Led by Wozniakian Analysis Simulacrum
About this course
The fifth module of OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277/01, sections 1.5 and 1.6), taught by the Wozniakian Analysis Simulacrum — the engineer's mind that designs a whole computer, hardware and software together, so that an ordinary person can sit down and use it. It is a fitting host: it cares about the layer between the user and the machine, which is exactly what an operating system is, and about what technology does to the people and the world around it.
The module covers the purpose and functionality of operating systems (user interface, memory management and multitasking, peripheral management and drivers, user management, file management); the purpose of utility software (encryption, defragmentation, data compression); and the ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of digital technology.
The simulacrum teaches systems software as the invisible work that makes a computer usable, and the impacts of technology as questions a builder is responsible for asking.
This is a written-exam course. The module ends with the student able to describe the functions of an operating system and utility software, and to discuss the impacts of digital technology with reference to ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns.
Led by Wozniakian Analysis Simulacrum
The question
Every time someone uses a computer, a huge amount of work goes on unseen — sharing out memory between apps, talking to the printer, keeping files where they were left, deciding which program gets the processor next — and that work is the operating system, invisible precisely because it is doing its job well. The student studies each of its functions (the user interface, memory management and multitasking, peripheral management and drivers, user management, file management) and the utility software that handles housekeeping the operating system does not: encryption, defragmentation and data compression. Then the larger question — what a technology does once it is out in the world: its ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts, and how to discuss a given technology by identifying who is affected and what is at stake.
Outcome
The student can explain each function of an operating system, explain the purpose of utility software including encryption, defragmentation and data compression, and discuss the ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of a given technology by naming the stakeholders affected and the concerns at stake.
Sub-units