OpenICDL in Zimbabwe - Project Proposal

This project will involve the development of Ubuntu-based training and testing material for the ECDL/ICDL qualification.

OpenICDL refers to the International Computer Driving Licence based on open source software.

OpenICDL is a test of practical skills and competencies and consists of seven separate modules covering computer theory and practice. To achieve OpenICDL certification, a Candidate must successfully pass a test in all seven modules.

OpenICDL Module 1 is a theoretical test of computing knowledge at a general level and modules 2-7 are practical skills tests, as follows:

The OpenICDL program is for anyone who needs to demonstrate to an international standard that they are fully competent in the use of a personal computer and common computer applications and that they know the essential concepts of Information Technology.

Prospective Candidates should ideally have used computers and common software applications before. Training Materials for OpenICDL will be available Free of Charge.

Candidates, Registration and Training

Candidates register with the Computer Society of Zimbabwe to start the OpenICDL certification process. They purchase a Skills Card on which their progress through the seven tests is recorded. Skills Cards may be purchased from any approved Test Centre. Only an approved Test Centre can carry out testing and issue Skills Cards. Test Centres are approved and monitored by the Computer Society of Zimbabwe the (open) ECDL /ICDL Licensee in Zimbabwe.

Usually the Candidate will undertake training on each Module of the syllabus prior to taking the test, although this is not compulsory. The amount of training will depend on the Candidate’s skills levels and the training provider chosen, but the average is around 30 hours of training per Module.

Some Candidates may feel competent enough in one area to forego training and move onto testing immediately, while others may require full training prior to testing. Training Materials for OpenICDL will be available free of Charge.

OpenICDL Challenge in Zimbabwe

There are NO known ECDL Foundation approved or Licensee (Computer Society of Zimbabwe) approved training open source materials (books and computer based training) available so that a Candidate can learn freely in their own time.

OpenICDL Syllabus Version 4.0

The quality and relevance of OpenICDL Syllabus documents is guaranteed by the ECDL Foundation development processes and by an outstanding range of expert input from the world's leading computer societies and Independent subject matter experts. Please click here for the latest Syllabus - ECDL / ICDL Syllabus Version 4.0

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Proposed OpenICDL Solutions

The Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team is developing Training and Learning materials for OpenICDL.

Please Contribute

The Zimbabwean Team is inviting programmers and interested contributors to collaborate in developing good learning materials for OpenICDL. Development will be done in predefined groups. Each group will have a group coordinator who will volunteer to produce a group program and deliver a product to the OpenICDL Team Coordinator. A programmer/developer member can belong to as many groups as are available. Groups will execute tasks detailed below:

Note: The materials produced must comply with the Syllabus prescribed by the ECDL Foundation.

How do I join?

1. Register yourself as a contributor with RichardSimango or NeilCoetzer

2. State the Modules you would like to Coordinate or Contribute
3. Work with Your Team

A few suggestions so far

(From Neil)

1. Course material (in PDF or HTML format - or both)
2. Software (approved by CSZ) which includes:
   • Free automated training based on that course material
   • Free automated testing, based on a number of pre-defined tests for each module.
3. Optional (but probably the best route to follow) would be to have a "behind-the-scenes" piece of software, that could take text-based course material (and test material) and automatically export it to the relevant document formats and into whatever format the software itself uses. The idea here being to simplify syllabus changes etc. and minimise the work needed from a "programming" point of view. Alternatively, once the "material" is built into the software, perhaps the software could be capable of outputting it into PDF/HTML format as and when required. Obviously I'm just throwing ideas around here, and a lot more thought would have to go into it.

(From Tawanda)

• As Neil pointed out, the schools will probably have to still pay CSZ some fee since they are the ICDL licensee which I think is daylight robbery. Added on to that, they also still have to buy the Skills cards which I am sure are over 100M now. Maybe we could suggest to have special "Open ICDL Skills Cards" where you just pay a fee for the card and not have to pay anything for the tests. I doubt they would agree though but I think it is worth a try. Automated Software will probably take a while so don’t you want to try and promote the manual ones first? I know it would be going backwards for the schools that are already on Automated Testing Software (I doubt there are a lot of them) but it is also giving a chance to the schools who cant afford ICDL at the moment (Government/Mission Schools) to start immediately while you are trying to do the Automated Software. This will then mean CSZ would be marking the Tests but the fees for manual tests are not really fierce. Unless we start a volunteer team of markers who do it for free/very low prices but they still have to be first approved by CSZ.

Team Coordinator

Email: <richubuntu AT SPAMFREE gmail DOT com>

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