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minielsen
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Posted: Fri Oct 30th, 2009 13:22 |
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As announced yesterday OGC has now communicated the withdrawal of ITIL V2 including the actual dates at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/itil_ogc_withdrawal_of_itil_version2.asp.
itSMF members were asked via a survey to give their input for the actual withdrawal of ITIL V2.
There has of course been many different viewpoints and I'm sure that the itSMF survey is just one source of information behind the decision made by OGC.
Whether the notice is enough (or too must) is another discussion.
I can appreciate that certain areas you may not feel ready to move totally to V3 education. Again surely for many reasons including local language issues and maturity level. In odder areas V2 cold have been and in many case de facto are removed long time ago.
Personally i feel that withdrawing V2 will help us all moving ahead with V3 and make us all ready for ITIL V3.1 (or whatever the mandated ITIL update will be called).
What is your viewpoint?
Best regards,
Michael.
itSMF IQC qualification officer.
Last edited on Wed Dec 9th, 2009 11:56 by minielsen
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IT Skeptic
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Posted: Wed Dec 9th, 2009 06:26 |
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A bit late to the topic sorry, but I have wondered elsewhere why product should be withdrawn if people want to buy it. And why would you EVER withdraw the digital pdf version of a product?
V2 is not being withdrawn for the convenience of ITIL practitioners everywhere. It will inconvenience some and do nothing positive for the rest. It is being done solely for the convenience and profitability of the industry, the suppliers, the commercialisers of ITIL.
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minielsen
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Posted: Wed Dec 9th, 2009 12:13 |
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Indeed Rob. I once stated that OGC is a vendor and someone looked at me like I was from outer space, but I still mean it. OGC is a commercial vendor developing and selling ITIL (among other stuff and with the help of sub contractors).
And there are other vendors involved including the Examinations Institutes and the Accredited Training Organisations selling examinations and training.
Personally I think that all of these vendor is am importamt factor in the development of new better best practices (but then again I work for one of them).
Am I in favor of forgetting all leasons learned in the past? Absolutely not and I hope all valid information will be kept and made available as long as it makes sense.
Is there a need to keep ITIL V2? Maybe in some areas. In some markets like the Danish ITIL V2 has been obsolete for a long time. Hardly no-one is buying ITIL V2 publications or attends V2 training. Thus the statement made initially by me.
I realise that the situation is different in other markets, but vendors operating in a global market needs an uniform decision. I can thus understand the reasoning for the decisions and recommendations made by OGC, TSO, APMG and others. Is it the correct decision? Probably seen from their and many others viewpoint, but naturally not for all.
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IT Skeptic
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Posted: Wed Dec 9th, 2009 18:31 |
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I question why the decision is required at all. Why does V2 need to be "withdrawn"?
if someone wants tyo buy the book why not sell ti to them? If someone wants to be trained why not provide it to them?
If TSO make a commercial decision to stop printing a book based in demand, that's different (these days they could just move it to POD anyway, perhaps at a slightly higher price and lower quality). if an ATO makes a commerical decision to drop a course due to lack of demand, that's different
Why should OGC force the whole thing off the market? Obviously not for the customers.
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Atul Kherde
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Posted: Thu Jul 8th, 2010 06:29 |
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Dear Minilsen, a bit late, but here's my viewpoint:
Earlier, I have opined elsewhere about the advantages of moving from v2 to v3. Yes, there are distinct advantages in implementing v3 that one cannot ignore. (In fact, I have implemented v3 already, and we are seeing the results.)
However, this is primarily about the V2M exam: Will someone see the Wisdom in saving the ITIL V2 Manager's Exam…
Somehow, the end of the road for ITIL v2 Manager's Exam makes me sad. I still hope against hope that there would be some way to salvage this exam. I think the ITSM community as a whole is going to lose lot of value by stopping these exams. Here's how:
Bloom's taxonomy has been employed to specify the level at which candidates are expected to absorb ITIL knowledge. They will be examined to the specified level in ITIL v3 exams. Foundation exam requires level 2, whereas intermediate courses require levels 3 & 4, and the topmost course (currently MALC) requires level 5.
Every knowledge domain has items (from trivial factoids to entire frameworks) at different levels of comprehension.
For foundation exam, the multiple choice 26/40 approach is good enough.
Intermediate courses rise higher on Bloom's scale, and it becomes difficult to assume that 8 clicks can sufficiently capture the comprehension level of a candidate, esp. when at least some of the actual questions require candidates to REMEMBER some line in THE BOOKS as it is. So entrusting the job of capturing a candidate’s maturity in ITIL to eight clicks of a mouse – however well designed the exams may be, seems risky.
In Bloom’s level 5 (MALC), candidates are supposed to synthesize things from existing pieces. Now, , unless the candidate can synthesize the SAME things which the examiner has done, there is no way one can pass the exam. The net result is about aligning the candidate’s thinking with the examiners’! Ok, if the candidate does really synthesize something new, then it may not be available as an option! So, at the rock bottom, the exam tells the candidate to ‘first look at things our way, then we will certify you’! In which case, the word and spirit of synthesizing (Bloom level 5) does not apply at all.
