[Qgis-psc] Procedure for approval of training certification organizations

[Paolo Cavallini]

Thanks Kurt for your thoughts and insights.
I think we should discuss about this in the next PSC meeting.
All the best.

Il 18/06/2018 20:21, Kurt Menke ha scritto:
> Thanks for raising this issue! As I have been in the trenches on this, I
> have lots of thoughts.
> 
> One of the benefits of the way the certificate program is structured is
> that it works for all course types: professional workshops, short
> courses and full term/semester courses. This also makes evaluating
> course materials tricky. It's easy when an organization is known to the
> QGIS community. However, I think the criteria need to be set up so they
> work equally well for organizations who might be more geographically
> distant, or more involved in the educational side and are not well known
> to the core QGIS community.
> 
> In addition to providing a revenue stream back to the QGIS project I
> think we all want the resulting certificates to mean something.
> 
> This is how we have been operating so far:
> 
> We have established that if an organization isn’t one we are familiar
> with (outside QGIS “trust network”) they need to provide:
> 
>   * Course outline/syllabus
>   * Some sample exercises with sample data and lecture/presentation
>   * Link to the course website (if it exists)
> 
> I then go through their material and make sure they are representing
> QGIS accurately, that the materials are up to date (e.g., not based on
> v2.8), thorough, and generally look to be high quality. There are
> obviously judgment calls here. Translating materials can also be difficult.
> 
> We (Hans, Tim and Andreas) also discussed that having open
> course-ware, or an online MOOC should be encouraged and would be a
> positive attribute for a new organization seeking approval.
>   
> *snip*
> * have a proved record of successful QGIS training, over at least 3 years
> 
> I think this is an good idea although I'm not sure what we would ask for
> to demonstrate this. # of courses taught? # of students passed?
> 
> * be an active member of the community, with a documented record in
> participating to HFs, writing code (as either core or public plugins),
> writing documentation, translating large parts of interface or
> documentation, maintaining core infrastructure; simple awareness rising
> is not sufficient, in my view
> 
> If this is the case then they likely already fall into the QGIS "trust
> network" and get approved automatically. This might preclude
> Universities, who have great programs, from becoming certifying
> organizations. While I love the sentiment software development and
> teaching are two different skill sets and most people don't
> possess both. This criteria would need to include writing text books or
> open course-ware as a contribution to the project. 
> 
> * be approved by the corresponding QGIS local user group.
>  
> What if there isn't a local QGIS user group? For example, where I live,
> I feel like a QGIS island in and Esri ocean. I don't have a local QGIS
> user group, although I would like to start one. It would mostly consist
> of my ex-students! 
> 
> *******
> One last thought...Since this is about education, having qualified
> instructors is strikes me as important. Currently the initial approval
> of the organization is the only quality check in the system. Once
> certified, an organization can add new courses and instructors. Perhaps
> in the future when an organization adds new teachers we should have them
> provide a bio or resume and have some criteria for approving them? I
> realize it would add another layer to manage, but it would be a nice
> additional quality check in the system going forward. 
> 
> Best,
> Kurt
> 
> **************************
> 
> Kurt Menke, GISP
> Bird’s Eye View
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
QGIS & PostGIS courses: http://www.faunalia.eu/training.html
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