Feeling better about yet another credential

[dreamtouch]

I detest the credentials which are more and more required as proof of expertise. I thought I was done with Linux related credentials and then Novell notified us that the credentials they had us get last year and earlier this year would not be sufficient after July. We would have to pay $200 and sit their 2 1/2 hour "Practicum" exam. And me with five Novell Linux courses lined up to teach in September and October.

As usual, I've been a mess about it. It was very hard to get myself to study. The list of objectives to study for is huge. I know almost all of it from a practical standpoint, yet the earlier exams from LPI didn't test practical skills, they tested memorization skills - not my best skill. I finally sat the exam today and had a wonderful surprise: It was a real test of ability. They provided a network of servers (probably using vmware) and a set of objectives to accomplish with them. The servers were fully loaded including all of the usual documentation, so it was a true test of capability, not memory.

I did run out of time before quite finishing, so I "only" scored 776 out of 800. I do criticize them for not providing plenty of time, but overall I'm fairly satisfied. Most of the students I teach are planning and preparing for this same Novell "Practicum" exam, and now I can feel good about that and I can feel good about teaching the way I do.

So here I sit, recovering from being stressed out for several days, lack of sleep, etc. At some point I may actually feel happy about the whole thing.

Comments

[broncochick.livejournal.com]

I read about the practicum exam in http://www.certmag.com/issues/nov00/dept_insidecert.cfm. It seems that Novell engineers took their time and expertise to design a problem-solving scenario that wholistically evaluates a student's knowledge, creativity, intelligence and experience. Very elegant indeed.

I wish we had something similar in elementary and secondary education. Standardized tests are not real measurements of a student's subject matter competence or of analytical aptitude. All kids should be assessed by a vehicle of multiple measures. Unfortunately, the political need for uniform data drives education to low levels. Education, devoid of "real" meaning, engenders mediocrity.

So, Thank you for your post!

Oh! Congratulations on your 776! ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_greg/]

Thanks for the reference! What I took (the Linux Practicum) must be the sister to the one described in the reference. I had googled for information on the Novell Linux Practicum but had found nothing out there describing it.

Back in the 1970's, our group at UCSD, and a number of other groups I was aware of, built similar systems. They were useful for exploration, self-evaluation and also for testing, i.e. checking whether a student had mastered an area and was ready to move on. By the mid-1980's, most schools had abandoned such technologies because they don't work as well for sorting people out into a curve. Too many people learned too much and it threatened the status quo. I'm very, very glad to see some of this technology coming back. It makes sense that it would come back in professional education where there is less interest in grades than in mastery. I hope we can have another go at transforming primary and secondary education sometime soon.

[hot-turkey.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling better. Take care of yourself, please. We love you.

Sweetie

[not-a-nicegirl.livejournal.com]

And here is me yesterday whining (albeit all in good fun) about you being the carrier. Well it looks like this bug is staying with me for a bit. So maybe when you recuperate you can come over and entertain me with some knife juggling or scotland highland dancing.

Meanwhile. Rest up honey. I am now starting to understand what people mean when they say life is just one damn thing after another.

Got another set of legal documents from the ex-lawyer yesterday accusing Papa of purposely not letting him withdraw from the case even though it would be no detriment to him, just so he could make the lawyer do more paperwork and wast court time. Which is bull. Anyhoo. Have a relaxing day.
Much love