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

[Kurt Menke]

 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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