Computer networking training

Cisco Systems Canada is expanding its networking academy with the help of outside vendors for the first time.

Joining Cisco in further developing the Cisco Networking Academy Program curriculum are Hewlett-Packard, Panduit and Sun Microsystems. The program teaches students Internet technology skills and is offered in more than 330 high schools, colleges, technical institutes and universities across Canada.

HP, Panduit and Sun will sponsor new courses that will be integrated into existing academy curriculum to teach a broader range of IT skills to Canadian students. The additional course content will be available in September, and will include: IT Essentials, sponsored by HP; Fundamentals of Voice and Data Cabling, sponsored by Panduit; and Fundamentals of Unix and Fundamentals of Java, sponsored by Sun.

It's the first time other vendors have been brought into the program in Canada, says Anne Miller, Canadian education marketing manager for Cisco Systems Canada Co. Typically, additions to the curriculum are piloted in the U.S. first and then brought to international markets.

"In North America," says Miller, "we've been very fortunate in that the first level of certification has been readily adopted at the high school level and each year following, more and more community colleges would get engaged, and now I'm seeing the universities get engaged."

Miller is also seeing more vendors express an interest in providing curriculum that is fundamentals-based, she says, such as Sun, HP and Panduit. "When you look at the growing skills shortage in all of the IT areas, it really makes sense."

Ed Butler, who teaches the Cisco curriculum at Auburn Drive High School in Dartmouth, N.S., says adding input from other vendors is the right direction for the program.

"It's really interesting when you sift through all of these programs that are part of the expansion," says Butler. "The first thing that jumped out at me was greater flexibility. From an educator's perspective, this is incredible because it gives much more flexibility in terms of what we can teach in the classroom. And they cover just about all of the most important areas and sets of skills that are basically required for a person to be involved in mainstream information technology."

The IT Essentials component, for example, covers aspects of hardware, software, operating systems and so on, says Butler. "Instead of just dealing with networking issues, now I can touch more on things such as hardware and software and operating systems. It makes my job as an educator much easier."

Butler says one of the key things to remember is that most of what's in the Cisco curriculum is very generic. "It applies to anyone, any operating system, any platform. Obviously there's going to be little bits and pieces that apply to a particular manufacturer or developer, but again much of it is very generic." The curriculum also points to other links of information that are very vendor neutral, adds Butler.

That the academy has been so successful at the high school level is a boon to the college level, says Colin Sheppard, an instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. "Because these fundamentals are being taught in the high school, it does light the fire in the students. There are quite a few that actually take it to heart."

He says the expansion of the program is significant. "It gives educators the tools to start teaching some state-of-the-art-technology."

Adding vendor input is also a bonus, says Sheppard, because technology is always moving forward and the training becomes more relevant. "One of the benefits of the curriculum is that quite a lot of it is online, and they're able to make changes quickly as technology changes."

Having current curriculum is essential for an educational institution, says Dave Arthur, an instructor at the Nova Scotia Community College, the only community college in the province with 13 campuses.

"The technology is moving quickly, and it's very difficult to keep up to date. It's very easy for an educational facility to stagnate. As a technical college we have a real mandate from the province to make sure that our graduates go out with current skills."

Butler says a significant number of his students go on to further their IT education at university and college. "I get former students coming in or sending me e-mails saying 'My first year was a breeze because I pretty much knew most of what were already doing.'"