Hi everyone,

For those students that got the Sec+ this year, with version 501 do you think is it worth taking a new test and have it 'upgraded' to 601? Or it's better to just get the C.E point and get a renew in a couple of years?

Thank you all for your attention,

Hello, we need trainer for 2021 for CompTIA CASP+. Prefered language is EN, if there will be any in Fr, IT, German or Polish - it is interesting too. Let me know if you know anyone.

Hello CIN,

In case you have some time for reading, please consider delving into CompTIA's 2020 Research Collection.

Topics include:

@Stephen Schneiter and I have an interesting conversation going on that relates to CompTIA certifications that are no longer available. Having obtained both the Home Technology Integration (HTI+) certification and the Healthcare IT Technician certificate, they provide "bragging rights" since I continue to hold more CompTIA designations than @Lee McWhorter has <grin..>. The business of certifications necessitates achieving that "industry-recognized" designation, and unfortunately, neither of these apparently achieved this goal. With the increase of IoT, I think some consideration should be given to revising the HTI+ certification. I point to my home network, with more than twenty devices attached and the Steve Gibson three router security solution in place, as evidence of its relevance. For those not familiar with HTI+, I detail it in a Certification Magazine article I wrote in 2004. As to those twenty-plus IOT devices on my home network, it turns out they are an income producer for me (see the draft article I'm writing).

Moving over to the Healthcare IT Technician certification, we "Steves" agree this was a certification that arrived before its time. With today's focus on security, coupled with the fact that healthcare providers are primary targets for bad actors, I suspect the certification would have the value it deserves today. As interest expands (see Futuro Health article), perhaps this certification should be revived.

As I work towards an eventual retirement, I keep pushing that off because I believe that I still have something to offer students and organizations like CompTIA. I want to give you a sense of what I'm talking about because I firmly believe all of us, as teachers, need to provide learning content support for those who we work for (students), and those who support us. A couple of weeks ago, Debra McCraw with CompTIA, asked if I'd be interested in providing content relating to CompTIA's blogging efforts. Given what CompTIA has done for me over the past couple of decades, I was more than willing to do so. Published on their blog today was the product of that request. Titled "Understanding Network Data Delivery: Layers 2 and 3 of the OSI Model", it served as an attempt to provide learners with a simplified version of addressing at these two layers. Hopefully, it proves useful.

I point to this effort because I think all of us should consider giving back to great industry organizations like CompTIA. I encourage you to reach out to Debra if you are interested in volunteering in a similar effort to promote our role in education.

Steve

Hello CIN Members: We have a promotion happening over the next week with up to 20% discount on our store. Here are the coupon codes you will need if you are interested. Check it out! https://s.comptia.org/CompTIAStoreLI Thank you for all you do!

The US IT Industry Outlook 2021 Report: LINK

• Digital operations are more important than ever, with many transformative changes accelerating over the past year.
• Fair treatment for all is an absolute mandate, making diversity, equity and inclusion a top priority.
• The influence of technology is massive, forcing new approaches to regulatory behavior.

As the industry emerges from a chaotic year, it will begin a rebuilding phase, but this rebuilding goes beyond restoration. There is little opportunity to return to the old way of doing things. Thanks to changes that no one would have wished for and fueled by the requirements of a digital society, the technology industry will doubtless take a new shape in the coming year. This isn’t rebuilding to reclaim the past; this is rebuilding for the future.

CompTIA PenTest+ is now DoD Approved! Check out Patrick Lane's blog to the learn how the addition of CompTIA PenTest+ to DoD fills an essential gap for penetration testing and vulnerability analysis skills. Read our blog: https://bit.ly/36RC4ra

Is anyone out there using Certmaster Learn for ILT? I have a customer who is trying to decide what to use to teach Security+.
If anyone has the ability to give a demo for a College partner to show how an instructor can monitor and facilitate students, it would be greatly appreciated.
The college partner is on the west coast.

Hi, we are training center in Czech Republic and we are looking for Comptia trainer who can teach in France and German. Is it possible to cooperate with you? What is your rate for 1 day? Or can you advice where to find any?
Thank you Sarka

Hi, we are training center in Czech Republic and we are looking for Comptia trainer who can teach in France and German. Is it possible to cooperate with you? What is your rate for 1 day? Or can you advice where to find any?
Thank you Sarka

We had a great session today, introducing the Instructor Toolbox webinar series! Many thanks to @Lee McWhorter for his walk through of GNS3 and how it can be used as a teaching tool. If you missed the session today you can catch the session on-demand and the resources Lee discussed in the Resources area.

