[libreoffice-marketing] LibreOffice training in local community colleges

Hi!

I was wondering if it is appropriate to mention on our localized web sites or 
somewhere else any upcoming LibreOffice courses in local community colleges.

In Finland the community college system is partially state funded and the 
actual colleges are usually operated either by local municipalities, non-
profit organizations or in some cases for-profit groups. They are open to 
everyone and classes are usually held during evenings and weekends, allowing 
even those who have regular jobs to participate. The subjects range from 
computer skills to archeology and pottery making.

During the past years Finnish community colleges have been quite active at 
offering basic computer skill courses using OpenOffice.org. I believe this has 
been good marketing for OOo, especially among the elderly people who quite 
often learn their computer skills on such courses. Now I see that some 
community colleges here have switched to LibreOffice which is of course great.

There are participation fees to these courses but thanks to government funding 
they are often relatively low. One community college is offering a 12 hour 
LibreOffice course with 120 euro fee in April 2012. Another just finished a 
combined OOo/LibreOffice course, 12 hours with 35 euro fee.

I know that there is a certification program coming and this kind of activity 
would most likely fall within it. But these community colleges could have hard 
time finding resources to participate in the certification programs at the 
same level as typical IT training companies since the companies collect much 
higher participation fees (typically around 1000 euros for courses with 
similar length). Community colleges often do not even have permanent teaching 
staff for their courses but just contract someone who happens to be available 
and has the sufficient skills.

Should we take the difference in business models in account when we set up the 
rules for the training certification program? Or should we just exclude 
community colleges from the certification program and assume that the 
government supervision is enough to guarantee sufficient quality?

Harri

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