ECDL/ICDL Certification
Programme
Mary Mulcahy
Business Development Manager
The European Computer Driving Licence Foundation Ltd.
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL Presentation
• What is ECDL/ICDL?
• ECDL Objectives
• ECDL Development
• ECDL-Foundation
• Case Studies and Value of Certification
• Statistics
• Product Development
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
What is the ECDL?
• The ECDL certifies that the holder has knowledge of
the essential concepts of IT and is able to use a
personal computer and common computer
applications at a recognised level of competence
• Test of practical skills and competencies
• ECDL is a recognised standard for computer literacy
• Single agreed vendor independent / generic syllabus
• Computer society ethos
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL Objectives
• Promote Computer Literacy
• Raise IT Knowledge Levels
• Facilitate Access to Information Society
• Facilitate Job Mobility
• Facilitate Re -Training
• Improve Productivity
• Enhance Returns for IT Investments
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL Development
• Finland - CDL
• Employers, Unions, Govt, Education
• Council of European Professional Informatics
Societies (CEPIS) Task Force
• European Commission - ESPRIT
• Pilot Tests - April 1996
• ECDL - August 1996
• ECDL Foundation - January 1997
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL-Foundation
• Established January 1997
• Registered in Ireland
• Limited by Guarantee
• No Share Capital
• Not-for-Profit
• Membership
• Governance
• IPR vested in ECDL Foundation
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL- F Role
• Licensing Authority
• Product Maintenance & Development
• Quality Assurance
• Standards and Guidelines
• Audit Function
• Working Groups - Special Needs, Teachers
• External Service Providers
• Trade Mark / IPR Protection
• Communication
• Marketing
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Digital Literacy in Europe
• eEurope Action Plan ‘02 highlighted the need for Digital
Literacy
• ESDIS Committee Oct ’02 recommended that ECDL:
“be accepted as a Europe-wide basic IT accreditation scheme”
• High Level Task Force on Skills and Mobility objective:
“that by ‘06 all 16 year olds in Member States will have acquired
ICT skills”
• European eLearning Summit May ‘02
“the EC should build on successful current initiatives (including ECDL)
in order to develop and update core digital literacy competence
(including higher order skills) for Europe”
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL Role in ICT skills
• Flexible Learning Approach
• Confidence Building Aspects
• Benchmark Against Recognised International Standard
• Facilitates Mobility
• Competency Based Approach
• Involved Syllabus Development Process (>1000 inputs)
• Facilitates Introduction of Other IT Systems
• Gateway to the Information Society
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
The Vicious Circle
inadequate IT training
inadequate
training poor end-user utilisation
budgets of technology
poor perception of poor return to
IT the business for its
by business investment in IT
managers
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL in Corporates
• IKEA
Staff at Ikea Edinburgh, Scotland has rushed to take advantage of the
furniture superstore's offer of free ECDL training by snapping up all the
places in one day. The tuition is part of a bid to boost staff motivation
and retention."The idea came from undertaking employee's personal
development plans," explains Neil Crowson, training manager at Ikea in
Edinburgh. "We aim to look at the whole person and found staff wanted
to learn IT skills and we wanted to show that we support staff
development.”
• Waterford Crystal
Since staff have started studying for the ECDL the company has
reported that there are fewer problems with the technology used in the
factories. The reason put forward for this is that the craftspeople who
use equipment at the plants would not traditionally have been familiar
with computers.
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL in Corporates
• Pfizer Limited
Pfizer Limited, a leading global pharmaceutical company, has offered
the opportunity to employees working within the Manufacturing Division
to complete the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). Lisa
Running who has been an ECDL examiner for one-and-a-half years
manages the department. "Some of our employees have limited PC
knowledge or only use certain software packages, like Excel or Word.
This scheme allows everyone to gain the basic core skills in computing,
whether they use a PC on a daily basis or not and they can all learn at
their own pace."
