Internet Society
Online Training Opportunities
By Kevin G. Chege (ISOC)
East Africa IGF 2015 – Kampala, UGANDA
September 24
th2015
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.
Global Presence
100+
Chapters Worldwide65,000+
Members and Supporters145+
Organization Members6
Regional Bureaus18
Countries with ISOC Offices NORTH AMERICALATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
EUROPE
AFRICA
THE MIDDLE EAST
ASIA
OCTOBER 2013
Background of ISOC’s Capacity Building
Activities in Africa
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
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,
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
Number of trainees at past workshops
219
156
115
237
309
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
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
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
Use of the Internet as tool to reach more
engineers with the trainings
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
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,
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
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
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.
Offline Trainings
Online Trainings
ü require lots of planning – 3 to 4months prior to the event
organizing participants, localhost and logistics.
ü An online training session can be put together in 2 weeks or less (assuming course is ready)
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 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 do not scale – maximum class size of 30 per session
ü can scale to large numbers with proper infrastructure. Multiple streams of 30 trainees
ü depend on the facilitator maintaining high standards.
ü materials can be updated when necessary and are always
available. Multiple facilitators can be made available via mailing
lists, online calls etc
ü require the trainees to be done in 5 days
ü are more friendly to the trainee. 2 to 4 weeks
Offline Trainings
Online Trainings
ü The right people don’t alwayscome for the trainings
ü Trainees can take the course from their workplaces over the 4 weeks or take a 1 week off from work
ü Face to face has a personal touch with real interaction between the trainers and the trainees
ü Interaction with facilitators and other trainees mostly online
ü Attrition – not a major issue 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, Email filters etc