Another heart warming story, this time from my own neighborhood in North Austin. My wonderful wife Kris McWhorter spearheaded a drive to put up a food pantry. Her Dad built it, friends helped paint, and the outpouring of support from neighbors has been amazing. So proud of her I had to share!

Central Texas story that warmed my heart.

#autism #football #goodnewsstory


Had to share.

I'll start with the following link:

A while back I joined the San Diego Chapter of the IATP, but not much has been going on, a likely consequence of the COVID-19 situation. I think the existence of the organization makes sense, but I'm trying to figure out is how it could effectively be marketed in a fashion that encourages CIN members to get involved and get their students involved. Thoughts?

Steve

Today's Twitter contained an important CompTIA post. As we consider the employment opportunities, particularly as it relates to cybersecurity, many people who have recently separated from military service have a "leg up" with security clearance availability. An area that I think we can help all are students gain another "leg up" is by convincing them to join available organizations (see Article I wrote for Certification Magazine), and obtain certificates for the completion of online FEMA Courses that will enable students to gain knowledge relative to incident command operations.

Steve

Some 'fun facts' about the Joined: dates for members

If you look at a CIN member profile you will see the "Joined:" entry denoting the date a member joined the CIN Forums.

There are a few 'fun' or historical facts about these dates.

1) If you see a date before July 31, 2019 then you are looking at someone like @Stephen Schneiter from CompTIA who was in the system first, built it, and was an Alpha tester.

2) Anyone with a Joined: date of July 31, 2019 was a Beta tester of the forums, including all CIN Board members and some CompTIA staff.

3) Then you will see a lot of people with early August 2019 dates like @Stephen P and @Rick Butler who signed up at launch, either at the Partner Summit in Vegas or online.

Another unrelated fun fact: If you mouse over a member's name and look closely you can see their id in effect. I'm number 10. (I am not a number, I am a free man...)

It's amazing to me to see that in just over a year we have grown to over 1600 members! (A fact I know from using the above trick. ) Let's bring even more in and keep this party going.

Lee

So, I promised the CIN I would provide some storytelling and pics from my new acquisition (again, thank you CompTIA for it, it will be fun - when I get there)

To all you aspiring drone pilots out there, that have ever thought of going online, buying yourself a drone, and buzzing your friends, neighbors, and pets - well, it's easy to confuse a drone as a toy. It's light. Entry levels are relatively inexpensive. You can get 'em at Walmart or Amazon. And I always had aspirations of flying model aircraft. I fly PC based flight simulators. In fact, I'm just getting into Star Wars Squadrons, as of this weekend. I've flown hang gliders. And I have aspirations of getting a Private Pilot ticket as part of my bucket list.

But make no mistake. Drones are not toys. They are aircraft. And as such, when you say the word "aircraft" in the US, you better contact the tower, because the FAA will be watching. Of course, there are a few new things now I have to do before my new toy aircraft will see sky - a testament to the joys of government regulation and Murphy's Law. I remember a lot of this because of my time working with the US Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association - and how deep the FAA was into rule making for anyone who wanted to fly anything. A few years back, I heard that drones weren't going to be that regulated, but this year, FAA has decided more rules were needed. Gotta love bureaucracies.

Seems that the FAA, in the last year, put some additional rules and restrictions on Unmanned Aircraft (UA) - drone aircraft. They want all drone pilots to now take a basic pilot exam before they fly. Probably the same level of exam as maybe the ITF+ or A+. 78pg study guide going over basic aeronautics, weather, tower communications, and airspace rules. So - add that one to my pile of things for which I'm studying. The cat is safe, for now.... ?

This drone is an entry level Holy Stone HS120D - got great ratings for those of us who are venturing out for the first time, flying under recreational exemption. I unboxed it - it's a nice piece of equipment - well built for what it does. 18 minute battery life and a 1080p camera. Uses your cell phone (which my Note 9 was a bit of a challenge getting into the controller...lol).

Additionally, the drone itself has to be certifcated - which is basically a $5 fee and about 10 minutes of registering with the FAA. Okay, check, got that done.

