Heads Up - Claiming BTEC certificates for MAC from Ultilearn

Everyone General Training
1

Hi all,

Just wanted to give people a heads up over problems we have had, after the first few of ours cadets have completed Master Air Cadet from exams they have done on Ultilearn.

Basically, Edexcel have not yet updated their systems to show the new subjects, so when a Wing Training Officer logs in to claim for the certificate, they have to link the new subjects back to the old paper “equivalent”. This is where the problems start.

I am talking about the Edexcel certificate by the way, not the Air Cadet ones you get from RAF reprographics.

A good example is Propulsion, which is now 3 subjects, but used to be just one. If, on Ultilearn, a cadet has done more than one of the Propulsion subjects, they cannot get the Edexcel certificate, as when comparing back to the old subjects, this only counts as one “Propulsion”, not the 3 subjects it is now.

There are other overlaps, all shown in the table in ACTO 1.

We can’t be the first Sqn to have come across this, but my Wing Training Officer spoke to TG1 and apparently this is a first and they hadn’t come across it before, un-believable!

We have exams coming up, so I am going to try and avoid subjects that cause clashes, in fact, you can only just get 6 subjects to do for Senior and MAC that don’t cause clashes!!

Would be interested to hear from others who may have come across this. I have been reading a few topics about Ultilearn, enough to make me fully stressed by it all again. We have been doing exams on there, 3 times a year for around 60 cadets a time for the past year or so. The cadets hate it, the staff hate it and as Training Officer, it is the bane of my life. It has made the whole examination procedure harder, more time consuming etc etc. I can’t see that it helps us in any way and the systems to support it are still not in place. I’d go back to paper exams any day.

Sure you already know all about the troubles anyway, so will leave that there!

2

your not the first - this reared its head to us a year ago!! Simple solution was for cadets to sit one extra assessment on Ultilearn (if studying the three propulsion or demerged Aircraft Handling etc and with the training materials for fairness) and problem solved - EdExcel were happy with that - we recently got two of the new BTEC’s and a further 2 on the way. Its either that or as you said avoid the subjects which clash.

I find it really frustrating that this has not been flagged up through the chain of command when we realised the issue in March last year!!!

3

Thanks for the reply!!

That is un-believable, that a problem so huge as this, that effects thousands of cadets, is still outstanding and no announcement has been made to warn people about which subjects to take, or even worse, that it takes so long to fix something like this.

Do you know who ths issue was reported to when you came across it? As TG1 at HQAC claimed he had not come across this before…

4

[quote=“moorsey” post=3192]Do you know who ths issue was reported to when you came across it? As TG1 at HQAC claimed he had not come across this before…[/quote]Helpdesk on SharePoint. I think I’ve seen it logged 4 or 5 times - but helpdesk close it because, technically, its not their remit.

5

[quote=“moorsey” post=3192]Thanks for the reply!!

That is un-believable, that a problem so huge as this, that effects thousands of cadets, is still outstanding and no announcement has been made to warn people about which subjects to take, or even worse, that it takes so long to fix something like this.

Do you know who ths issue was reported to when you came across it? As TG1 at HQAC claimed he had not come across this before…[/quote]

We became aware of it when applying for 4 BTEC’s in Aviation Studies and all but one which had been exclusively done on the old syllabus was rejected due to not enough subjects. As such our Wing Training Officer was advised IF a cadet had started on the old syllabus (upto Senior Cadet etc) and then changed over to the new with three subjects per level then an additional one would have to be studied.

However is slight contradiction the cadets who DID do an additional subject also only studied the 3 propulsion subjects for MAC and have been passed with them and only them.

As I am only a baby Plt Off and it was flagged to me by an outranking officer I assumed they had flagged it up themselves. I agree though that I have also seen these issues flagged up on the help-desk - they have no control over this - so bets to use the workaround advised and everyone is happy!

6

Indeed. You say the workaround advised, but what gets me with this, is that we haven’t been notified! As this has obviously come up nearly a year ago, why have other Wings and Sqns been informed, that’s what annoys me more. I understand there is going to be problems, but communication in the ACO has always sucked, I think it was better back when we got a big envelope of post from Wing every week, before emails took off!