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Ubuntu Open Week - Ubuntu Training - Billy Cina and Belinda Lopez - Thu, Apr 30th, 2009

(01:00:36 PM) dinda: Yip - let's roll
(01:01:08 PM) dinda: Greetings and welcome to the session on Ubuntu Training.
(01:01:47 PM) dinda: and just for gregknicholson:  Lllllllladies and gentlemen!
(01:01:51 PM) nixternal: hehe
(01:02:02 PM) dinda:  My name is Belinda Lopez and I am the Training Project Manager for Canonical.
(01:02:14 PM) dinda: Joining me today is my boss, Billy Cina, the Training Programme Manager and Matthew Lye of the Community-based Ubuntu Learning team.  Matt's at work but will try to answer any questions if needed.
(01:02:39 PM) dinda: In our roles at Canonical we deal with both public offerings/sales to the general public as well as providing course materials to our Training Partners.
(01:02:51 PM) dinda:  I'll explain our current catalog in a bit but you can find more info at http://www.ubuntu.com/training
(01:03:15 PM) dinda: Feel free to stop me at any time and ask questions and we'll also save time at the end.
(01:03:33 PM) dinda: At that site you can locate courses in your areas and find our more info on our training partners who offer programs throughout the world.
(01:04:17 PM) dinda: And just as there is both paid for support by Canonical and community resources, there is now a growing movement to have more community-based learning offerings along side our paid for training.
(01:04:35 PM) dinda: That new community initiative is being led by Matthew Lye, Charles Proffit, Lyz Krumbach and others in the Ubuntu Learning project.
(01:04:56 PM) dinda: They are in the process of setting up a Moodle-based Learning Management Server to create quality offerings for end users and contirbutors.  You can find more info on them at:
(01:04:56 PM) dinda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning
(01:05:16 PM) dinda: Charles led a session Monday during Open Week and you can find the transcript here:
(01:05:25 PM) dinda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/openweekJaunty/CommunityLearning
(01:05:47 PM) dinda: and there's my boss, Billy Cina :)
(01:06:12 PM) billycina: hello
(01:06:13 PM) dinda: wave billy
(01:06:20 PM) ***billycina waves
(01:06:23 PM) dinda: 0/
(01:06:31 PM) dinda: I just learned that yesterday here
(01:06:33 PM) billycina: sorry - dodgy internet
(01:06:38 PM) billycina: what is it?
(01:06:55 PM) dinda: 0/  means waving
(01:06:58 PM) dinda: So what does Canonical offer in the way of training and certifications?
(01:07:11 PM) dinda: Great question!  I'll cover both our current offerings and planned offerings but would also love to hear your thoughts on potential courses and certification strategies.
(01:08:06 PM) dinda: Our current offerings include: the Desktop Course for end users, the Ubuntu Certified Professional for Sys Admins and now. . .
(01:08:26 PM) dinda: Deploying Ubuntu Server for advanced System Admins
(01:08:32 PM) rw: is the sabdfl Q and A over or does it still has to start?
(01:09:05 PM) dinda: rw: that was on Tuesday - it got moved
(01:09:16 PM) dinda: The Ubuntu Desktop Course available in both classroom and eLearning formats.
(01:09:28 PM) rw: oh well, maybe on the next release
(01:09:31 PM) dinda:  The classroom version of the course was developed in conjunction with the community and is available under the NC-SA-CC license for any Loco team, non-profit or other group to download and use to teach others.  You can find that course here:
(01:09:33 PM) rw left the room (quit: Client Quit).
(01:09:41 PM) dinda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Training
(01:10:10 PM) dinda: The eLearning version of the course is available through the Canonical shop at:
(01:10:10 PM) dinda: https://shop.canonical.com
(01:10:30 PM) dinda: It is a self-paced course and you receive access to the materials for a full year so you can go back and review any topics at any time.
(01:10:52 PM) dinda: Next in the line of courses is the revised Ubuntu Certified Professional Program.  The UCP is a week long classroom course being offered by our partners.
(01:11:09 PM) dinda: The course covers all the basics for System Administrators.