And THEN - they tell you to get an app B4UFLY and find out if you have airspace restrictions. I do. My house is right near Peterson AFB and the Colorado Springs airport. Yep. Contact the tower before I fly - I think there is an automated app that will allow me to do that. Meanwhile, my house is in an area where the max ceiling is 50', with 400' available by special permission.

So, this has become something of an adventure. One I'm totally cool about - but it's one, none the less.

Pictures soon - after I pass my cert. (seems like a theme around here!)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting this thing off the ground...just might take a little longer.

/r

In today's "Microsoft Certified Trainer Newsletter" I found the following information interesting:
We’re excited to announce an upcoming update to our certification program and upcoming feature release on Microsoft Learn, enabling individuals to renew role-based and specialty certifications by passing an online assessment for free. Plus, new certifications earned by passing required proctored exam(s) will transition from a two-year validity to a one-year validity, and renewing certifications can be done annually within six months of expiry. Stay connected on MCT Central for more information.

Frankly I don't understand why I'm getting this newsletter. Suffice it to say I have not held that "certified trainer" designation for somewhere around 10 years. While I've been away from Microsoft Certification activities for a while, a while back did pass a couple of the Azure certifications. What I don't get is the announced reduction from a two-year validity to a one-year validity. Perhaps one of you could enlighten me as to what this means.

Steve

Hey guys, thanks for the kind comments relating to the SY0-601 content I posted. BTW, in my recently "retired from" job with the California Community College Chancellor's Office, I helped fund and create learning content that is aligned with CompTIA's ITF+ certification. My content development team included two full-time community college faculty and one high school teacher. Content is aligned with the exam objectives and is public domain (meaning it is free for public use) as an open education resource (OER). You can take a look at it by clicking on the link below and registering as a student. It is structured to use Canvas as the LMS and Canvas provides a free teacher account so you can set up the course for your use by importing the learning content via a Canvas importable file. I've also provided a link to the file for downloading. This is a great course for middle school and high school students who are involved in CyberPartiot or NCL cybersecurity competitions.
Link to Student Course Registration:

Enroll in IT Fundamentals+ - Public Review

canvas.instructure.com

Link to Importable Canvas Learning Content File:

https://bit.ly/3680tZ5

(file needs to be unzipped after downloading)

Enjoy.....

Steve

Quick Observation/Comment/Suggestion on TTT videos.
I only watched a couple of TTT videos and wanted to share my thoughts on the process.
Since we're trying to follow the ILT-CertMaster eLearning system to teach the students, it may be helpful to make the TTT videos to be consistent with the same system. (ie going through the PPT slides/eBook pages/CertMaster pages in sequence, page 1 - ~1200. It'll probably make it easier for the students to follow along as well. I'd appreciate anyone sharing their thought on this. Thank you. Best.

Is there a way to download the TTT videos to local drive? It'll be very helpful. (no voucher, got it!? ? just looking for content!) Thank you. Best.

We are looking for a certified trainer to deliver virtual or onsite in London CompTIA Pentest+ on the following dates:
•07.12-11.12
•08.03-12.03.21
•07.06-11.06.21(might be in London)
•13.09-17.09.21
•29.11-03.12.21 (might be in London)


Let me know if anyone can do this - clearly during any lockdown all delivery will be virtual....

Thanks, Matt.

As in any trade, instructors need to have the right tools to get the job done. An instructor’s toolbox needs to have precision tools to deliver engaging content to students. This is even more important today as instructors find themselves needing to have skills for in-person and virtual course delivery.

Join us as we welcome Lee McWhorter, Chief Technical Officer at Covered 6 LLC, as he introduces us to incorporating GNS3 into a training program. Lee will show basic set up, uses, and some examples of how GNS3 can be used for teaching A+, Network+, Security+ and beyond. If you are teaching networking virtually, this is a session you do not want to miss.

What: two-hour webinar investigating virtual environments
When: Tuesday November 17th 10:00 a.m. CST
Where: ON24
Who: Lee McWhorter
Register: http://bit.ly/CINIT-GNS3

Hi
I just started watching the video on "A+ Core 1 TTT Session 1: Introduction". It goes well until ~ 1 hr, but then the video freezes...no audio either. Is it me or the video?
If it's a video issues, can it please be reuploaded? Thank you.