Kitkatninja

If it was from a Pearson Vue testing centre, I wouldn't worry about that now as they do not offer MS exams anymore. If it is a prometric account, I would contact Prometric customer services and retrieve your account details. Your MS MCP ID is linked to your Prometric testing centre ID, hence why you can just sit a MS exam and the exam is reflected (provided it's a pass with your MS account). However don't worry, either way, as for a few of us that had problems, duplicate accounts/MCP ID's, a couple of e-mails to both Prometric and MS sorted it out. -ken

Hi All, Thought that this would be useful for those studying for the CCENT/CCNA: See here for more info and to register. While the class is free, you'll have to pay for your own exam(s). -Ken p.s. I have no stake in this company, came across this from another forum that I haunt

Well the course and exam that we sat is the level 5 Manager's course (that's what this review is for), we already sat the level 4 Practitioner's course (last year) and exam (earlier this year). I'm hoping for a higher one, maybe a level 6 or 7 sometime in the future... If you're asking about what Tony is talking about, he's talking about either/or, we'll have to see what answer the OU gives Tony... -Ken

Cool

Hi All, Well just finished the FITS level 5 course and exam, so decide to give my opinions on it (see here, as I don't want to duplicate my typing). I have also heard back from the ILM. If you are considering membership into a Management Association, the FITS level 5 pass is accepted as the educational requirement for fellow membership of the ILM. -Ken

Well, for a 2008 environment, Yes. There are slight differences between group policy in Windows 2003/R2 and Windows 2008/R2. I learnt all from classes, on the job and books/CBT's. Group Policy & AD are very large subjects. A couple of books, you may be interested in: Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop Windows Group Policy Guide Book/CD Package -ken

Naace, the professional association for those interested in advancing education through ICT, provides delegates FREE on-line continuing professional development opportunities on this site. A number of courses allow guest access, but to fully participate in the interactive elements or access the other courses, you must register on the site. If you are a Naace member there is no need to register. You can use your Naace website password to access the site. Undertaking a course allows registered users to gain certificates of completion provided they undertake the number of online hours allocated to each course. Each course also gives participants a number of credit hours towards the Naace Online ICT Diploma* See here. I've already signed up -Ken

Cool -ken

Winning the Contract The on-line public procurement course "Winning the Contract" is now a FREE, nationally available online training resource which all businesses can access. To access this free course, you will need to register. See here (Learndirect) for more info -Ken

I agree -Ken

No worries mate On a side note, the accreditation of the Practitioner & Manager's certs are only until the end of this year? -Ken

Yippee, my FITS certification (level 4) came thru the post this morning. This is my replacement cert as the date awarded stamp states the 27/05/2010 (so approx 1 1/2 months after the first one was issued). However one thing that I'm going to do is send an e-mail to the SQA, 1 for thanking them and 2 to double check the level of the cert as on the Cert it does state SQA level 4. Which I'm not sure maps to SCQF level 7 (as stated on the FITS site) and QCA level 4 (for England). -Ken

You have to create a learning account -> log in -> Take a selfpaced online course -> (scroll to) Technical Training (then click) Along with the level 1 technical training you have 2 level 2 training: 1. System Administrator Level 2 Technical Training 2. SMART Accessories Level 2 Technical Training -Ken

Don't know if this is of any use to anyone, but I came across this. May be useful to those that use/support Smartboards, and the online level 2 training is $99. -Ken

Just chiming in on this thread; Zenos is not the only provider that does Apprenticeships/Advanced Apprenticeships. We currently have one of our tech doing (this year) his NVQ 2 in IT & Telecoms program and related certs (this years it's the Cisco Essentials, comparable to the A+), with the view to do his NVQ 3 in IT & Telecoms and related professional certs next year thru Cambridge Regional College. Our local college earlier this year also started to offer a similar program (however we had already signed up our tech with CRC) with even had limited fully funded places for the over-25's. To be honest, the best advice is to contact your local colleges on a regular basis to find out what funding is available to you and on what courses. For instance, last year our local college had funding for the following courses (regardless of age): ESOL - Free DMS (yr 1 of 2) - 50% off CIPD - 50% off ILM LVL 3 First Line Management Award - 50% off ILM NVQ 2 in Team Leading - Free C&G NVQ 2 in Business & Admin - Free ILM NVQ 3 in Management - Free

What does this entail? We have our own Exchange (2003) servers. -Ken

Why not just use the Becta job tech creator and then modify it? That's what we do -ken

Received an answer back from the SQA this morning: So the SQA had already issued the cert, so hopefully I'll be getting this soon -Ken

FITS level 4 - Practitioner This course content covers the following Reactive, Proactive and Change Processes: Day 1 1. The FITS overview (including the what, why, who, etc...) 2. The ServiceDesk (including the role of it) 3. Incident Management (including the function of it) 4. Problem Management (including the function of it) 5. Change, Release and Patch Management (including the purpose of it) Day 2 6. Configuration Management (including the demostration and understanding of it) 7. Security Management (including the key aspects of it) 8. Activities for the whole FITS course Hope this helps, you can read alot more about it here (they've updated their site now). I've put the basic course structure of the course that I went on, the implementation of the course may be different per provider. -Ken

I have some info, but it's at work (I'm on A/L this week). If no-one has replied before then, I'll post up a brief outline of the course next week -ken

E-mail sent: -ken

I was one of those who sat the FITS practitioner exam in Feb and have not received the cert yet (so i kinda know how you feel). To my knowledge (I may be wrong) that it goes thru the SQA (even though it's a qualification from the FITS Foundation) and they are the ones that issue it. Maybe a call/e-mail to the SQA will result in a better answer?

Well had a response from the OU: Considering that I actually sent links with the 2 above modules, I'm not sure if their advisors know what they offer or if their website is out of date... This doesn't fill me with confidence... -Ken

However it does look like if you do it that way, you have to complete certain OU courses first before you can gain OU credit for MS/Cisco qualifications, see here and here. However I've e-mailed for clarification... -Ken

It depends how you look at it. If it's from a module for another degree, then, it's ok (costs a little bit when compared to my local college). If it's from a purely MCTS qualification point of view, then it's expensive. Yes, it is recognised in the IT industry/sector. The MCTS track is the new track for MS new technology, replacing the MCP track. The exams are £88. If you're purely talking about the MCTS Well depending on what MCTS the OU is talking about and what your experience level is with that tech, you could just top your knowledge up with a £20-£50 book and then book the exam yourself. Or check your local colleges (ours is a MS academy and offers MS courses at a fraction of the price. There's also NeOS IT, then just book and pay for the exam yourself. You can also ring up aiedo, they are so far the cheapest online training company that I've come across. If you're talking about Uni credit, as well as a MS qualification I don't know of many, I think WGU does something similar. Again your local Uni, may do something too. -Ken