Solution development (revision and file management)
User accounts, logging in, file management, and revision of Grade 10 problem-solving steps, tools and techniques.
Grade 11 Information Technology
Annual Teaching Plan (Terms 1-4)
The Grade 11 Information Technology (IT) CAPS syllabus in South Africa follows the annual teaching plan with programming and solution development, systems and network technologies, data and information management, and PAT tasks across Terms 1-4. Use the term topics below with Grade 11 IT past papers for exam preparation.
Quick links:Grade 11 CAPS past papers hub
How to study using this page: Revise term topics attempt past papers mark with memos.
Term 1 topics
Weeks 1-11
Assessment: SBA: Task 1 Theory test (min. 45 marks, 1 hour) and Task 2 Practical test (min. 45 marks, 1 hour) (as listed in ATP).
Systems technologies (motherboard, performance, operating systems)
Motherboard: purpose, role and components; expansion cards; flow/transfer of data between components; cache memory and caching; memory as part of a computer system; computer performance. Types of operating systems (cost, size, hardware, platform). Compilers and interpreters. Overview of processing techniques. Virtual memory and overview of virtualisation.
Programming: loops and arrays
Revision of Grade 10 loops; nested loops (structure and algorithms). Arrays: concept of a 1-dimensional array, arrays as a 1D data structure, looping through items and basic mathematical operations in an array. Parallel arrays.
Algorithms: searching and sorting
Searching using linear and binary search algorithms; sorting an array using bubble and selection sort.
Networks (overview)
Overview of physical aspects of a network: communication (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 5G, LTE) and data transmission. Network innovation: role and purpose of VoIP, Internet vs intranet vs extranet, VPN, and location-based computing.
String manipulation
String methods: insert and delete characters, determine the position of a character, find a character/substring, and determine string length.
Computer management and social implications
Safeguarding against threats (physical, hardware, network) and remedies. Social implications of location-based computing; ethical and legal issues of network use policies and practices; capabilities and limitations of ICTs.
Date and time objects
Change and format date and time, date calculations, and date methods including time-to-string, date-to-string and testing for leap years.
Solution development (revision and file management)
User accounts, logging in, file management, and revision of Grade 10 problem-solving steps, tools and techniques.
Systems technologies (motherboard, performance, operating systems)
Motherboard: purpose, role and components; expansion cards; flow/transfer of data between components; cache memory and caching; memory as part of a computer system; computer performance. Types of operating systems (cost, size, hardware, platform). Compilers and interpreters. Overview of processing techniques. Virtual memory and overview of virtualisation.
Programming: loops and arrays
Revision of Grade 10 loops; nested loops (structure and algorithms). Arrays: concept of a 1-dimensional array, arrays as a 1D data structure, looping through items and basic mathematical operations in an array. Parallel arrays.
Algorithms: searching and sorting
Searching using linear and binary search algorithms; sorting an array using bubble and selection sort.
Networks (overview)
Overview of physical aspects of a network: communication (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 5G, LTE) and data transmission. Network innovation: role and purpose of VoIP, Internet vs intranet vs extranet, VPN, and location-based computing.
String manipulation
String methods: insert and delete characters, determine the position of a character, find a character/substring, and determine string length.
Computer management and social implications
Safeguarding against threats (physical, hardware, network) and remedies. Social implications of location-based computing; ethical and legal issues of network use policies and practices; capabilities and limitations of ICTs.
Date and time objects
Change and format date and time, date calculations, and date methods including time-to-string, date-to-string and testing for leap years.
Term 2 topics
Weeks 1-11
Assessment: SBA (Formal assessment, PAT): PAT task 0 through PAT task 3 (including PAT task 2 and task 3 continuations) and Task 3 Mid-year examination (as listed in ATP).
Electronic communication
Mobile, wireless and electronic communication; use of mobile and wireless technologies; protocols; and data security.
Solution development: text files
Text files: what is a text file, physical vs logical file name, layout of data (end of line/end of file characters), procedures to read and write. Reading from a text file (exception handling, checking existence, reading lines, displaying information, string handling). Writing/adding (overwrite vs append), display updated file, generate a correctly formatted text-based report.
Software engineering principles
What is software development and planning/implementing a solution (as listed in ATP).
Data and information management
Relationship between data, information, knowledge and decision making. Characteristics of quality data, accessing and manipulating data, grouping data, qualities of valuable information, and generating information. Database management software (DBMS): description, examples, database types by usage requirements (size and accessibility), and overview of database-related careers and roles.
Social implications
Effects of digitalisation and how to protect your online identity.
User-defined methods (with and without parameters)
Introduction to user-defined methods: purpose, types (functions and procedures), and differentiating between procedures and functions.
PAT (Term 2 milestones)
PAT activities listed in the ATP include problem definition and research, task definition and user story acceptance test, database design (and continuation), navigation and flow between screens, GUI design (and continuation), data dictionary, arrays, text files and consolidation of text files and user-defined methods.
Electronic communication
Mobile, wireless and electronic communication; use of mobile and wireless technologies; protocols; and data security.
