Knapp I.T. » Rants

The sad, final word about my ITIL 4 videos. :-(

Jill Knapp — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 02:38:04 +0000

A few days ago I received this tweet:

@Knapp_IT Wondering when the online training on ITIL V4 would come up. Please let the community know. #ITILV4

— Akanksha Shrivastava (@Aks_Sh) July 25, 2020

And here is the news I had to report back via Twitter:

Sadly, I'm unable to offer ITIL4 training videos; it's hugely disappointing for me & my 1000s of loyal video students. @AXELOS_GBP implemented a rule requiring all training (even videos) to include an exam; but our video resellers (where you'd get the videos) can't sell exams.

— Jill Knapp (ITIL® and stuff) (@Knapp_IT) July 25, 2020

Axelos' rule (requiring all training to include exams) is a well-meaning rule that is great for the ITIL community, but sadly it impacts me very directly. Our video resellers are simply resellers; there's no simple way to accredit a streaming platform to sell exams.

— Jill Knapp (ITIL® and stuff) (@Knapp_IT) July 25, 2020

Until we can figure that out (and my video publisher @PearsonITCert has been trying for a very long time), I am unfortunately dead in the water.

We naturally want to do everything legally and in full compliance; there's just no way to accommodate our unique video situation.☹️

— Jill Knapp (ITIL® and stuff) (@Knapp_IT) July 25, 2020

And she kindly replied:

Oops! Thank you for letting me know and allowing my hope to stay up still. I hope everything works out soon for the all of us.

— Akanksha Shrivastava (@Aks_Sh) July 26, 2020

So, in case it wasn’t clear, here’s a bit more detail and some backstory:

Over the last few years, we ITIL trainers noticed there were a lot of fake ITIL training companies popping up online. They would offer ITIL Foundation training at ridiculously low prices, and unfortunately the trainers were awful. These fake companies would charge bargain rates, and budget-conscious students would take these bogus classes because it looked like a great deal, and they’d naturally flunk the exam. It was a huge problem, and it needed to be fixed. It was giving ITIL a bad name.

Axelos (the ITIL mothership) decided to fix this by implementing a well-meaning rule in November of 2019 that said (I’m paraphrasing) “All ITIL training, whether it’s in-person, on-line virtual training, or even self-paced streaming videos, must be sold with an exam (or an exam voucher).”

Here’s the deal though: Only companies that have gone through the rigorous (and expensive) process of earning “Accredited Training Organization” (ATO) status is allowed to sell exams and exam vouchers. Since these scammer training companies weren’t about to go legit, Axelos was able to shut the scammers down, and students were now guaranteed that they were spending their training dollars on an Accredited Training Organization (ATO).

So what does this have to do with my ITIL 4 videos?

Well, there’s a 95% chance you watched my previous videos on either SafariBooksOnline or OReilly.com. The thing is, Safari and OReilly aren’t ATOs, so they’re not allowed to sell ITIL 4 training videos, because they don’t have a way to sell you an exam… because only ATOs can sell exams.

Now, 5% of you watched my videos on the PearsonITCertification website. Pearson is my publisher, and they actually are an ATO, and they have the ability to sell vouchers! WHEEEE! So now you might be thinking, “Great! So why don’t we all just buy the videos and the exam voucher from PearsonITCertification.com? That’s perfect!” And the reason is, not enough people think to go there for video training. If only 5% of the people who bought my videos bought them from Pearson, that means we have to somehow market to 95% of the universe to get the word out. Pearson doesn’t believe that the amount of money we’d have to spend on marketing to get those 95% of people to buy the videos from Pearson would make the investment worth it. So here we are.

So what was actually a very well-meaning rule by Axelos, intended to shut down scam training companies and direct students towards the companies who invested in becoming ATOs because ITIL training is part of their core business… companies like Pink Elephant, or ITSM Academy, New Horizons, or Qual-IT/Knapp-IT, etc…. has wound up hurting little guys like me. I have no way to sell you videos through Safari/OReilly.

It stinks, but I doubt it was intentional.

