Questions about the training at UCSC

For those who have doing their VMware course at UCSC, I have some questions for you.

1. Does the course run from say 6pm-9pm or something?
2. Is the training live and interactive or pre-recorded? Can you ask questions as you go?
3. If you miss a couple of sessions here and there, can you complete them later?

I ask these questions because 6pm-9pm US time means 8am-11am my time! Right when I start the day and the potential for missing a session here and there is quite high. Besides I want to draw some value out of the training, not just complete the requirement.

Thanks!

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Asif Dasl

I am enrolled for the April 23rd course. I have zero information on it though. I presume I'll log on and everything will be there or I'll get an email just before... As far as I recall it is pre-recorded with a forum (I could be wrong) but if anybody knows for sure I would love to know before it starts too!

There are 20 places left out of 40 for the April 23rd course by the way... if it's live then you could use a Camtasia trial in a VM (how is this software so expensive BTW!?) Can't see it being live... there are continuous assessments to complete too (again open to correction)

Also if any of you are ordering outside the US then when you get to the Authorize.net payment screen, don't enter your address if you get an error... it's the complete opposite to what I am used to doing but it went through after I deleted all of my details...

Edit - also be quick if you are going on that one... you won't get the $110 discount for early enrollment (14 days before it starts I think)

Essendon

I saw the $110 discount too, will wait on others to chime in with more info. I think QHalo took this course and others have done this too but I cant recall any names.

CCCTI offer the course too but they are priced at $1500, which is $400 more than UCSC and their course is live apparently. I cannot attend a live 8am-11am course from Tuesday to Friday for 8 weeks! I dont mind completing any assessments but there's no way my employer would let me set aside three hours every day for 8 weeks.

Thanks for your post Asif Dasl. Any more info anyone, Moose, powerfool??

Asif Dasl

I did a "UCSC Extension site:techexams.net" in to Google and found the following posts by powerfool...

powerfool wrote: »

An update from my view: I was under the impression that the UCSC Extension course was fully self-paced.You can go through the material at your own pace, but the mid-term and final are at fixed dates and the course ends at the end of the regular semester and that is when your course completion is sent to VMware; rather disappointing.I talked to someone in the department and they conveyed the self-paced aspect of the course. I wonder if I have any recourse... If it weren't for the possibility of the VCP4 ending soon, I wouldn't really care.EDIT: I am not sure of the quality of the CCC&TI course, but they have one starting later this month 24OCT-17NOV. UCSC will not have another course until at least January, and they have not outlined if they are ready for the V5.0 course, whereas CCC&TI has. If you need it before the end of this year and can dedicate MON-THU 1800-2100 for four weeks, go for CCC&TI... I have to imagine that they are using the official curriculum (otherwise it would meet the requirement from VMware), so it can't be dramatically different from UCSC in terms of quality.Original thread - http://www.techexams.net/forums/virtualization/70902-vmware-course-take.html

powerfool wrote: »

I am scheduled to take the course at UCSC Extension starting October 2nd. I know that there were a few folks here scheduled to take the course over the summer; I would love to get their take on this course. I am taking this on top of a 6 credit hour course for my masters' degree and, of course, work. I would love to get the thing knocked out within a few weeks (someone at UCSC said that many students complete it within five weeks, as it is self-paced). I already have loads of experience with VMWare in the ESXi 3.5 and vCenter days. My big Exchange 2010 migration will also be in a VMWare environment, so I want to get caught up on what is current. I am having a very difficult time with the design because we are virtualized and using a nice SAN... but the other folks are looking to design it as if we are using physical machines and cheap DAS. I have gotten them to compromise a little, but it needs to be more drastic.Original thread - http://www.techexams.net/forums/virtualization/69649-taking-vmware-vcp4-training-online.html

Listed on the UCSC course description is:

The instructor will answer students questions through e-mail, discussion forum and assignment review.

AlexNguyen

Essendon wrote: »

For those who have doing their VMware course at UCSC, I have some questions for you.

1. Does the course run from say 6pm-9pm or something?
2. Is the training live and interactive or pre-recorded? Can you ask questions as you go?
3. If you miss a couple of sessions here and there, can you complete them later?

Thanks!

1. It's self-paced.
2. The course video is pre-recorded. You can ask question via a forum or email.
3. Read 1. and 2.

I did not watch the pre-recorded video. I've followed the material from the ebook and did the lab exercises.
You have 20 lab exercises to do, each completed lab gives you 1.5 point. There are mid-term and final exams.
They gave you the questions for the exam in Word format and you have about 5 days to answer and return it
via email. There are no multi-choice questions.

To do the lab, you have to connect to a VPN server. Then you have to RDP to a Windows 2003 server which you
will install the vSphere client. Each student work with its own ESXi server, there's no team work. The ESXi server
itself is virtual. The lab environment is "slow" when everyone is running their server.

Even if the course is self-paced, you have to wait for the mid-term and final exam. I've finished all the labs in about
5 weeks. You'll get the VCP exam voucher only when the final exam is done at the end of the term. So, if you're in a
hurry to do the VCP, this course is not for you.

Asif Dasl

Thanks Alex!

Essendon

Very helpful posts from you guys!

So even if you completed the exercises in 5 weeks, you wait for the final exam which could be another 5 weeks away. After you finish that off, they then send your course completion report to VMware, correct??

AlexNguyen

That's correct. At mid-term, the teacher will give you a code to register to the VMware training site.
At the end of the term, you have to evaluate the course through the VMware training site. The teacher
will enter your score in the same site. If you passed, you'll get a VCP voucher code in your email box.

Essendon

Thanks again!

Asif Dasl

7 Places left for the April 23rd course at UCSC Extension.

yywho88

Hello folks, greetings.
I am planning to take the VCP 5 class @ UCSC Ex this summer. To take advantage of the early registration discount, 6/25 is the last day to register so I only have roughly 4 days to decide. How did you like the course offered? Do you happen to know the pass rate from classmates taking course here? Also, what's the value of the voucher to take official exam? Thanks in advance.