[Lias] International Computer Drivers license

[Jacqueline McNally]

Thanks for getting back to me Craig. I will contact the local ACS office 
here and see what's what.

Geoff, are you preparing training materials for the ICDL with a Linux focus 
? I have not carried out any further investigation since replying to Craig, 
but my approach would be to release it under the GPL or GPDL whichever is 
best. But this may be dependent on how to obtain approval or compliance 
from the body (icdl.org) for the courseware.

My understanding is that ACS are responsible for accrediting groups for 
testing, but not for courseware or training. We may be able to create 
courseware and or training that enables people to obtain their ICDL, even 
tho' we know that the examiners use a different underlying operating system.

I would like to think that the ICDL is vendor neutral, and that the skills 
acquired from using any training or courseware that I provide (Linux focus) 
were transferable. That is, not simply a Noddy's guide to using a 
particular office suite or vendors' applications.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts. In the meantime, I will investigate the 
other training and courseware providers on the ICDL site.

All the best
Jacqueline

At 08:25 PM 05/23/2002, Craig Warner wrote:
>Jacqueline,
>
>I managed to contact the ACS once, in which the ACS were very negative to the
>point of rude towards the use of Linux in ICDL.
>
>Since then the ACS has not returned either my calls or emails about questions
>regarding ICDL and Linux.
>
>ComputerBank Hunter ( Geoff Tregenza: wetsgt at hunterlink.net.au ) is preparing
>a ICDL based on Linux. So we will see what happens when the course is
>presented.
>
>Regards
>
>Craig Warner
>NSW coordinator
>ComputerBank NSW
>
>
>
>On Wed, 22 May 2002 00:56, Jacqueline McNally wrote:
> > At 09:00 PM 05/21/2002, you wrote:
> > >I done a little research on the International Computer Drivers License.
> > > This qualification regardless of its merits is being pushed by both
> > > Federal and NSW Government. When I have approached the Australian
> > > Computer Society that licenses this product in Australia, I have found
> > > either a lack of knowledge about Linux or a very negative approach to
> > > Linux.
> >
> > Hi Craig
> >
> > I have been looking at the ICDL from a Linux point of view, and the only
> > place where it does get tricky to follow the ICDL Syllabus is in the module
> > that covers databases.
> >
> > Looking at the ACS web site, it appears that they have only listed those
> > training organisations that can offer PC or MAC training materials for
> > self-paced learning. There are heaps more on the ICDL site. If I didn't
> > find any (Linux focused), I was going to look to preparing some myself. I
> > am still working my way through the list on the international site.
> >
> > Currently, I am working with the OpenOffice.org project and I see that I
> > may be able to prepare training materials in parallel with the ICDL, and
> > the training materials that I wish to prepare for OpenOffice.org. At the
> > moment, OpenOffice.org does not have a database, whereas StarOffice does.
> > There are ways of using a database with OpenOffice.org, but I think it is
> > not at the rudimentary level that is required for the ICDL. I have come
> > across a group in the UK that have been using StarOffice 5.2 so that their
> > students can take home a disk and acquire the ICDL at low cost.
> >
> > I am a bit confused as to why the operating system needs to be considered
> > with the ICDL. The ICDL Foundation and the Syllabus appear to go to a lot
> > of trouble to be vendor neutral. I guess the reality is that Linux is as
> > yet not ubiquitous with computers and the Internet.
> >
> > All the best
> > Jacqueline
> > http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/zenryaku/
> >
> > Community Contact, Australia/New Zealand
> > OpenOffice.org Marketing Project
> > (www.openoffice.org)
> >
> > Are you a computer angel? (www.ca.asn.au)