LearnKey Blog

2016 Courses: Evaluation, Improvement, and Job Readiness

A new year always means a fresh start here at LearnKey and a fresh evaluation of what we do, how we do it, and what we can do to make our courses the best possible courses they can be and, for you, our beloved customers, a rich and interactive learning experience to help you fulfill two main goals: get certified in your area of study and be job-ready in your area of study.

The vast majority of people looking to take online learning courses are looking either for a new career or to improve in their current careers. And, we have made job readiness a major part of what we do in our courses, how we do it, and which courses we do. Again, mastering an area of study is not just about obtaining a certification. It is also about obtaining job-ready skills.

With that comes some course and schedule adjustments. I am happy to tell you that to make these goals of getting as many people certified and job-ready in their careers of choice, we have the following four major tracks we are doing in 2016:

A+ 900 Series

Our A+ 900 series, THE certification for those looking to be certified and job-ready as computer technicians, is our hallmark series for this first quarter of 2016. We have already released the A+ 220-901 series of courses and soon, the 220-902 series of courses will start to roll out. These courses will really help those of you looking to get A+ certified and get you job-ready skills for a computer technician position.

Adobe CC 2015 Test Prep Series

Adobe has a new set of exams out for their CC 2015 series. These exams are different than older Adobe exams in that they are including scenario-based questions. We are constructing a series of test prep courses which, combined with our existing catalog of Adobe courses, will get you job-ready for positions such as photo editor, graphic designer, web designer, video editor, and animation artist. And, these test prep courses will get you ready to gain Adobe Certified Associate CC 2015 certifications.

Office 2016

Last week, I wrote about the new Tell Me feature in Office 2016. Our Office 2016 series will not only help you get your Microsoft Office Specialist certifications, but the series will also help you be job-ready for positions to where Microsoft Office programs need to be well-known. How are we doing this? Well, I can’t give away the details yet, but we will building these courses in a way to where you view these courses through the eyes of employees managing company data using Microsoft Office. A single “company” is going to be used for the entire Office suite of courses, giving you the continuity to see how these Office apps interact, and, further sharpen your job-ready skills.

The LearnKey Programming Track

Programming jobs have been in high demand since I have been in IT. And, with the advent of mobile devices and people needing information in many different ways, programming jobs will continue to be in high demand. So I am very excited to tell you that this fall we will be launching an entire suite of programming courses, from an Introduction to Programming course (something I wish I had when I was learning this stuff) to building web applications to higher-end programming courses. Again, the focus will be getting you (if you want to get into a programming career) the job-ready skills needed to be a successful programmer.

I mentioned earlier that there are schedule adjustments and with adjustments, some programs come aboard (like our new programming track) and some programs ride off into the sunset. And for us, the program we are suspending is our Project Management suite of courses, including PMP, CAPM, and Microsoft Project courses. We do so with the goals in mind I mentioned earlier, to help as wide of an audience as possible reach their certification and career goals. You may notice that the four series of courses I’ve outlined in this blog fit a common theme: they are all series of courses geared toward people looking for a career or looking to improve their current career situations. That is the audience that makes up the vast majority of people who take online learning courses, it is the vast majority of our audience, and these adjustments are going to help us help you fulfill your certification and job-ready goals for 2016.

Duval County Public Schools Photoshop CS6 Training

A couple of months ago, Scott Walker and I took a trip to Florida to help high school teachers in Duval County Public Schools to become ACA certified in Photoshop CC. Last week, we found ourselves back in Duval helping a group of forty-seven middle school teachers become ACA certified in Photoshop CS6. When we arrived at the school Tuesday morning, we were also asked to introduce them to the IC3 training. By the end of the week, all but seven teachers had passed the Photoshop ACA exam, with several also receiving their IC3 certifications.

Unlike the group we worked with in October, many of the teachers in our training last week had never used Photoshop before. In fact, most of them were not even CTE teachers! It was a new experience working with people who were unfamiliar with the software, and it gave me a greater appreciation for what these teachers must go through every year when they are given a new group of students.

We spent the first day walking the teachers through the Photoshop and IC3 training on OnlineExpert and showing them the student workbooks, then we asked them to go home that night and practice using Photoshop by doing some of the projects in the workbooks.

On Wednesday, LaQuanda Paschal, one of the teachers we worked with in October, gave a presentation to demonstrate some of the techniques she uses in class to help her students pass the Photoshop certification exam. Between studying Tuesday night and LaQuanda’s presentation, about half of the teachers felt ready to test on Wednesday afternoon and most of those passed that day!

Duval County Public Schools Photoshop CS6 and IC3 GS4 training workshop

Adobe Exam Changes Part 2 – Knowing More Than Just the Program

Hello everyone! Not long ago, I shared with you some changes Adobe is making to their suite of Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) exams.