So, until Axelos changes their mind, there’s no way to provide streaming videos through Safari / O’Reilly. And I absolutely want to comply (and must comply) with their rules. They’re good rules.

If anything changes, I’ll let you know. Until then, I will focus on consulting, and providing training as a subcontractor for other ATOs.

And now you know the rest of the story!

Online learning

Jill Knapp — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:25:27 +0000

Many of my fellow freelance instructors love the convenience of teaching via an online modality (Webex, NetMeeting, Elluminate, etc.). Online classes mean that instructors can teach from their home offices, and students can take the class from anyplace with a ‘net connection.

On the surface, it sounds great. Nobody pays for travel, and the instructor gets to wear bunny slippers; everyone wins! :-) Except… not. Student pass rates are lower when students take the class via an online method. Why is that?

My best guess is student engagement. When sitting in front of a PC with speedy ‘net access all day, it is pretty fair to assume most students are going to play with Facebook in another tab. ITIL is a dry topic, and even the best instructor is no match for Farmville.

I’m known for talking with my hands almost as much as I do with my mouth. I flail, I point at things, I gesture and jump around while I teach in a classroom setting. I also hang things on the walls that represent different phases of the service lifecycle, so when I say “Service Design” I can point to that phase and students can quickly remember what Service Design looks like and how it fits in with everything else. The problem is, some of that isn’t really possible via online learning. The flailing works OK, but the pointing at things hung on the wall… not so much.

Students simply cannot get the same quality of training via an online method as they can in a classroom. Any sales rep that says otherwise has never taken ITIL both in a classroom and via online-live and then done a comparison. This means they are trying to sell you a product they don’t understand. This is not cool.

To be fair, I think online training works great for certain types of training; lab-based training (e.g., Outlook) is fine… but lecture-based? No way.

Again, sales reps will think the opposite: “Lecture-based classes are the obvious choice, because students don’t have to do anything but sit back and absorb.” Not true. Lecture-based classes like ITIL Foundations work much better when the instructors and students can have a dialogue; exchanging ideas, questions, group exercises, conversations with body language, nuances, expressions, and laughs. We need to apply this ITIL stuff to students’ lives or it isn’t going to stick… and it’s hard to do that even with sophisticated systems with tons of interactive functionality like WebEx and Elluminate. There simply is no substitute for being in a classroom for a topic such as ITIL.

Some training companies offer online training at a reduced rate, which I think is terrific. Students aren’t getting as much, so they shouldn’t have to pay as much. Training companies that offer no discount for their online training vs. their in-person training are slimy. Don’t choose them. It’s like paying for a 1.75 quarts of ice cream and only getting 1.5 quarts. Sneaky. Uncool.

Service Level Management teaches us that customers can have anything they want, provided they pay for it. You want fresh flowers delivered every time a desktop technician works on your computer? Fresh flowers you shall receive, because that is what you have negotiated and paid for, as shown in your SLA. “Service Level Management works with customers to ensure expectations and service quality match,” right? So don’t expect riveting, engaging, interactive, fun, thoughtful training in an online environment… you’re not going to get it… so you certainly shouldn’t be paying for it. If a sales rep tries to tout online training as a benefit and not as the reduction in service that it truly is, you are being duped.

This isn’t to say students can’t have a good experience via an online class. Online students should expect clear, straightforward, no-frills, Powerpoint-intensive instruction with minimal interaction via an online method. If a student is disciplined to shut Facebook off, then it’s do-able. But the moment another browser window is open, all bets are off.

Ranty Tips for Passing your ITIL V3 Intermediate Exam

Jill Knapp — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:58:41 +0000

Two things happened this week that inspired me to write a little rant.

First: APMG just released the average pass rates for ITIL V3 Foundation and Intermediate-level classes. You can check it out here. They’re lower than you’d probably think. (Thanks to ITILNews for the link.)

Second: The other day I received a phone call from a training company sales person looking to hire me to teach an ITIL V3 Intermediate course. Apparently someone else taught an Intermediate course for one of his clients, and “only half of the students passed,” he said. The client was very unhappy of course, since the training was obviously bad if only half the students passed.

