European Computer Driving Licence

[triggmiester]

I have been asked to look into becoming a test centre so that we can offer the ECDL to students (and eventually the community now that we are an extended school)

My question is this; Has anyone recently been through the process, was it easy, what kind of costs did you incur and which company did you go through for the software.

Obviously I am keen to get this right, mainly because I'm the one who would be running any after hours courses we manage to get people signed up for.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Stuart

[mrforgetful]

We've been an accredited test center for (I think) two years or so, but noone was put through this year because the software doesn't work.

It was a nightmare to get working, was designed for environments not as tight with security and yeh, was awful.

Litmus Learning it became but was NCC Education. The main reason we wanted their software at first was it enabled you to use keyboard shortcuts which most didn't because it needed the actions to pass you.

Also the checks are very very strict if you can't (like us) get the electronic marking working. If a file on the floppies sent off has a different timestamp to when the test was taken it will fail the audit. Yes this meant for a long time when we copied files and the time changed, fail.

[CyberNerd]

Take a look at: TLM Level 1/2 Certificate in ICT Open Systems and Office Applications:
It looks similar, but easier to set up as is geared for schools whereas ECDL is not. It is QCA accredited as GSCE equivelent and quite cheap:
http://www.theingots.org/

http://www.openquals.org.uk/openqual...cationID=14359
http://www.openquals.org.uk/openqual...cationID=14306

[mrforgetful]

You mention it's QCA accredited, but is it as widely recognised?

[CyberNerd]

I guess thats a matter of perception, most school courses aren't widely recognised by employers (dida etc) but as long as it is QCA recognised as a GSCE equivelent then it will get people jobs or onto other courses.

[mrforgetful]

From what I've heard though quite a few employers like the ECDL, after all is does have Europe in the title!

[CyberNerd]

lol, ingots has "International" in the title

[bladerunner]

Stuart

I have been supporting auto testing software for an ECDL course, which is run in a secondary school that I work at.

I would look at this page (if you haven't already) - http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.001010004001 this page should give you all the information needed to get started.

As i'am only supprting the software I dont know the costs of the software but I am supporting a particular one called Activ Test, made by Activ Training Ltd, http://www.activ-training.com .

They give you a days training on the use of the software, i.e loading exams for students, printing reports etc.

Supporting the software itself has been fairly easy, only needed to give students write access to a particular folder.

As these courses are generally run in the evening, there is no support after 5pm, so its a good idea to test the software before 5pm to check that the software is working.

If you look here - http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.2604 there are a few more companies offering auto testing solutions.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions regarding this.

Andy

[triggmiester]

Hi Andy
Thanks for that, I wil take a look

Stuart