Schoolforge-UK Consultant Accreditation Scheme
From Schoolforge-UK
The idea for this came out of envisaging two scenarios:
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SCENARIO 1
Imagine you are responsible for the IT budget in a school that exclusively uses proprietary software. You've heard that FLOSS can improve your TCO, and other decision-makers have asked you to to find out more.
Would you prefer to:
A: Go to the Schoolforge-UK web site and get in touch with somebody who is already using FLOSS, and get as much information out of them as you can for free?
- OR -
B: Contact Schoolforge-UK to arrange a visit by an experienced, accredited independent consultant (charged at, say, £2-3 per pupil + expenses). The consultant will use TCO models to present the best possible outcomes that could be achieved from 3 or 4 different strategies for adopting FLOSS?
SCENARIO 2
You are an experienced IT manager who has successfully introduced FLOSS in your school, and you'd like to be to help other schools to use FLOSS.
How would you prefer to do this:
A: By answering telephone calls and emails from schools interested in FLOSS, and perhaps visiting them for free? (Plus maybe some expenses).
- OR -
B: Training yourself to become an accredited consult who can survey a school and present the best outcomes the school could achieve from different strategies for adopting FLOSS, and earn a reasonable fee for doing so?
What did you choose?
Let's face it, most people will always do "A" whatever you chose!
But this exercise demonstrates the opportunity for a programme to certify independent consultants who can advise schools on the consequences of different approaches for implementing FLOSS. It is envisaged the programme should include a short training course and qualification exam, together with a mentoring scheme and regular update seminars to keep abreast changes in the industry.
The consultancy programme must be vendor-neutral, in other words, it should cover the TCO impact of using proprietary software.
The training would include: (please expand)
- Carrying out a school IT infrastructure survey
- Assessing IT support skills
- Using an on-line tool to assess TCO
- How different FLOSS approaches impact TCO
- Presenting results
Participation
If your organisation would like to contribute to the accreditation programme, please contact john at coronet co uk.