The sales guy asked me what I would do differently to “make sure all the students passed.” I told him blankly, “Any instructor who says they can guarantee a pass rate, especially for an intermediate exam, is either full of hooey or is doing something they shouldn’t be doing.”

Folks, we instructors can lead the ol’ horses to water, but we cannot make ’em drink. We can give students the tools they need to be successful, but only the students can actually use the tools, put the Blackberrys down and fully participate in class, make the time to study appropriately each evening, remain calm during the difficult exam, carefully read each question and answer, and pass it. What makes the best instructors so great is that they inspire students to focus and work hard. That’s it.

Every instructor teaching Intermediate classes has to be a Certified ITIL Expert who is also accredited to teach that specific class; plus they have to use accredited materials which cover the exam syllabus thoroughly. Unless you’re dealing with unusual circumstances, students are taught the same topics no matter who is doing the teaching. Granted, one teacher’s style might be Death by PowerPoint, and someone else’s might be mostly facilitated discussions and exercises; so students should shop around for an instructor whose teaching style matches their learning style. So I’ll say it again: What makes the best instructors so great is that they inspire students to put their Blackberrys down, focus and participate in class, study after class, get their heads in the game, study hard, and take responsibility for their own success.

Remember “Paper MCSEs?”

Intermediate exams are meant to be challenging; if they weren’t, every doofus on the corner would have an ITIL certification and then the certifications would become worthless.

Remember back in the late 90s when every guy on the corner had their MCSE? They’d pay a few thousand bucks to attend a boot camp where they memorized the Transcender exam answers and hey whaddaya know: they’d pass. But if you got ’em in an interview and asked them what their favorite login script tool was, they’d get the deer in the headlights look. (I was a huge fan of Kixtart, myself.) We called these people “Paper MCSEs” because they had the certification on paper, but no actual skills or experience to back it up… and these folks were a dime a dozen.

Compare that to the PMP program. If someone has their PMP certification, chances are they’ve really earned it. I don’t know many Paper PMPs. It’s supposed to be hard, because it’s an honor to hold the cert.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Do you know how many students show up to an Intermediate class without owning the actual ITIL books? Folks: ITIL is a set of books. You’re spending around $3,000 to take a week-long class to learn how to implement what’s in one or more of these books. Shouldn’t you be interested enough in the topic to um, have purchased the book(s) for yourself at some point?

An analogy: If you want to be an authority on all of the geeky goodness in The DaVinci Code, shouldn’t you own a copy of the book? Just sayin’. :-)

Five Tips for Passing your ITIL V3 Intermediate Exam:

Buy the ITIL Book(s) that your class is based on, and read them. Don’t skim them, read them before class. Heck, after you read them, you might not even need the class.

Shop around for a training company with an instructor who teaches in a style that you like. Do you prefer lectures? Do you prefer exercises to apply what you’ve learned so it sticks better? Do you like taking a zillion practice exams? Ask yourself these questions first, and then ask your training provider. If you sense BS coming from the sales person, ask to talk to the instructor. You’re not being a pain, you’re being smart.

If your class is scheduled during a week where you happen to have a lot of production issues, reschedule the class. You need to be focused in class, not fighting fires via your Blackberry.

Shut off the WiFi. Bring your laptop to class if that’s your preferred way of taking notes, but stay off the internet. No work email, no personal email, no Google Chat, no Twitter, no Facebook, nada. Immerse yourself.

Get a copy of the course/exam syllabus (either download it from APMG, or ask your instructor) so you know which topics from the ITIL books you’re expected to know. Highlight those sections in your book (the actual ITIL book, not your student workbook), and study those each night, outside of class. This might mean you need to get a babysitter.

This may be hard for some of you to hear, but I’ll say it anyway:
Not everyone is going to pass. Not everyone deserves a gold medal. You get a gold medal for winning, not for just showing up.
But if you study hard and really know your stuff, you’ll have no trouble earning that certification.

Good luck!