(01:11:26 PM) dinda: The course is partial preparation to sit for the Ubuntu 199 exam.  The 199 exam is a follow on to the LPI (Linux Professional Institute) 1 & 2 exams.  You must pass all three exams to be UCP certified and you can take the exams in any order.
(01:11:45 PM) dinda: It is also recommended that you have at least six months active experience as a System Administrator.  More info on the exam can be found at:
(01:11:54 PM) dinda: http://www.ubuntu.com/training/exams
(01:12:03 PM) dinda: Partners are standing by ready to take your orders for this course!
(01:12:30 PM) dinda: If you have any questions on the UCP program please paste them into the chat channel.
(01:12:37 PM) ***genii calls the 1-800 number
(01:13:11 PM) dinda: :)  We just got orders for a course in Brazil with our partner Fuctura so we're excited to see that happen.
(01:13:31 PM) Guest44920: are there any courses been giving in belgium ?
(01:13:34 PM) dinda: Fuctura also reports that sales of the desktop course are great.
(01:13:53 PM) dinda: An eLearning version of the course will be available this summer so stay tuned for more announcements.
(01:14:23 PM) Guest44920 is now known as yoshi_k
(01:14:37 PM) dinda: Guest44920: you can check the ubuntu.com/training site to find a local partner
(01:15:05 PM) dinda: billycina: do you happen to know which partner would cover Belguim?
(01:15:09 PM) billycina: guest44920: we are signing up a Dutch partner who will also provide training in Belgium
(01:15:23 PM) yoshi_k: would be nice
(01:15:32 PM) dinda: The topics in that course include: Installation, Desktop Deployment, Community & Support, LAMP. Mail, Printing, File Servers and Security.
(01:15:42 PM) dinda: Everything you need to get a small to medium-sized organization up and running on the System Admin side.
(01:15:58 PM) dinda: More info on that course adn the 199 certification can be found at:  http://www.ubuntu.com/training/certificationcourses
(01:16:39 PM) dinda: And finally our newest course in the lineup is the Deploying Ubuntu Server course.
(01:16:51 PM) yoshi_k: suggestion: include ltsp and terminal server setup and maintance also in the server training our as a seperate module
(01:16:55 PM) dinda: We just completed our pilot for this course and are ready to offer it to the general public through the Canonical Shop.
(01:17:16 PM) dinda: https://shop.canonical.com
(01:17:46 PM) dinda: yoshi_k: I believe terminal server setup is covered in our Server course but nothing with ltsp at the moment
(01:18:09 PM) dinda: The Server course is an all online course, live, instructor led via videoconferencing.
(01:18:21 PM) dinda: The course includes access to our live virtual lab environment so you don't even need a local server or servers. We provide you access to a small virtual server farm to test and run labs and try to break and fix. You can do the entire course from your workplace or home.
(01:18:52 PM) dinda: The Server course is for intermediate to advanced System Administrators and covers such topics as:
(01:19:04 PM) dinda: Installation, Debian Package Management,
(01:19:14 PM) dinda: Visturalisation & Deployment, Security, Integrity & Performance,
(01:19:27 PM) dinda: Directory Services & Authentication
(01:19:36 PM) dinda: If that sounds like your idea of fun then come on down to your local Canonical Shop and sign up!
(01:20:13 PM) dinda: If you just really love the idea of sitting in a classroom and want an excuse to be away from your desk for a week then starting in June this course will also be offered by our training partners.
(01:20:28 PM) dinda: And since we have collected the best instructors in the whole world all just waiting to answer your tough questions this is a great opportunity to ask the really hard questions like "How do I get a qemu virtual machine to do a PXE boot"?
(01:20:57 PM) dinda: and don't get me started on Automated Deployments - oy vey!
(01:21:40 PM) dinda: So those are the current offerings - what's coming up next you ask?
(01:21:56 PM) dinda: Well, how about Cloud Computing and Switching from Red Hat/CentOS to Ubuntu and tons of micro-training offerings like. . .
(01:22:07 PM) dinda:  Ubuntu for Cable and other ISP installers, Using an Ubuntu machine to take online courses and whatever else might be helpful to make using and buying Ubuntu systems a breeze.