So, to get a first-hand look at the new exam format, I went and took the Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 exam for Windows. Now, mind you, it’s been :::covering my mouth::: years since I last took an Adobe exam, but I wanted to see what these new “scenarios” on the Adobe exams were all about. Plus, I had seen and heard some chatter from online forums and the like about how vastly different this exam is compared to previous Adobe exams. Given that part of my role as senior instructor here is to make sure we stay on top of exam changes, I took the plunge and took the exam.

And, yes, the exam has changed. But, the changes, in my humble opinion, were not drastic. I say that because though some questions look a little different, and yes, there are scenarios to go through, the core of any certification exam is still present. And that core is: Know the objectives and know ALL of the objectives!

Here is an example: Let’s look at the first domain of the Adobe Photoshop ACA 2015 objectives:

Domain 1.0 Setting Project Requirements
1.1 Identify the purpose, audience, and audience needs for preparing images.
1.2 Demonstrate knowledge of standard copyright rules for images and image use.
1.3 Demonstrate knowledge of project management tasks and responsibilities.
1.4 Communicate with others (such as peers and clients) about design plans.

Now, this is taken straight from the exam objectives as published on Adobe’s website. Someone studying Photoshop might be so focused on Photoshop that this domain just gets glossed over. And then, when a project question comes up on the test, the first thought is “uh-oh” or something worse.

And, with the scenario-based questions becoming a part of the Adobe exams, take a wild guess what types of questions are parts of these scenarios? I’ll give you a hint: Domain one. Besides, in order to be a Photoshop expert, shouldn’t one know what to do with meeting audience needs and know about copyrights and be able to work with others (like clients) on projects?

My point is, just knowing a program forward and backward is not enough to have a valid certification. For Microsoft Project, you need to know how a project manager operates, not just how to read a cost report. For Microsoft Access, you need to know how to structure a database, not just know how to change a field to a long date format. For Windows Server, you need to be able to design a server solution, not just know how to set up DHCP.

And, for the Photoshop ACA certification, you need to know how a Photoshop project is managed start to finish, not just how to change colors on someone’s shirt using a nondestructive method (yes, you need to know that, too).

So, resist the temptation to just ignore or gloss over test objectives that are not directly related to the program you are studying. In doing so, you will have a much better chance of passing an exam and, you will be a start-to-finish expert in the area you are certified in, not just a I-can-do-this-in-the-program person.

Adobe Exam Changes – Some Are Here, Some Are On The Way!

Hi everyone and Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels if you are traveling (I am not, thankfully). If you are studying for any Adobe CC 2015 exam, you will want to pull up a chair and read this carefully because the Adobe CC 2015 exams have changed and changed a lot!

When I first took an Adobe exam (Photoshop CS3 and you can figure out how long ago that was if you have an abacus), about half of the questions were multiple choice and the other half were simulations. The simulations were tasks I had to complete, in the program, such as doing a Gaussian Blur or using one of the many tools available in Photoshop to transplant one piece of a picture to another, such as replacing bad grass with healthy grass.

Now, Adobe is rolling out a new exam format. In this exam format, the exams are much more scenario-based, to where instead of having one task to perform in a situation, you have several tasks to perform, all tied to the simulation.

While this makes for a much more realistic knowledge test for the exam (which, having taken a lot of exams in a lot of disciplines, I happen to like), it is a big adjustment, especially for those who have taken a few Adobe exams and/or are studying for an Adobe CC 2015 exam.

We at LearnKey are always trying to stay on top of these changes. One way in which we are going to start doing this (and continue doing for many areas, not just Adobe) is to add practice labs, tailored to the new exam format. We will be adding some Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 practice labs to our website in the coming weeks. And, as other exams are updated, we will add labs for those. This will help bridge the gap between our current courses and a new Adobe series, which we have in our plans for 2016. But we are not going to make you wait for good exam practice material just because a test format changes.

In addition to the labs, we will, as needed, update our current workbooks to match up with any objective changes and test format changes in these new exams.

These tools will give you, the student, the latest and greatest preparatory materials needed to become successful in your certification quest for Adobe or, for that matter, any certification you are pursuing.

Certification Training in Florida

Last week, I took a trip to Jacksonville, Florida, with LearnKey Sales Champion Scott Walker to train a group of teachers from Duval County Public Schools. The purpose of the three-day workshop was to help each teacher earn their Adobe Certified Associate certification in Photoshop CC. Most of the teachers hold certifications in previous versions of Photoshop, but had not been able to pass the CC certification test. Florida law requires that teachers be certified in the software they teach, so having a certification in a previous version is no longer enough.

When you use a piece of software on a near-daily basis, you come to think of yourself as an expert. The problem with this mentality is you fail to take into account that you are probably using the same tools day after day, never utilizing other features the software has to offer. You tend to forget how to use those features, and sometimes you even forget they exist. Our purpose was to re-introduce those features and help the teachers become comfortable enough to take the ACA exam.

Using a combination of our video-based training, our pre- and post-assessments, and our student workbooks, we began going over some of the more obscure functions of Photoshop, as well as providing a refresher of the basics. The new project-based workbooks were a huge asset as they allowed the teachers to dig in and spend time actually using the software in ways they hadn’t in the past.