• Amalgamated Beverage Industries
Amalgamated Beverage Industries, the bottlers of Coca Cola in much
of South Africa, have announced Project Ukufunda, an initiative to
provide basic computer literacy for staff – in the form of ICDL
certification.
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL in the NHS
NHS is:
• UK National Health Service
• The third largest employer in the world
• 1.3 million staff
• All levels from cleaners to surgeons
• Distributed throughout England
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Why ECDL?
• NHS needs to up skill 1 million staff to:
– enable smooth introduction of electronic records
– give staff e-learning skills for the future
– quantify IT abilities within the service
– give staff a recognised qualification
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL in the NHS
Pilot Test Results
• Manchester NHS Agency - 18,500 staff
• Blended learning solution - different literacy levels
• Staff morale increased from 65% to 83% after ECDL
• Average time saved = 38 minutes per day, 3 hours per
week - similar findings to Cap Gemini survey in Norway
• ROI of 162% based on time saved and average salary
of £15,000 (probably too low)
• Before 44% asked for help several times a week - after
<10% asked for help at all
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL in the Irish Public Service
• Local Authorities (all)
• Health Boards (most)
• Government Ministries (most - on the increase)
• State Agencies
• 40,000 public servants approx. since ‘98
Dublin City Council, Environmental Protection Agency, Court
Service, Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs,
Forensic Science Lab and Ballymun Regeneration Limited
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL has changed this
cycle…
…by improving IT
Training
hence creating ……….
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
The Virtuous Circle
ECDL
increases in highly effective end-user
training budgets utilisation of IT
recognition of technology’s high returns to
contribution to the bottom the business for its
line by business managers investment in IT
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL Certification
Why it Matters:
• Faster Payback Of IT Investments
• Increased Productivity
• Increased Quality Of Administrative Output
• Reduced PC Support Costs
• Personal Development and Motivation
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
The Value of ECDL Certification
Measuring the Results of IT Training:
• Measure the effictiveness of its computer literacy
training programme
• Judge the output of external training organizations
• Validate that learning has occurred
• Evaluate computing skills in job candidates
• Ensure that current employees are fully utilizing their
desktop computers
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Concept Recognition
• European Commission Initiatives
• UNESCO / World Bank
• Education Ministries - Australia, Austria, Holland,
Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Poland
• e-Government Plans - Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Norway
• MOD - UK, Sweden, Italy
• Re-Training - UK New Deal, Ireland FIT
• NHS - UK, Sweden
• Multinational Organisations - Siemens, UNDP, Red
Cross
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Statistics
• 2.36 million students to 30 September 2002
• 10 million+ tests
• 15,000 test centres, 89 countries, 25 languages
• 10,000 Advanced level students
Europe - ECDL as a % of population
• Over 4% of Irish and Swedish
• Nearly 4% of Danish population
• 12% of Irish & 9% of Swedish working population
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Product Development Roadmap
ECDL Programme
Introductory Core Advanced Specialist
Basic Concepts of IT Advanced WP ECDL Certified Training
E-citizen Professional
ECDL Kids Using Computer & Advanced
Managing Files Spreadsheets ECDL Web Publisher
Word Processing Advanced ECDL IT Administrator
Database ECDL Security
Spreadsheets
Advanced ECDL Teachers
Database
Presentation
Presentation ECDL CAD
Information &
Communication
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Product Launches
• ECDL CAD - September 2002
• ECDL and Kids - November 2002
• ECDL Advanced - November 2002
• ECDL Certified Trainer - December 2002
• Syllabus Version 4.0 - January 2003
• Version 4.0 - Implementation Issues
• “e-Citizen Award” - early 2003
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
Contact Details
Mary Mulcahy
Business Development Manager
The European Computer Driving Licence Foundation Ltd.
107 The Windmill, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay
Dublin 2
IRELAND
Ph: +353 1 679 2847
Fax: +353 1 679 2921
Email: mary.mulcahy@ecdl.com
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
ECDL/ICDL Website www.ecdl.com
Malta 20th November 2002 www.ecdl.com