The grey scale: created by gradient marking (options get 5, 3, 1 and 0) is an academic innovation which is an improvement in the examining method (if at all) and it has nothing to do with ITIL/ITSM per se. The success of this marking approach depends upon the skill in creating options. Presently, the approach followed in most questions is to create one best answer, and degrade it in 3 steps till it becomes absurd! This doesn’t help at all with the Bloom’s taxonomy; it only increases the ‘clerical load’ on candidates for counting the merits of different options under a time pressure.
Management Training: ITIL basically falls in Management Training where more than one ‘right’ solutions to a given problem can exist! Forcing choices in a black-and-white manner (even though it looks grey) goes against the basic grain of management training. Also, over a period of time, dumps are bound to happen, and people will clear the exams en-masse thus possibly reducing the value of the certification itself.
To wit, a multiple choice exam with 8 questions, however cleverly designed, cannot capture the candidate’s ability and knowledge at Bloom’s higher levels.
What is the intention of ITSM/ITIL exams?
Once upon a time, the intention of these exams (as I understand it) was to identify and train people on their managerial capability (knowledge + skills) in managing IT Services. Realizing that a real management situation might have MORE than one correct answer, the V2M exams got the candidates to write (produce) answers which were evaluated by a carefully calibrated system of multiple examiners. If the examiners saw sense in the candidate’s answers, the candidate HAD a chance of getting through, even though the candidate might not remember the ITIL books word-to-word.
In the DIKW hierarchy (Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom), these exams fall in the K-W band. And therefore, I sincerely hope that someone somewhere sees and acts upon the wisdom of retaining the ITIL V2M exam..! It is a definite value-add to the ITSM community as a whole.
ITIL v3 is a definite value addition over v2, no doubt! But let us not lose value which is there in the 100 marks 3 hour long-writing exam.
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minielsen
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Posted: Fri Jul 9th, 2010 05:51 |
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The withdrawal of ITIL V2 exams is a done deal Atul. Nothing anyone can do to change that.
I liked the V2 Manager, not so much on ITSM content and scope (which was very narrow), but because of its form and management content.
I have questioned if multiple choice is the right examination form and I would personally like to see the essay stile examination reintroduced at least for the MALC examination.
Michael.
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Atul Kherde
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Posted: Fri Jul 9th, 2010 09:15 |
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Thanks, Minielsen.
As a consultant, I know we have to accept the Realities of Life rather than running away from them.
Is there any way, we could persuade the authorities to make the MALC a written exam like the V2M. Same way, a case can be mailed ahead of time (2 weeks) and ppl asked to write a paper worth 100 marks. This time around, there will be only ONE paper instead of two (SS,SD)!!!
That would really make it worthwhile. Because, sooner or later, dumps will find their way into the system (internet has many sites which offer illegal stuff) and that will bring down the whole value of the certification itself.
Thanks and regards
Atul Kherde
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minielsen
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Posted: Fri Jul 9th, 2010 09:29 |
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I suggest that you contact your ATO representative in the ITIL Qualification Board ATO Sub Group for your region or EI (http://www.itil-officialsite.com/News/ATOSubGroupAppointed.asp) and/or your EI (http://www.itil-officialsite.com/ExaminationInstitutes/ExamInstitutes.asp) and ask them put the idea forward. The more that brings it up the better.
Best regards,
Michael.
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Robert Falkowitz
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Posted: Fri Jul 9th, 2010 14:09 |
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IMHO, the entire suite of APMG exams are useful as rites of passage for the start of an activity related to ITSM. They measure a certain awareness or knowledge of ITIL V3, and not a capability relative to service management. As such, they mark the start of a journey, during which the skills and experience of performing service management tasks need to be acquired.
The ITIL V2 manager exam was not intended to be the same thing, as it assumed, if not required, pratical experience in the area. Furthermore, it allowed for the candidates' ingenuity and imagination to come into play, in addition to being able to quote chapter and verse from ITIL. As such, I view the V2 exam more as a validation of something achieved, rather than a milestone at the start of the journey.
To use an analogy, suppose I plan to spend a week camping out in the woods. MALC & co. help demonstrate that I know that I need a tent, a compass, a sleeping bag and various other bits of kit, and I know how to use them together - at least, I have read and understood the manuals. I would be foolish to go into the woods unless I had at least that level of theoretical knowledge. V2 Manager is more of the merit badge that shows that I have successfully done several camping trips.
In the end, the question is the perception of the different stakeholders in the marketplace of what these examinations are worth, vs. the cost and the price of delivering them.
I certainly cannot speak for APMG, but they might be most attentive to a demonstrable demand from the marketplace showing a willingness to pay a certain price for a certain type of qualification. As for any business venture, creating a new product is a very risky business. You might say that you would prefer an essay-style examination; but are you personally ready to assume all the risks involved in creating and managing that examination?
-Robert
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IT Skeptic
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Posted: Fri Jul 9th, 2010 22:29 |
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| Robert, if only the IT industry and Castle ITIL saw it the same way, but because the qualification is called ITIL Expert clearly they don't.
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