T Level Digital: Emerging Technologies and Their Impact

The emerging issues content of the Pearson digital T Level cores asks what new technology does to organisations, to the people who work in them and to society, and it is one of the most common sources of the longer judgement questions. That content is shared by the Digital Software Development, Digital Support and Security and Digital Data Analytics cores, which are assessed through two written papers and an employer-set project. The specification names the technologies directly, from quantum computing and edge computing to generative artificial intelligence and blockchain, and this material works through each of them in an invented workplace.

The quiz has twelve scenarios. Eight ask you to recognise a technology from what it does and to see its main benefit or risk: a factory that analyses sensor readings beside each production line, a council whose thousands of parking sensors each widen what an attacker can target, a lender whose machine learning model keeps learning from its own refusals, a press office drafting with generative tools that can state false facts confidently, an engineer who sees repair instructions laid over a real turbine, a coffee co-operative that needs a record no single trader can alter, a bank planning for computers that could break today's public-key encryption, and the real drawback of an open source booking system. Four look at wider impacts: the environmental effect of keeping laptops for five years instead of three, the change in culture when hybrid working brings late-evening messages and keyboard monitoring, self-service checkouts and the skills that remaining jobs need, and the question of who is responsible when a self-driving van makes the decision. Each explanation names what decides the answer and why the other options do not fit.

The flashcards cover the impacts on culture and society listed in the specification, and each emerging technology with its key point.

The written work has eight tasks to answer on paper: edge computing with the Internet of Things, feedback loops and how to reduce them, augmented against virtual reality, how a blockchain makes a record tamper-evident, and quantum computing as both an opportunity and a threat. Three are longer, evaluative answers of the kind used for the higher-mark questions: generative tools for drafting client press releases, the effects of hybrid working on staff and the organisation, and the social and environmental impact of self-service checkouts. Each has a model answer and the points a marker would look for.

There is also a short oral practice with an examiner, who describes an organisation, asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end.

• Explain how reliance on digital systems changes organisational culture and affects society
• Recognise edge computing, the Internet of Things, machine learning, generative tools, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain, quantum computing and open source software from a scenario
• Explain the feedback loop danger in machine learning and how to reduce it
• State the main benefit and risk of each emerging technology for an organisation
• Describe the environmental impact of digital technology
• Evaluate the impact of a technology on an organisation, its staff and society

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the core content of the Pearson T Level Technical Qualifications in Digital Software Development, Digital Support and Security and Digital Data Analytics (first teaching September 2025), content area 'Emerging issues': impact of digital technologies and emerging technologies.