I have often been told by my wife (who is a teacher) and others that teachers make the worst students. At least with this group, that wasn’t the case. It was a really great experience, and the teachers were all friendly and attentive. By the end of the workshop we were able to help nearly all of them become Photoshop CC certified, and a few teachers took advantage of the self-paced nature of LearnKey’s training to become certified in Illustrator CC as well.

Brad, Norman, & Terry

Duval County Public Schools training

Laquanda, Natalie, & Sonya

Vic, Scott, & Terry


Students with their certificates

One of the teachers from this training sent us this picture of his students with their certificates of completion for Session 1 of LearnKey’s Photoshop CC course.

New Course Release – InDesign CC

Another great course released. All summer we have been releasing our new Adobe CC courses. I am excited to add InDesign CC to our list of Adobe CC courses: Illustrator CC, Dreamweaver CC, Photoshop CC, and Premiere Pro CC.

InDesign CC

If you want to become a publishing professional in today’s  workforce, it is important to have a working knowledge of Adobe InDesign. Our new InDesign CC course is taught  by LearnKey expert Linda Dickeson, and will provide you with the skills you need to create layouts for both screen and print. This new course will teach you how to use some of the newest features of InDesign CC such as: Simplified Hyperlinks, Sync Settings, EPUB enhancements, and so much more!

Our hope is that through our courseware we may continually provide learners with the guidance, preparation, and skills they need to succeed. For more information and additional LearnKey products visit our website.

New Course Release – Illustrator CC

I am excited to announce the release of LearnKey’s news Adobe CC course. Illustrator CC joins Dreamweaver CC, Photoshop CC, and Premiere Pro CC as our newest course.  This course is perfect for students who are interested in a career as a web or graphic design professional.

Illustrator CC

LearnKey’s new Illustrator CC course provides a visual and intuitive interface for users to learn about the graphic editing capabilities of Illustrator CC. Join LearnKey expert Lee Wiley as he teaches you to effectively use the new Illustrator CC software. Learn about the new features in Illustrator CC such as: Live Shapes, Windows GPU acceleration, Typekit missing fonts workflow, and much more!

Our hope is that through our courseware we may continually provide learners with the guidance, preparation, and skills they need to succeed.

New Course Release – Dreamweaver CC

It’s been a busy summer at LearnKey. We are excited to announce that we have released another Adobe CC course. Joining our Photoshop CC and Premiere Pro CC courses is Dreamweaver CC. This course will prepare students for the Dreamweaver ACA exam with online video courseware, hundreds of practice test questions with our pre/post tests, and labs and demos that will help students practice and learn the skills presented during the video training.

Dreamweaver CC

Our new Dreamweaver CC course provides an intuitive and visual interface for users to learn about the website creating and editing capabilities of Dreamweaver CC. Join LearnKey expert Chad Chelius as he teaches you how to effectively use the new Dreamweaver software. He will also teach you the new tools and features found in Dreamweaver CC such as: enhanced fluid grid layout, CSS designer panel, and more!

Our hope is that through our courseware we may continually provide learners with the guidance, preparation, and skills they need to succeed.

New Course Release – Premiere Pro CC

Joining Photoshop CC our newest course Premiere CC was released last week. Those who take our Premiere Pro CC course will feel prepared to take the Premiere Pro ACA exam and have access to hundreds of pre/post questions long with relevant labs and demos that will help students practice what they are learning and become familiar with the newest features of Premiere Pro CC.

Premiere Pro CC

Those who are interested in a career in video and audio production need to have a working knowledge and practical experience in Adobe’s Premiere Pro CC software. This course will teach you how to effectively use the new Premiere Pro CC software, allowing you to edit video and audio more effectively and efficiently. LearnKey expert Ryan James will teach you how to customize the program, helping your workflow fly. He will also teach you how to use the new features found in Premiere Pro CC. Among these new features are: New Master Clip Effects, Live Text templates, and new masking and tracking capabilities.

Our hope is that through our courseware we may continually provide learners with the guidance, preparation, and skills they need to succeed.

 

New Course Release – Photoshop CC

What’s new to Photoshop CC? Personally, I think that it is awesome that with Photoshop CC I will have access to updates or new features to Photoshop CC the day they are released. This means means that Photoshop CC users everywhere will always have the latest and greatest when it comes to Photoshop features. Those who take LearnKey’s Photoshop CC course will be prepared to take the Photoshop ACA Visual Communication exam and have access to hundreds of practice test questions along with relevant labs and demos to help students learn how to confidently use the newest features found in Photoshop CC.

Photoshop CC

Exam: ACA Visual Communication Certification

LearnKey’s new Photoshop CC course will introduce students to hundreds of new updates and features in the latest Photoshop update. Whether you are a graphic designer or a novice photographer you will learn how to edit photographs, images, or create logos and marketing pieces. LearnKey’s Photoshop CC course will teach students what they need to know in order to effectively and easily prepare to test  their skills through the ACA Visual Communication Certification exam.