Online Training Opportunities

Transcription

1 Internet Society Online Training Opportunities By Kevin G. Chege (ISOC) East Africa IGF 2015 Kampala, UGANDA September 24 th 2015

2 What is the Internet Society? The Internet Society (ISOC) is a cause-based organization that works with governments, industries, and others to ensure the technologies and policies that helped develop and evolve the Internet will continue into the future. Our programs cultivate an Internet that is open to everyone, everywhere and aim to ensure that it will continue to be a tool for creativity, innovation, and economic growth. MISSION: To promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world. VISION: The Internet is for everyone

3 Global Presence EUROPE NORTH AMERICA AFRICA THE MIDDLE EAST ASIA Chapters OCTOBER 2013 LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN 100+ Chapters Worldwide 65,000+ Members and Supporters 145+ Organization Members 6 Regional Bureaus 18 Countries with ISOC Offices

4 Background of ISOC s Capacity Building Activities in Africa

5 Why work on Capacity Building in Africa? Africa urgently needs a much greater pool of skilled experts and technical engineers to ensure the Internet becomes the critical part of the infrastructure in African countries. Significant investment is underway in Africa s submarine and terrestrial fiber from both Public and Private sectors. As a result, the demand for a pool of skilled experts and trained engineers in Internet technologies and services to manage, operate and maintain these investments will continue to grow. More skilled engineers will mean better quality of Internet Services on the continent. A vendor neutral training is best placed to address these skill gaps

6 ISOC s Capacity Building Activities to date Began in the early 1990 s as INETs More recently: 5 day technical trainings on Unix/Linux and Internet Services Supporting NOGs eg: AfNOG, GhNOG, AfCHIX and many others Routing training under the ITE Program IXP technical training under AXIS Project NREN routing technical training AfNOG Track Zero localization in partnership with AFNOG and NSRC IPv6 Webinars under ITE (with AFRINIC and Orange) cctld Registry Operations Course in partnership with AfTLD, ICANN and NSRC Supporting African Network Operators Groups: GhNOG, SdNOG, EANOG, SAFNOG, TZNOG, RwNOG among others

7 ISOC s Track Zero Localization Program Introduced by ISOC as a pilot in 2008 in partnership with AfNOG and NSRC Track covered UNIX/Linux, Networking and Internet Services basics. Objective was to localize the track and allow AfNOG to focus on more advanced topics More than 31 trainings since 2008 in 15 different countries Trained over 1,800 participants (English + French including NOGs ) Materials used are from the initial AfNOG Track E0 on Intro to Unix System Admin and Services Facilitators from ISOC, NSRC and AfNOG community

8 Number of trainees at past workshops

9 Lessons learned from Localization Program High demand for the program on the continent The program was well received because; It is open source oriented It covers open concepts Is hands on oriented However, scalability was a challenge due to the size of the region and available resources only about 200 trainees per year Sustainability concerns due to long planning times and high costs associated with each workshop average of USD 10,000 just for 30 trainees New program and vision launched to address the issues

10 Past trainees recommendations: The workshops should use at least 7 days to give time for the student to be able to ask more questions and the instructors/facilitators to have more rooms to explore more experience to the participants If possible, please increase the frequency of these training workshops per year. Please keep it up and engage locals for better results (like including local people knowledgeable in some aspects to train as well). We need to have local trainers, not just learners. Thank you for affording us a chance to say something The workshops are very essential so should involve more college students, especially the science and engineering students in the various universities. Provide more regular trainings on Unix platform as Unix has benefits but people do not understand Contents were enough but need extra time to deliver so as the facilitators could have much explain without a rush to finish the content Increase awareness about the course without limiting it to few individuals around Universities. ISOC should also reach out to the private sector where these days capacity is a big issue.

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12 Use of the Internet as tool to reach more engineers with the trainings

13 Online Course: Introduction to Network Operations Course (Phase 1) The online course took 9 months to develop. Several experts involved in material preparation. ISOC s Internet Leadership Team managed the design and deployment of the course via InForum ISOC s online platform Online platform was successfully piloted in late 2014 Ø Participants from South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Botswana, Kenya, Cameroon, Rwanda participated The Online course was launched and initially run from March to July 2015 with 140 trainees Feedback was very positive and was used to update the course in August 2015 On Completion, participants are a given a Certificate of Completion from ISOC

14 About the Intro to NetOps course All one needs is a laptop/pc running a VirtualBox supported Operating System There are 9 modules spanning: ü Introduction to Unix ü Introduction to Networking (IPv4 and IPv6) ü Working with the Unix Shell and Intro to Shell Scripting ü Editing with ViM ü Introduction to the Domain Name System (DNS) The course is practically oriented, trainees build a Unix server in a virtual environment then at the end run a Caching DNS server first on BIND then using UnBound Can be completed in 2 to 4 weeks Remote moderation, FaceBook weekly calls, TeamViewer

