LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Glen Turner <glen.turner@adelaide.edu.au>
  To  : linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
  Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 07:35:56 +0000

Re: Community Certification

Richard Sharpe wrote:

> Nice thought though ... Give candidate a bare machine and a CD and ask them
> to install to a certain spec. Then pull the drive, and plug it into another
> machine that goes through looking for certain things and adds marks for
> getting it right and deducts marks for not quite etc. Probably a PhD or two
> there :-)

This is the approach taken by Cisco for their Cisco Certified
Internetwork Engineer certification.  You sit endless exams, then
fly to the US to sit a practical lab test.

You're looking at about A$15,000 all up, so it's not really
practical as a Linux equivalent to MSCE or CNE.


C4IS wrote:
> Why would you want a "dead-tree" exam format...?
> (to use Philip Greenspun's word for paper)

I work at a uni.  Every year I see talented people totally
bomb out at examinations.  Running the exam `on line' is
only going to add to the stress that leads to bombing an
exam.

You want a dead tree format, because that is what is going
to least stress-out the exam participant.

Similarly, you want the exam at a familiar venue, with
familiar people present.

There's nothing at all to stop that dead tree exam from
being printed out from a web site on demand, and marked
by inputing the results back to the web site.


> You see why we're so far behind?  We 'waste time' with
> 64-bit words when a 16-bit word (like "proctor") would do.

Huh?  It's a simple matter of UK v US English.  I wasn't
aware that spelling `colour' with an extra character is
why Australia isn't internationally competitive in some
industries.

Now that I know, I'll revise my ideas about our lack of
high-tech investment being the result of taxation
policy that favours property over equity.  It's all
beacuse we've been using UK vocabulary!

-- 
 Glen Turner                               Network Specialist
 Tel: (08) 8303 3936          Information Technology Services
 Fax: (08) 8303 4400         The University of Adelaide  5005
 Email: glen.turner@adelaide.edu.au           South Australia

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