(01:22:22 PM) dinda: If you have ideas please send them to us via tour mailing list at Ubuntu-training-community@lists.ubuntu.com  or join us in #ubuntu-training.
(01:22:33 PM) dinda: You can also now follow our tweets at Ubuntu_Training.
(01:22:50 PM) dinda: One final thing on certification.  We are in the process of creating an entire certification stratgey similar to other professional programs.
(01:23:02 PM) dinda: We would very much like to have your input as to the types of programs you would like to see like a Security Specialist or Ubuntu Certified Developer or other.  If you have any thoughts, again please send them to the mailing list or find me in the IRC channel.
(01:23:19 PM) dinda: And finally, the new Ubuntu Learning Project is now up and running!
(01:23:33 PM) dinda: They would like your help in creating quality content for end users and potential contributors.
(01:23:43 PM) dinda: They are trying to be a framework for the entire community including the MOTU school, the Beginners Team on the Forums, the Doc Team and even Edubuntu and Loco Teams.
(01:23:55 PM) dinda: Their next meeting is May 9 in #ubuntu-meeting @ 2100 UTC.  More info on the team and how to get involved can be found on their wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning
(01:24:17 PM) dinda: Is Matthew Lye around?  Vantrax
(01:24:41 PM) billycina: Belinda Lopez: don't see him
(01:24:59 PM) dinda: Okay, so that's the basics of what we are working on.
(01:25:14 PM) yoshi_k: nice dinda, looks promising
(01:25:31 PM) dinda: We also have some programs for OEMS/ODMS and Support so if you happen to be in that category just contact us.
(01:25:40 PM) dinda: So. . .  questions?
(01:25:45 PM) billycina: (20:10:15) hemanth: Question : Ubuntu Desktop Course 9.04 ??
(01:25:50 PM) dinda: billycina: anything to add?
(01:26:03 PM) billycina: Belinda Lopez: nope - good job!
(01:26:13 PM) billycina: i will paste questions :)
(01:26:21 PM) dinda: hemanth: Right now we're only focusing on LTS . . .
(01:26:43 PM) dinda: we thought about interim updates but it's really hard to keep on top of all the little changes
(01:26:43 PM) billycina: 20:11:06) doctormo: Question: If the learning project decides to not allow NC licensed materials, would there still be room for collaberation?
(01:27:10 PM) dinda: so we find that even if a course is based on an older release the material is still valid except in minor cases
(01:27:28 PM) dinda: oh great - billy tosses me the licensging questions!
(01:27:33 PM) billycina: :)
(01:28:09 PM) dinda: doctormo: we're exploring all options for the desktop course licensing and I know the Learning Team has licensing on their agenda for the next meeting
(01:28:34 PM) dinda: Even if the materials are NC that is often very hard to enforce
(01:28:56 PM) dinda: so as it is a community-based effort, that team will have to decide on the licensing for their project
(01:29:20 PM) billycina: (20:12:13) sebsebseb: QUESTION:  How to get a job at Canonical  doing consumer/homeuser suppourt, and I assume business/servers?   Would I have to like study for LP1 first and an  Ubuntu qualification or something?
(01:29:52 PM) dinda: sebsebseb: The LPI and Ubuntu 199 are a great way to show that you're serious about skills
(01:30:11 PM) dinda: Certification is often a short cut that shows a certain level of competency.
(01:30:16 PM) xray7224_ is now known as xray7224
(01:30:35 PM) dinda: By the end of the year all Canonical Support Persons will be 199 certified!
(01:30:47 PM) dinda: or so we've been promised by their boss :)
(01:31:00 PM) billycina: (20:14:11) pleia2: QUESTION: What is the release date of the "Ubuntu Desktop Course - Official Book" in the store? Does it cover 8.04? If not, will a revision be made available in the near future?
(01:31:19 PM) sebsebseb: dinda: as  far as I know LPI can be studyed at home, and then go somewhere for exams, not sure about the Ubuntu qaulification
(01:31:25 PM) dinda: the current desktop course is indeed based on 8.04 LTS
(01:31:44 PM) dinda: sebsebseb: exactly, you can self-study or take a course or buy books to help you prepare
(01:32:08 PM) dinda: pleia2: We're looking at updating the Desktop materials for the next LTS. . .
