Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Questions Regarding the ECDL?

Posted by Cliff on from the let-me-see-if-I-got-this-straight dept.

WeeBull asks: "Next month, I will be attending a seminar on the ECDL (European Computer Driving License). All the official information I can find about the ECDL is 'platform agnostic', but every training course I can find appears to be Microsoft specific. Primarily I'm going along to satisfy my own curiosity regarding this (apparent) anomaly, but if any readers have any other insights or questions regarding the ECDL, I'd be happy to take a list of questions with me, and submit a follow-up with the answers I get. More information about the ECDL is available from the ECDL Foundation."

1 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. It tries to be platform agnostic, but... by xt · · Score: 5, Informative

    First of all, the ECDL stands for European Computer Driving Licence, but it has found success in a large number of countries, including countries outside of Europe.

    It consists of seven modules, computer basics and a bit of theory, operating system usage and file handling, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database applications and last but not least, the Internet.

    The whole idea is to teach you the basics about computers and office applications, although there are some other units you can take later, which deal with advanced topics (eg. ECDL CAD).

    Since I prepare classes for the ECDL examinations and I am an examiner myself, I can also testify that most of the market (I am located in Greece) is oriented towards the MS Windows+MS Office+Outlook Express+Internet Explorer combination.

    But, the way the ECDL Foundation is structuring the documents upon which the learning process is based, are platform and application agnostic. They do not assume that you are familiar with MS products only. They place general requirements, every capable product can satisfy.

    The examination process itself is a different matter; you can take manual or automated (CBT style) examinations. The manual examination is application agnostic, but right now, the automated one is oriented towards MS products. As fas as I know, they (ECDL Foundation) have only implemented alternatives for two products; Linux+KDE (for OS and file management exams) and Netscape (for Internet exams). There have been requests for OpenOffice support in the examinations and they are considering it.

    So, at its core the ECDL is platform and application agnostic, but those who teach and those who come to learn are oriented towards MS products.