The recordings of the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start” are available now.
More helpful resources regarding this jump start can be found in my previous blog post.
Tag Archives: Learning
My opinion about the ITpreneurs Cloud Essentials eLearning Course
Introduction
For those who haven’t read my previous blog posts, here’s a short summary. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to know more about cloud computing and get certified as well. I used freely available resources to attain these certifications:
In short, my conclusion was that the quality of the freely available resources were not sufficient. ITpreneurs responded to this by giving me access to their own paid ITpreneurs Cloud Essentials eLearning Course.
First of all, thanks to ITpreneurs for this opportunity. Also even though they provided me with access to this course, nothing was expected in return. They just wanted to share their knowledge with me. Because of my personality, I felt however that that the very least I could do was to:
- Provide constructive feedback on the course
- Write about how I experienced the eLearning course
And this blog post is the result.
The power of passion (and how I got access to commercial cloud learning materials)
People who know me personally, know that I’m very passionate about ICT. Some of you might also have read about my previous blog post regarding cloud certifications. In this post I described how I prepared for the cloud certifications CompTIA Cloud Essentials (CLO-001) and Exin Cloud Computing Foundation (CLOUDF). In this post I also said that I felt that the quality of the freely available materials was lacking and suggested people would check out other (paid) learning resources like by example the TrainSignal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos because they have a good reputation regarding training videos.
Because I was still curious about the quality of the paid training materials, I decided to contact TrainSignal to see if they were willing to provide me with a review copy. I hoped they would agree, but didn’t have high expectations. To my surprise however, they provided me with a review copy.
In the meanwhile, ITpreneurs contacted me to check out their IT Preneurs Cloud Essentials Course. I really liked that they contacted me, because to me this feels like they’re very passionate too and are continuously trying to improve.
I’ve already completed the IT Preneurs Cloud Essentials Course and will be posting my opinion on this blog very soon. I still have to start reviewing the TrainSignal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos, but I’ll try to do this as soon as possible as well.
If you have specific questions regarding one of both learning materials, please leave a comment so I can include it in my reviews.
Information from the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jumpstart”
After some technical difficulties the “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jumpstart” started about 50 minutes later than planned. For people new to Windows 8 I think that Stephen Rose and Joey Snow covered most of the important features that are relevant for enterprises. For me personally however, it was mostly repetition since I’m already very familiar with Windows 8.
The recorded videos are available now as well: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/jj687764.aspx
Nevertheless, for people who are interested, I’ve saved the chat / Q&A from the jump start which also includes a lot of links to use if you want to know more about specific features.
Some links from the Q&A include:
- Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start Break Slides
- Springboard series for Windows 8
- Springboard series insider
- Protecting user files with File History
- Enhancing Windows 8 for multiple monitors
- Windows 8 To Go feature overview
- Windows To Go Step By Step
For people who are either struggling with the new user interface themselves or expect their family, friends, colleagues or customers to struggle, I suggest you take a look at my previous blog post.
If you’ve missed this event, it has been recorded and will probably be posted online somewhere in the next two weeks.
Also for those who are looking to upgrade their certification to Server 2012, next week there’s another jumpstart “Prepare for exam 70-317 – Upgrading Skills to Windows Server 2012 Jumpstart”. I hope to see you there.
HCC Windows 8 introductietraining in Urmond op 12-10-2012 @ 20:00
Op 26 oktober wordt Windows 8 officieel gereleased door Microsoft. Vanaf dat moment zullen nieuwe pc’s en laptops ook standaard uitgeleverd gaan worden met Windows 8. Tevens zullen dan ook Windows 8 (RT) tablets beschikbaar komen. Zowel Microsoft zelf zal tablets verkopen (Microsoft Surface), maar ook andere grote leveranciers zullen hun eigen tablets verkopen. Ook is het de verwachting dat er steeds meer laptops met touchscreen zullen gaan komen.
Het gevolg hiervan is dat Windows 8 qua bediening enorm verandert.