Solution development: text files
Text files: what is a text file, physical vs logical file name, layout of data (end of line/end of file characters), procedures to read and write. Reading from a text file (exception handling, checking existence, reading lines, displaying information, string handling). Writing/adding (overwrite vs append), display updated file, generate a correctly formatted text-based report.
Software engineering principles
What is software development and planning/implementing a solution (as listed in ATP).
Data and information management
Relationship between data, information, knowledge and decision making. Characteristics of quality data, accessing and manipulating data, grouping data, qualities of valuable information, and generating information. Database management software (DBMS): description, examples, database types by usage requirements (size and accessibility), and overview of database-related careers and roles.
Social implications
Effects of digitalisation and how to protect your online identity.
User-defined methods (with and without parameters)
Introduction to user-defined methods: purpose, types (functions and procedures), and differentiating between procedures and functions.
PAT (Term 2 milestones)
PAT activities listed in the ATP include problem definition and research, task definition and user story acceptance test, database design (and continuation), navigation and flow between screens, GUI design (and continuation), data dictionary, arrays, text files and consolidation of text files and user-defined methods.
Term 3 topics
Weeks 1-11
Assessment: SBA (Formal assessment): PAT task 4 through PAT task 8 (including continuations), Task 4 alternative task (min. 45 marks, 1 hour) and Task 5 Practical test (min. 45 marks, 1 hour) (as listed in ATP).
User-defined methods and input validation
Review methods with and without parameter passing. Procedures and functions: structure, calling statement and method signature; arguments vs parameters; value parameters only; using methods in problems. Basic input validation techniques and input validation using code constructs.
Databases (single table and relationships)
Create a simple database without relationships: design tables, maintain data (insert/add/import/delete/edit), and process/sort/query to generate information. Access a database through programming language constructs: set up a connection by providing a path; develop a multi-form, multi-screen GUI; execute simple database transactions; navigate records; modify fields/records; manipulate datasets and apply changes; reinforce iteration/conditions and methods. Set up relationships between tables and create a query using a relationship on a maximum of two tables with multiple criteria.
Programming principles and algorithms
Use good programming principles and algorithms: apply generic algorithms, devise and motivate specific algorithms for problems, and reinforce problem-solving steps and software engineering principles.
Social implications (Term 3)
Discuss effects of computer and human error and effects of cybercrime.
PAT (Term 3 milestones)
PAT activities listed include coding, IPO and data validation, creating GUI applications (and continuation), creating database and connecting to Delphi (and continuation), and further coding tasks.
User-defined methods and input validation
Review methods with and without parameter passing. Procedures and functions: structure, calling statement and method signature; arguments vs parameters; value parameters only; using methods in problems. Basic input validation techniques and input validation using code constructs.
Databases (single table and relationships)
Create a simple database without relationships: design tables, maintain data (insert/add/import/delete/edit), and process/sort/query to generate information. Access a database through programming language constructs: set up a connection by providing a path; develop a multi-form, multi-screen GUI; execute simple database transactions; navigate records; modify fields/records; manipulate datasets and apply changes; reinforce iteration/conditions and methods. Set up relationships between tables and create a query using a relationship on a maximum of two tables with multiple criteria.
Programming principles and algorithms
Use good programming principles and algorithms: apply generic algorithms, devise and motivate specific algorithms for problems, and reinforce problem-solving steps and software engineering principles.
Social implications (Term 3)
Discuss effects of computer and human error and effects of cybercrime.
PAT (Term 3 milestones)
PAT activities listed include coding, IPO and data validation, creating GUI applications (and continuation), creating database and connecting to Delphi (and continuation), and further coding tasks.
Term 4 revision focus
Weeks 1-10
Assessment: SBA (Formal assessment): PAT task 8 continuation through PAT task 10 and PAT submission. Final examination (as listed in ATP).
Internet and WWW; Internet services
Evolution of the Internet in terms of software and applications (definition), big data concepts, overview of multimedia, media, overview of internet services technologies, types of websites (what they offer), supporting technologies (security services: purpose, advantages and limitations), and internet-related careers.
Social implications (Term 4)
Social implications of big data and influences of globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).
Revision using case studies (all topics)
Content using case studies across all topics (as listed in ATP).
PAT finalisation (Term 4)
Exam relevance: ATP includes PAT submission tasks in Term 4.
PAT coding, testing and data validation, documentation, and finalisation (as listed in ATP).
Internet and WWW; Internet services
Evolution of the Internet in terms of software and applications (definition), big data concepts, overview of multimedia, media, overview of internet services technologies, types of websites (what they offer), supporting technologies (security services: purpose, advantages and limitations), and internet-related careers.
Social implications (Term 4)
Social implications of big data and influences of globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).
Revision using case studies (all topics)
Content using case studies across all topics (as listed in ATP).
PAT finalisation (Term 4)
Exam relevance: ATP includes PAT submission tasks in Term 4.
PAT coding, testing and data validation, documentation, and finalisation (as listed in ATP).