On Wed, 31 Aug 2005, Justin Wiley wrote:
I work with a small computer center in the Philippines, teaching in
part BSD related things. We would love to become accedited, or have
the ability to certify people in BSD.
I would argue that the steps to becoming accredited can be a
technically rigorous as you like, i.e. trainers have to demonstrate
specific BSD knowledge, institutions should be certified by government
or other organization. But becoming a certifying institution should
not have a high initial up-front cost, for example, it costs $10,000
to give certification. This would keep non-profits (like ours) in
developing countries (like the Philippines) in the running, and spread
BSD knowledge as far as possible.
I agree. And we are researching models that will allow us to provide
certification across the globe that best suits the language and economic model
of that country, while maintaining the integrity and credibility of the
exam. One of the things that will greatly assist us in this area is feedback
from each country to allow us to gauge the interest, the estimated
number of testing candidates, the desired language, and an idea of a price
the average person could bear to pay. Patrick did a pilot country-specific
mini-survey in Brazil and is writing up his results and suggestions so
other countries can do similar mini-studies. We'll make those results
available as soon as the document is ready.
-Any ideas on what a center will have to be or do to offer
certification?
We'll have a better idea once the testing methodology and delivery method
is decided upon and we do plan on creating a testing center liaison. We
also plan to publish specific guidelines for becoming a training and/or
testing center, a test proctor, etc.
-Any ideas on costs?
Our goal is to be as economically (cheap) as possible, using Open Source
where possible while still delivering an exam that will be respected by
employers. We are in talks with several different test creating entities both
inside and outside of North America. Anyone who has a company to recommend
that provides either pyschometricians or test delivery mechanisms, please
contact me off list. In addition, we are starting to get into the stuff
that costs money so anyone who wants to be involved with finding/providing
sponsorships, funding, legal assistance, business plan savvy, experiental
advice on non-profits/NGOs, etc. please contact me off list and I will put
you in touch with the appropriate Group member and subgroup.
-How can we best prepare so that we are ready when the standard becomes
available?
Lots, pick one or several :-)
- If your country's native language isn't English and there isn't a current
translation team or there are less than 3 translators for that language,
find translators who would be willing to volunteer some time. (this will
be much easier by mid-September as the revamped website will include the
names of all of the translators and translation teams)
- If you're interested in being a testing/training center, contact me for
the upcoming country-specific information gathering survey.
- If you're interested in being a testing/training center and you haven't
emailed me yet, please do so as I'm compiling a list of contacts per
country.
- If our brochure or roadmap aren't yet translated in your language see
the first paragraph on translators so it can be. If it already is, make
sure the interested forums in your country are aware of these translated
documents.
- If Open Source is mandated in your country's government or is on their
radar screen let us know. Find people in your government who might be
interested in promoting or possibly providing funding for BSD
training/certification.
Dru
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