Certmaster A+ Combo (Core 1 & 2) Instructor-led Training Presentation Planner

[Ivan Jude Busgano]

Hi CIN,

Has anyone of you tried delivering an A+ combo online instructor-led training (core 1 & 2) using the certmaster learn and labs platform in 10 days for just 3-4 hours a day?

Did you use a presentation planner as a timing-guide for the delivery? (similar to the one you get from logical choice).

Your inputs are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Ivan Jude

 

[Stephen P]

That's an incredibly aggressive pace! No, I have never done that. I have always had at least 30 hours each for Core 1 and Core 2.

 

[Ivan Jude Busgano]

I agree @Stephen P.

I was just so shocked to find out that there other delivery partners in our country that exactly do that.

I can't really figure out how they are able to deliver "quality" training with that pace.

Or maybe they're not.

Thanks!

 

[Stephen P]

The only way it can be quality is by offloading the overwhelming portion of the learning to the students. The instructional sessions can't be much more than a light review with Q&A at that pace.

 

[Ivan Jude Busgano]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, Stephen.

I'll stick to my schedule and style. Quality over quantity. ^_^

 

[Stephen P]

You are most welcome! If it was 10 days for Core 1 and then another 10 days for Core 2, then it would be a different matter. I have had great success doing it that way, as well as with Network+ and Security+ in the same manner. That's the way CompTIA's Online Instructor-Led Training system works. Core 1 and Core 2 each take 10 days, so it's a total of 20 days for both.

Online Instructor-Led Training | Training | CompTIA IT Certifications

Online Instructor-Led certification training provides a personal classroom environment conducive to learning.

www.comptia.org

 

[Rick Butler]

<soapbox>

I often encounter groups, situations, and efforts to condense A+, Net+, and Sec+ into so tight a time frame that the only way to achieve it is to call The Operator and request the program download from within The Matrix. Either candidates need their cert yesterday, in order to retain or get a job, or they want to sell super-duper fast-track cert programs, to get to that ROI faster and faster.

The problem here is that, in the realm of human learning, there are physical, neurological changes occurring that must occur for humans to learn anything. This is akin to planting a tree from seed and expect that we can accelerate the growth process, while at the same time, be able to also to shape that tree to what we want it to be.

In short, it takes time and sadly, a lot of organizations (or students) don't want to invest the time in it.

The one other component that is disregarded is assimilating the knowledge, akin to how the body digests food. Humans need time for the brain to form those pathways - to meditate and review the information, incorporating it into all the other knowledge and wisdom contained in the brain. In fact, it takes about 7-13 exposures to the same bit of data in different learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic), to bring new information to long term storage.

My college pushes these with 120 contact hours, not including the outside work and individual study to actually learn the material. Reasonably, we've seen, at best, about 15-20% success for a candidate to actually test after that. I think, maybe 160 contact hours per course and one has a reasonable chance of starting fresh and passing the test.

All that to say, "Rome was not built in a day."

</soapbox>

 

[Ivan Jude Busgano]

Hi Rick,

I really appreciate your inputs, especially the infusion of intelligent humor - "call the operator and request the program download from within The Matrix".

Everything you said is on point. The human brain really needs to have that time to absorb the information. I think of it like a sponge.

But sad to say, it seems that other training providers here in our country just really want to "sell super-duper fast-track cert programs, to get to that ROI faster and faster" and without really understanding/considering the other important components of human learning.

And it seems people are digging it because of the 'er' factor. Fast'er'. Cheap'er'.

This kind of frustrates me.

But i do understand that not all students really want to learn the skills, get equipped to the bone, and be able to use them in real life. There are others who just want to pass the exam and earn the certificate to display it on the wall (and probably get a promotion) and nothing more.

I have no control over these things and i don't want to be stressed about it any longer. From here on, i'll focus my energy on those people who really want to learn the skills seriously.

I'll make a vlog episode about this soon, for my circle of influence to understand that effective human learning process takes more than just dumping information in the brain. And that The Matrix is far from being real.

Thanks!

Have a great week ahead.

- Ivan

 

[Rick Butler]

Not just your country, Ivan, but in every country where the ROI means money on the line. This is the quintessential difference between the altruism of education and the business of it. There are always going to be arguments with people who want to make money and those that wish to educate students - which is more important? The For-Profit education sectors, colleges and private schools, have sought that happy-medium between the two.

Sadly, few can agree on where that line is. But I tend to side with the student in these things.

/r

 

[Stephen P]

My least favorite way of presenting the material is as a 1-week boot camp, or even 2-week for A+, but that is what much of the market demands. I have taught for the local community colleges as an adjunct, full-time for a non-profit career college, by contract to for-profit training companies, and full-time for a non-profit trade organization, and in all cases it really boils down to the motivation that the students have intrinsically.