15 Who can take the course The course is aimed at novices wishing to learn/ reinforce knowledge on Unix/Linux, Networking and DNS. Its available to: African NOGs, African cctlds, ISPs, IXPs, NRENs Universities (staff): Use it to grow numbers in the NOG or start new NOGs Increase skill levels of NOG members/isp Staff etc who can then carry out trainings locally Increase a NOG/IXP/ccTLD s popularity and reach Use it to increase skill levels among staff Grow a community of skilled engineers who will then pass the knowledge to others We will pilot with University students in October 2015*

16 How to take the course (improved after initial run in 2015) Pre-application procedure (takes 1 week) potential trainees fill an online form to determine how soon they can take the course and also allow for collection of some background info Registration (takes 1 week) Trainees are grouped together and assigned a moderator. Mailing list created Training (takes 2 to 4 weeks) Trainees take the course. There are weekly online calls to engage the trainees. Online remote support is available as they take the course Completion Trainees complete the course and send screenshots. Receive Certificates of Completion. Trainees complete an online survey on the course. After completion Training records are maintained. Trainees who complete are eligible to be moderators to their colleagues and asked to support others on the mailing list and the course s FaceBook page. We will track them as a means of M&E

17 Objectives of the Online Course The objectives of the online course are to increase the technical hands on skill levels among upcoming Network and System Engineers - fresh graduates, new recruits or job seekers in Network and System Administration. The topics and concepts are introductory/foundational and include: How to install a UNIX/Linux OS in a Virtual environment Networking concepts IPv4 and IPv6 How to install 3rd party software on a UNIX or Linux platform using Software management tools How to edit files in UNIX and Linux and create simple scripts How to build and activate a caching DNS Server and The course intends to provide trainees with real world skills useful to them in their careers and which will improve Internet services available in the continent. The course is HANDS ON.

18 Offline vs Online Trainings

19 Offline Trainings ü require lots of planning 3 to 4 months prior to the event organizing participants, localhost and logistics. ü are expensive at least USD 300 to train each participant. This includes costs to cover the facilitator travel and accommodation, venue fees, lab etc. ü do not scale maximum class size of 30 per session ü depend on the facilitator maintaining high standards. ü require the trainees to be done in 5 days Online Trainings ü An online training session can be put together in 2 weeks or less (assuming course is ready) ü Online trainings are expensive in the beginning (acquiring the platform and hosting fees) but even out in the long run. Currently, at about USD 30 and decreasing ü can scale to large numbers with proper infrastructure. Multiple streams of 30 trainees ü materials can be updated when necessary and are always available. Multiple facilitators can be made available via mailing lists, online calls etc ü are more friendly to the trainee. 2 to 4 weeks

20 Offline Trainings ü The right people don t always come for the trainings ü Face to face has a personal touch with real interaction between the trainers and the trainees ü Attrition not a major issue Online Trainings ü Trainees can take the course from their workplaces over the 4 weeks or take a 1 week off from work ü Interaction with facilitators and other trainees mostly online ü Attrition can be a major issue if not well managed ü Participants may need to leave the platforms they build during the training ü Participants remain with the virtualized machines and are free to experiment further test out new DNS software, filters etc

21 Online Course Structure Entity (NOG/ NREN/IT Group) Entity (NOG/ NREN/IT Group) Moderator Moderator Online Course Entity (NOG/ NREN/IT Group) Entity (NOG/ NREN/IT Group) Entity (NOG/ NREN/IT Group)

22 Some testimonials from online participants Dorcas from Uganda: Quality content, always accessible; not at any one point was the course page inaccessible; so precise and explanatory. Very good for first time users of Unix. Otieno from Kenya: The Introduction to Network Operations was very educative. The lessons were well structured and adequate references and comparisons provided. I also liked very much the simulations of FreeBSD installation, editing with VIM and Introduction to Scripting. This provided a very practical platform for learning and understanding the lessons. Jean-Baptiste from Cameroon - The illustrations and pictures were very useful for conveying meaning. I also liked the practical exercises. Abraham from Ethiopia : The Course materials are very helpful and interesting to learn and the methdology also nice. The course has been used to great effect as a pre-requisite for other trainings by KENET

23 Current Numbers in 2015 since March March to July 2015 (160 trainees) Trainees from Uganda (RENU), Kenya (KENET), Tanzania (TzNOG), Sudan (SdNOG), August course halted to apply comments from trainees, make updates September to Dec 2015 Lesotho (Lesotho IX group), Gambia IX, AfCHIX, KENET, TzNOG, Sudan, trial run with University in Kenya, and other groups who will apply We expect to have between 250 and 400 trainees by end of the year

24 Future Plans of the online course

25 Next steps In order for more engineers to benefit from the course it is important to make it available in more languages (plans are underway for French translation) ISOC is seeking partners to support the course into more languages and to help keep the trainings free More moderators will be needed as more trainees enroll We are hoping to develop Phase 2 as well which will also need to be translated. Phase two will build on Phase 1 and offer more advanced topics

26 Other courses available currently via ISOC o Shaping the Internet History and Futures (EN, SP, and FR) o Combating Spam and Online Threats (EN and SP) o IEEE Wireless Basics o Funding Your ISOC Chapters o Introduction to IPv6 (EN and SP) o Digital Footprints o Managing Your Online Identity

27 Any Questions? Thank You!