Section outline

    • Announcements Forum

    • Course information

      Course title 2026 - Computer Applications Technology - Grade 10
      Subject area Computer Applications Technology / Digital Literacy
      Class / grade level Grade 10 · FET Phase · first year of the subject, no prior computing knowledge assumed
      Brief description An eight-week introductory course covering what a computer is, the software that instructs it and the hardware that carries those instructions out. Learners finish able to classify any computing device they meet, explain how data becomes information, choose the right application for a task, and read a device specification well enough to advise on a purchase.

    • Welcome to Computer Applications Technology

      Watch this first, then read the notes below.

      How to work through this course

      1. Take the three topics in order, and the lessons inside them in order — each one assumes the last.
      2. In each lesson: read the slides, download the handout, and do the interactive activity where there is one.
      3. Do both practice activities. They carry no marks, and that is deliberate: they exist so you can be wrong cheaply and get feedback on it.
      4. Finish the topic with its Checkpoint: the revision challenge, the knowledge check, and the marked task. That is where the marks are — 25, 35 and 40, one hundred in total.
      5. The knowledge check gives you feedback after every answer and you may retake it as often as you like.
      6. Post in the discussion forum at least once per topic.
      7. Check Announcements weekly. Due dates appear in your calendar automatically.

      If you get stuck: ask in the topic Q&A forum first — someone usually has the same question. For anything personal, message me directly.

    • Course objectives

      By the end of this course you will be able to:

      1. Classify any computing device you encounter as embedded, mobile, personal, server or supercomputer, and justify the classification in writing.
      2. Describe the four stages of the information processing cycle and apply them correctly to at least ten unfamiliar devices.
      3. Explain the difference between data and information using an example you generate yourself.
      4. Sort any hardware component into input, processing, storage or output and defend the decision.
      5. Distinguish system software from application software, and identify the licence type of any program on a device you use.
      6. Read a device specification and explain in plain language what the processor, RAM and storage figures mean for a stated user.
      7. Recommend a computer against a fixed budget and defend the trade-offs you accepted.

      Where each objective is assessed. Objectives 1–3 in Introduction to Computers, objective 5 in Software, objectives 4, 6 and 7 in Hardware.