Article A4:

Researching Industry Certification: Is It Appropriate as a Form of Credentialing for SoDIS®?

05:01
June 2007

Leo Hitchcock, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
leo.hitchcock@aut.ac.nz

Hitchcock, L. (2007, Jun), Researching Industry Certification: Is It Appropriate as a Form of Credentialing for SoDIS®? Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 5, Issue 1. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In December 2004, at the SoDIS® (Software Development Impact Statements) symposium in Auckland, an industry certification as a method of credentialing the SoDIS teachers and analysis was mooted. The SoDIS, a process of ethics-based risk assessment and analysis of downstream risk to project and software stakeholders, including the public, is currently in the process of progressing from prototype to commercial product. Certification was proposed to ensure the integrity of the process and the quality of service to stakeholders.

Much of the following has been excerpted from a quality assured paper that appeared at the 19th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ 2006), Wellington, New Zealand. Samuel Mann and Noel Bridgeman (Eds). Reproduction for academic, not-for profit purposes permitted provided this text is included (www.naccq.ac.nz )

As outlined in Hitchcock (2005; 2006), certification sponsored by industry, commercial organisation, or professional association or foundation (collectively referred to here as industry certification) has been a form of credentialing for decades. In 1938, the Association of Short-circuit Testing Authorities (ASTA) introduced the ASTA certification with the support of the then UK Government Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (ASTA BEAB, 2004). The Institute of Certified Professional Managers (ICPM) Certified Manager claims a 30 year history (“ICPM offers manager credential”, 2005). Novell, Inc. began testing and certifying IT industry and IT network professionals in 1986 (Cosgrove, 2004; Novell, 1996). Global certification testing centres were established in 1990 by Drake International (now Thomson Prometric) (Foster, 1997). Novell claimed their one-millionth certification in 1995 (Novell, 1996).

Especially since its adoption by the IT industry over the decade following 1986, industry certification has become a veritable juggernaut (Hitchcock, 2005): a “multi-billion dollar business” (Cosgrove, 2004, p. 486), with the number of available certifications impossible to quantify (Knapp & Gallery, 2003). The dynamics that drive it derive from a diverse range of stakeholder groups (Hitchcock, 2005; 2006): certification candidates seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills and attain higher status and remuneration; the certified professional community who seek to raise the bar of their universal competency levels and form a communications link between vendors and consumers; industry seeking to raise the overall knowledge and skill levels within itself; employers who seek ways to better qualify job candidates’ credentials; consumers who demand knowledgeable and skilled professionals; product vendors who demand highly competent technicians to implement and support their products; and professional associations setting minimum standards and advancing their profession.

Many academic institutions both at tertiary and secondary level are integrating industry certification, especially ICT certification, into their curricula (Hitchcock, 2005; 2006).

2. DISCUSSION

Is industry certification, however, a pedagogically robust form of credentialing? Does it have value for its stakeholders? Is it an appropriate form of credentialing for the SoDIS? This research, using both Phenomenography and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a joint methodology, focuses on the experiences of actors within the phenomenon of industry certification. It extracts and examines both the essence of the understanding and perceptions of the value and validity of industry certification, and the essence of industry certification itself (Hitchcock, 2006). The research data was gathered from an extensive literature review, interviews with a small sample of certification holders and employers of certification holders, and from the researcher’s own ten years’ experience in the IT certification domain.

The research identifies both benefit and criticism elements of common certifications. Benefits that constantly appear in literature articles, and corroborated by the interviews include;

Career advancement and the associated remuneration benefits;
Establishing the holder’s credentials and credibility;
Establishing the holder’s level of knowledge leading to acceptance and respect by peers;
“Value added” benefits including; access to software, knowledge bases, and escalation; magazine subscriptions; invitations to conventions; use of logos, etc.

Benefits accrue too for employers as one important criterion for assessing job candidates, and establishing the level of expectation of on-the-job ability.
Criticisms elements include;

The devaluing of the value of the certification if it becomes too easy to attain;
A certification is a waste of time if one already has the experience;
The certification provider benefits more than the certification holder;
Cost, especially of maintaining the certification as current;
The life span of some certifications is quite short.

The first of these criticisms was accepted as true by the interview subjects. Criticism two was strongly refuted. Criticisms three and four, while somewhat accepted, were regarded as being irrelevant. The final criticism was raised by the interview subjects and not mentioned in the literature.

Elements of the various certification programmes can be categorised into typical, and, arguably, more rigorous, less-typical elements. Typical elements include; a training content; knowledge-based assessment; performance-based assessment; and non-disclosure agreement (disclosure of assessment content) and/or a code of conduct. Less-typical elements include one or several of; the requirement for a prerequisite qualification and/or prerequisite experience; prerequisite learning; compliance to a code of ethics; membership of an association; a background check; and peer endorsement.

The research suggests that the more respected certifications in terms of stakeholder value and pedagogical robustness contain all of the typical elements plus some or many of the less typical elements. This is especially the case in regards to the level of practical assessment or required practical experience. The rigour and robustness of the programme itself, and the rigour, integrity and security of the assessment programme further adds to the value and pedagogical robustness of a given certification.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS

While this research does not attempt to single out specific industry certifications to determine their value or pedagogical robustness, the findings suggest that, in general, well designed and well administered certifications with integrity and rigour of assessment processes, are indeed pedagogically sound, with significant value (Hitchcock, 2006).

Preliminary conclusions are reported here as presented at the SoDIS symposium held in Wellington, 7th July 2006. It is concluded from the research, that such an industry certification is indeed appropriate for teachers and analysts of SoDIS. Comments from the interview sample included:

“Probably the best way”
“Gives grounding and validity”
“Very appropriate”
“Gives a responsibility stakeholding”

The certification paradigm recommended is vendor-neutral, professional certification. The introductory SoDIS certification as currently proposed by the SDRF (Software Development Research Foundation) compares favourably with the more rigorous, “less-typical” certification model as described here. It contains elements of experience in software project management, prerequisite training in the SoDIS process, with practicum emphasis as well as cognitive.

REFERENCES

ASTA BEAB (2004). The History of ASTA. Accessed July 25, 2005. (http://www.beab.co.uk/ aboutus-history-ASTA.asp).

Cosgrove, S. (2004). Academic qualification & industry certification: Integrating education with practice. Proc. 17th Annual NACCQ Conference, 6th - 9th July 2004, Christchurch, New Zealand, p. 486.

Foster, E. (1997). Product certification may be helpful but mainly feeds vendors’ profit appetites. Infoworld, 19(37).

Hitchcock, L. (2005). Industry certification: Value, validity; and a place for SoDIS®. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 37(4), 59-63.

Hitchcock, L. (2006). Methodology in computing education: a focus on experiences. Proc. 19th Annual NACCQ Conference, 7-10 July, Wellington New Zealand, p. 109.

ICPM offers manager credential to IT professionals. (2005, April). Certification Magazine, 7, p. 13.

Knapp, L., & Gallery, M. (2003). Certification appeal. Association Management, 55(11), 28-34.

Novell. (1996): Press Release: Novell celebrates a decade (1986-1996) as the pioneer and leader in innovative certification testing. Accessed July 25, 2005 (http://www.novell.com/ news/press/archive/ 1996/03/pr96054.html).

Copyright© 2007 Leo Hitchcock
The author(s) assign to NACCQ and educational non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant a non-exclusive licence to NACCQ to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web (prime sites and mirrors) and in printed form within the Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology. Authors retain their individual intellectual property rights.

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