(01:32:23 PM) dinda: You can buy the book in the Canonical shop
(01:32:36 PM) dinda: it's already there for purchase
(01:32:45 PM) billycina: (20:29:24) hemanth: Question: When will Canonical shop for local currency come up ?  I mean no  $  or Euro conversions for non-US/UK countries
(01:32:49 PM) dinda: The PDF download is on our wiki
(01:33:10 PM) dinda: billycina: you want to chime in on that one?
(01:33:15 PM) billycina: sure
(01:33:33 PM) billycina: hemanth: I don't believe there are such plans.
(01:33:52 PM) jtholmes: charlie-tca, u on next or did u just put it together
(01:34:00 PM) hemanth: billycina: ok
(01:34:01 PM) billycina: hemanth: we have  uk based and US based stores which between them cover all the planet
(01:34:25 PM) billycina: the u.s. store is new
(01:34:37 PM) billycina: specially opened to make shipping costs much cheaper
(01:34:50 PM) hemanth: billycina: but say for example India , has huge population
(01:35:08 PM) billycina: hemanth: sure - so do china and brazil :)
(01:35:12 PM) hemanth: billycina: would it not be more profitable to setup shops here
(01:36:09 PM) billycina: hemanth: perhaps, but i personally have no idea of the infrastructure implications / requirements
(01:36:54 PM) hemanth: billycina: ok , if there are people interested in helping for that how can they ?
(01:37:34 PM) ***billycina goes searching for the relevant contact, will be back in a moment
(01:39:21 PM) billycina: more questions in the meantime?
(01:39:55 PM) billycina: hemanth: https://shop.canonical.com/contact_us.php
(01:39:57 PM) dinda: They're speechless
(01:40:03 PM) billycina: :)
(01:40:07 PM) yoshi_k: :)
(01:40:19 PM) hemanth: billycina: thank you :)
(01:40:25 PM) dinda: doctormo: was inquiring about the licensing issue again
(01:40:37 PM) billycina: np
(01:40:43 PM) dinda: Just like there is professional paid for support and community support. . .
(01:40:53 PM) dinda: we have Professional paid for training
(01:41:07 PM) dinda: we've never stopped anyone from developing community-based training
(01:41:17 PM) dinda: and are indeed doing all we can to support those efforts
(01:42:12 PM) dinda: once we get to see some of what is being developed by the community we'll be happy to help point the learn.ubuntu.com subdomain to them
(01:42:46 PM) dinda: They are still in the process of getting going but anyone is free to join them and collaborate on their efforts
(01:43:37 PM) billycina: they do have some great ideas on how to promote ubuntu through free education
(01:44:14 PM) billycina: and would be a great team to join for anyone who has experience in training
(01:44:24 PM) billycina: both instructing and writing materials
(01:44:56 PM) dinda: one main area I'd really love to see the community develop is more of the "how to contribute" materials
(01:45:20 PM) yoshi_k: have to go people thanks and great job, we will surely contact the learning team later also the training team we are in the middle of setting up training and support in belgium for terminal server projects and migration from windows to linux env.
(01:45:20 PM) dinda: I would love to see regular MOTU courses and Doc Team courses to help new folks work through those processes
(01:46:10 PM) dinda: Mentoring is great but often not scalable now that the community continues to grow so regular classes would be great
(01:46:10 PM) billycina: bye yoshi_k
(01:48:27 PM) dinda: any suggestions on future courses?  certifications?
(01:49:12 PM) hemanth: dinda : nothing in particular as of now
(01:49:26 PM) dinda: ok, great
(01:49:30 PM) dinda: Thanks everyone!
(01:49:41 PM) billycina: thanks Belinda Lopez
(01:49:45 PM) dinda: don't forget about the upcoming Learning Team meeting on May 9
(01:49:53 PM) dayo: thank you
(01:50:13 PM) hemanth: thank you billycina and dinda