Ik raad daarom ook iedereen aan met interesse in deze nieuwe versie van Windows om de “HCC Windows 8 introductiebijeenkomst” in Urmond bij te wonen:
Datum : Vrijdag 12 oktober 2012
Tijd : 20:00 – 22:00
Locatie: Gemeenschapshuis Pater Kolbe, Graetheidelaan 60, 6129 GH Urmond
Link: http://www.hcc.nl/vereniging/evenement/windows-8-introductietraining-33
Free “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start”
On October 18 (1 week before Windows 8 gets released), Microsoft is hosting a free “Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start” for those looking to get to know Windows 8 better.
If you’ve missed my post from yesterday, there’s also a free jump start for people who want to upgrade their Server 2012 certification.
Cloud essentials/foundations training and certification
Cloud computing is getting increasingly important nowadays and I expect it to keep on growing substantially. As most ICT professionals I’ve read a lot about cloud computing and I know some parts of it. To increase (and test) my knowledge about cloud computing, I decided to try and get these certifications:
These exams don’t just focus on the technical aspects of the cloud, but also on the business aspects and what cloud computing could mean for your ITIL processes.
I passed both exams todat with scores of respectively 86% and 80%. But I have to say that I did not like the exams very much. I feel this way because cloud computing is such a broad concept and the “best” solution often depends on many factors, which of course are not provided in the exam. I think these exams would both benefit greatly from using cases/scenarios. It’s a pity I did not see any option to comment on the exam questions either.
If I’d have to choose which certification I found most valueable, I’d go with the Comptia Cloud Essentials certification.
Free study materials I used:
- Exin Cloud Computing Foundation (CLOUDF) preparation guide, pocket guide and sample exams
- CompTIA Cloud Essentials/A+ Certification online course
- CompTIA Cloud Essentials practice test
- Examforce Test Prep Software for the CompTIA Cloud Essentials Exam (be sure to check out the “Reference Library” under the “View” button).
- Ucertify CompTIA Cloud Essentials [CLO-001] (used available free content only)
- Cloud Computing article on Wikipedia
I thought the quality of these study materials were mediocre at best and I have my doubts about the correctness of some of the statements. Especially because cloud computing is defined in many different ways and because the “best” answer often depends on the situation which is not described. But as with everything, you can learn a lot from it by being critical and looking up everything you don’t know YET and/or have doubts about. You will learn more this way, which is far more important than just getting certified. I personally learned a lot especially about specific cloud services. Unfortunately I did not have access to paid materials, otherwise I would have loved to check out the Train Signal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos seeing as they have a reputation to provide high quality material.
I will now close with some wise words I read on Seth Godin’s blog post called “Curiosity was framed“:
Curiosity was framed
- Avoid it at your peril. The cat’s not even sick. (HT to C. J. Cherryh)
- If you don’t know how it works, find out.
- If you’re not sure if it will work, try it.
- If it doesn’t make sense, play with it until it does.
- If it’s not broken, break it.
- If it might not be true, find out.
- And most of all, if someone says it is none of your business, prove them wrong.
There are many more great posts on Seth Godin’s blog so be sure to check it out.
Office 365 / Sharepoint online – Workaround to add RSS feed web part to public website
When I tried to include a RSS feeds web part to my public sharepoint site just the way I had done many times on intenal sharepoint sites, I found out that the RSS viewer web part was not available.
After searching the internet I found out why this was the case and I also found a workaround using a custom solution/webpart.
Even though it is possible to use RSS feeds this way on my public sharepoint site, it is not what I expected. In my opinion an RSS feed web part is such a fundamental part of websites nowadays that it should be available by default in Office 365 / Sharepoint online.
I hope that this will be corrected in the upcoming release of sharepoint (2013) for Office 365, but the preview still doesn’t provide this capability unfortunately:
Free “VMware Your Cloud or Mine” events
Today I got a mail informing me about free “VMware Your Cloud or Mine” events being hosted in the Netherlands:
- Thursday October 18th in Rotterdam
- Tuesday October 23rd in Eindhoven
- Thursday October 25th in Utrecht
- Tuesday October 30th in Zwolle
Check the link to sign up and get more information about the event.
I will be attending the event in Eindhoven at October 23rd.
blog.bjornhouben.com 