 

[Rick Butler]

...and in all cases it really boils down to the motivation that the students have intrinsically.

I was walking through my building on my way to my desk and heard a conversation between two of our Medical instructors on the topic. They were upset on how, because of CoV, they were having issues with students not showing up for labs, even though they are online, doing their book work, coming to physical lab - the whole ball of wax. They were really upset over sending these students to an externship and their not being really prepared to do the job.

This is so typical these days of education. People want that money, those high paying jobs, all of it. But the downside here is that in the haste for that, they lack the necessary skills.

So you're right, @Stephen P - it really does matter if the student makes the attempt or not to actually learn and not look for the quick and easy path.

/r

 

[nateclarkaz]

Ivan,

As the others have stated, it really depends on the organization. I have taught the A+ in various formats, but I now teach for a business school that delivers A+ as a 480-hour internship program. However, they do not allow just anyone in the program. They require a prerequisite/assessment exam to determine basic IT knowledge before allowing them to take the course and they also interview them to gauge their commitment. Additionally, they use multiple test prep solutions (TestOut, MeasureUp, and CertMaster) and require the students to score 90% on two of the three before they will issue them a voucher. Implementing these two approaches has pushed the first time exam pass rate to 85% and I have achieved a 100% certification rate for 31 consecutive students (a few retakes). Not every organization will have this approach, but I now use a 40 question assessment at the start of all my classes to get an idea of who I am working with and I give a final 80 question assessment at the end of all my courses to get an idea of who is ready. Adding these two assessments has allowed me to direct the focus of my time on weak topics.

Nate

 

[Tess Sluijter]

The only way it can be quality is by offloading the overwhelming portion of the learning to the students. The instructional sessions can't be much more than a light review with Q&A at that pace.

Oofff, you're making me re-think our online / virtual classroom secure coding class Our approach is very much like what you describe (online lecture, offline labs, online Q&A), although I reckon our content might be a lot "smaller" in size than the curriculum described here. Of course, there's nothing wrong with making us question whether what we're doing fits our students.

 

[Ivan Jude Busgano]

Ivan,

As the others have stated, it really depends on the organization. I have taught the A+ in various formats, but I now teach for a business school that delivers A+ as a 480-hour internship program. However, they do not allow just anyone in the program. They require a prerequisite/assessment exam to determine basic IT knowledge before allowing them to take the course and they also interview them to gauge their commitment. Additionally, they use multiple test prep solutions (TestOut, MeasureUp, and CertMaster) and require the students to score 90% on two of the three before they will issue them a voucher. Implementing these two approaches has pushed the first time exam pass rate to 85% and I have achieved a 100% certification rate for 31 consecutive students (a few retakes). Not every organization will have this approach, but I now use a 40 question assessment at the start of all my classes to get an idea of who I am working with and I give a final 80 question assessment at the end of all my courses to get an idea of who is ready. Adding these two assessments has allowed me to direct the focus of my time on weak topics.

Nate

I appreciate your inputs, @nateclarkaz.

You are so blessed to be teaching for a school that really put in the effort of providing value to their students. I envy you.

I run my own startup IT training academy. And I have adapted a similar approach of requiring students to take a pre-assessment to gauge their level of proficiency with respect to the particular CompTIA training course they wish to enroll.

I've been getting good results from this, too.

Thank you for the reinforcement.

- Ivan Jude

 

[Rick Butler]

They require a prerequisite/assessment exam to determine basic IT knowledge before allowing them to take the course and they also interview them to gauge their commitment.

This, to me, is the fundamental difference between your approach and that of most every academic institution and technical training house. Most every school is very, very hesitant to just letting anyone enroll in a course. Most are just interested in selling a seat into the course, getting the $2-3k in tuition, putting the student through the course and back out again, concerned with student outcomes only when some regulator or accrediting organization requires it.

For example, a trade school accredited with ACCSC is required to post about 60% of its graduates in field. They are required to graduate about 60% of their students. Public colleges, not so much. Private houses aren't required to do anything of the sort. So it's distilled down to how much tuition gets collected.

So, talk of a pre-req/assessment exam before starting a course is generally considered anathema-maranatha, because pre-enrollment competencies get in the way of top line revenue streams.

Gauging commitment on incoming students would save a lot of instructors' headaches when trying to deal with students who either unable or unwilling to do the necessary work, in didactic, labs, and throughout their learning plan.

/r

 

[Stephen P]

I usually teach for some sort of non-profit that has some sort of a grant to help economic development. In that case, I am blessed in that the agencies contracting CompTIA Tech Careers Academy (fka CompTIA Training Strategies Group) are using some sort of screening process. Still, when teaching ITF+, I get quite a few people who don't know how to download a PDF, much less read one.