of the web site relates to your school work. We are also interested in how you organised your team and how you managed to work together.
Here are some good things to consider writing about:
- How did you test your web site?
- Did you do any user surveys either before or after it was developed and what feedback did you get?
- What did you learn?
- What would you do differently next time?
This is your chance to support your entry with a few words to showcase your work and describe how you went about developing your site.
In line with internet safety for schools guidelines please do not include student’s names in this write up. The write up could be published as part of the web site or should be submitted with the entry on CD or via email if you are entering via the web.
Q: My school is outside Oxfordshire, but I would like to take part?
A: Unfortunately we don't have the resources to accept entries from outside the county
of Oxfordshire. But if you would have wanted to take part, please let us know using
the Contact
page. We'll use your feedback to help the BCS gauge whether to do something similar
for other parts of the country in future years.
Q: We would like to enter a Sixth Form team: is this possible?
A: Historically, the Secondary age range has been 11-16, which strictly speaking excludes
older Sixth Form students. However, by popular request, we have expanded the competition
to include Sixth Formers. Younger Secondary students should not be worried by this
as the age profile of the teams will be taken into account during the marking.
Q: I think I can build a website all by myself. Can I enter as a team of one?
A: We don't exclude teams of one, but the competition is designed to encourage teamwork.
Some of the marks are awarded for a description of how you built your site and how
you divided the roles amongst members of your team. (See
Marking).
Q: Can I use tools/plugins, such as Macromedia Flash, to enhance my site?
A: We originally included the caveats about plugins for several reasons:
- to have a reasonably level playing field so that schools who perhaps couldn't afford
all the latest software bells and whistles would still be able to demonstrate creativity
and good design and stand a chance of winning prizes
- we wanted competitors to think about aspects of accessibility, and how their site
could be used - possibly in degraded mode - over slow lines and by people with disabilities.
We tried to word the rules carefully so that use of Flash and similar techniques
to enhance sites was not ruled out and indeed Flash can be used to good effect.
If you look at the marking scheme, you could score very highly in some areas with
a site using Flash, but if there was no alternative non- graphical navigation scheme
it would be difficult to get full marks in the Audience Awareness section.
Q: Would not following a "local theme" hinder our chances of winning?
A: We wanted to give some guidance about site content rather than leave teams come
up with random ideas, and, for example, many of the geography key stages have a
local theme, hence it fits in well with the ciriculum.
But if you read to the bottom of page on the Marking you can see that it's perfectly
OK to submit a site with a different theme - but it should still be related to your
coursework. The key is that 10% of the marks are on your description which is the
place you could use to explain to the judges why the theme you chose was appropriate,
especially if you had a valid reason for not using a local theme.
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