Tsukasa Watanabe Information Management Teacher Certifications Earned Internet and Computing Core Certification   Employer Nakatsu Commercial High School Location Japan

In his own words: "There are many IT assessments in the industry, but IC³ is the only certification that evaluates skills and knowledge to meet what today's businesses demand."

IC³ Fills a Gap and Builds a Bridge
Adding IC³ to high school curriculum increases ICT skills, improves student exam results and motivates students to seek additional certifications

Second-year information management students at Nakatsu Commercial High School in Japan are now required to take classes focused on Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³®) and must take IC³ exams to prove their knowledge of the fundamental computing skills required by today's businesses. As a bonus, information management students have found IC³ provides the information necessary to bridge the knowledge gap between two other assessment exams recommended for graduation.

BACKGROUND
Established in 1916, Nakatsu Commercial High School is a well-known school in the Oita prefecture of Japan. With a motto focusing on sincerity, diligence, independence and self-respect, the school produces students who will be in high demand when they enter the business world. To create these employable young people, the school includes industry certifications as an important and highly emphasized part of its curriculum.

One certification, the First Certificate in Zensho Information Processing Exam, is required of all information management students before they graduate. In addition, students are required to prepare for the more-challenging Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Center (JITEEC) System Administrator Examination. As students prepare for and take these exams, the school learns valuable lessons about its curriculum and the preparation its students need to find employment.

"We found there were big discrepancies between these two exams both in the level and in the content of what students need to learn," said Tsukasa Watanabe, the information management teacher at Nakatsu Commercial High School. "It was very challenging for our students to pass the System Administrator Examination. IC³ caught our attention because it is an appropriate certificate to fill the gap and be a bridge between these two exams."

IC³ is now part of Nakatsu Commercial High School's official curriculum for its information management program. The courses that train students to earn IC³ certification is a graduation requirement, and all three IC³ exams—Computing Fundamentals, Key Applications and Living Online—are mandatory. "Students are encouraged to do their best to pass the exams and acquire IC³ certification," explained Watanabe.

PROCESS
Before Nakatsu Commercial High School added IC³ to its curriculum, Watanabe and three of his information management students participated in the Challenge! IC³ initiative and experienced the IC³ credential. Challenge! IC³ is a program sponsored by Odyssey Communications, Inc., a Certiport Solution Provider, that offers IC³ exams and courseware free of charge to one teacher and three students at participating high schools. To date, 80 schools like Nakatsu Commercial High School have elected to participate in the program.

"What hit me most was that even though our information management course is where students should learn 'information,' the curriculum had not been designed based on the knowledge or skills required in today's professional environment," Watanabe said.

The students who tried Challenge! IC³ with Watanabe had already taken all of the classes required to prepare for the First Certificate in Zensho Information Processing Exam, yet none of them were initially able to achieve IC³. As a result, instructors at Nakatsu Commercial High School reviewed the discrepancies between the school's curriculum and how information technology (IT) is used in the real world. Because he, too, had taken the IC³ exams, Watanabe clearly understood the fundamental information technology knowledge and skills systematically. "It provided me a great opportunity to review my teaching methods," he said.

Now second-year information management students take courses to prepare for IC³. They take a Computing Fundamentals class during their first semester, followed by the IC³ Computing Fundamentals exam during summer vacation. Living Online is taught during the second semester; the IC³ exam is available during the winter break. Finally, Key Applications training is offered in the third semester, and the IC³ exam is given during the spring break.

"We have designed the curriculum so the three exams are taken by the end of the school year," Watanabe said. "But students can take exams anytime, depending on their progress and level of understanding."

Students pay their own IC³ exam fees. "We explain the meaning and benefits of studying IC³ to students and their parents," Watanabe said.

When the first 79 students took the IC³ Computing Fundamentals exam at the end of the first semester this year, unfortunately, only a few passed. "These results taught me that teachers, including myself, need to provide additional practical information from time to time instead of just letting students memorize what is written in the textbook," Watanabe said.

RESULT
"There are many IT assessments in the industry, but as far as I can see, IC³ is the only certification that evaluates skills and knowledge to meet what today's businesses demand," Watanabe said. "Computing Fundamentals teaches very fundamental IT-related troubleshooting—exactly what the real world requires most. Living Online covers the essential security and morals for an information society, and Key Applications allows students to learn basic application software operation. IC³ allows us to understand and learn the various aspects of IT specifically and practically."

Nakatsu Commercial High School has already seen positive results since implementing the IC³ program. "One of the benefits we see is that students now require less support from instructors during the application operation classes," Watanabe reported. "They are now able to solve by themselves or among themselves some of the problems they have during operation. I feel students have become more confident about themselves by solving the small problems on their own, and this experience has further motivated them to learn."

In fact, more than the usual number of students passed the First Certificate in Zensho Information Processing Exam in September this year. Watanabe attributes this success to students anticipating their IC³ study. "They are now aware that IC³ is coming after the Zensho exam, and therefore strongly recognize the importance of passing and finishing the Zensho exam in their academic calendar," he said. "IC³ motivates students to rise to the challenge of new certifications and qualifications. Because of the rather big gap between the difficulty levels of the Zensho exam and that of the System Administrator exam, quite a few students used to perceive the Zensho exam as their last and as the prime target to attain. Now, they have another goal—IC³—and the Zensho exam has become just a milestone."

One third-year student who has acquired IC³ said the certification helped prepare him for the System Administrator exam. "I used to think the System Administrator exam appeared too difficult to me, and I almost had given up taking the exam," he said. "Now having acquired IC³, I am more confident about myself. While studying for IC³, I gained useful study skills such as reading textbooks carefully and thoroughly and understanding several related issues in connection to each other. These skills will be quite helpful when studying for other exams in the future. I am going to try taking the System Administrator exam someday. IC³ certification proves my fundamental IT knowledge and skills. I look forward to building the fundamentals that I have learned through IC³."

Watanabe said Nakatsu Commercial High School students are proud they attend an academic institution that offers IC³ certification. "They feel proud of their learning environment because they have been given a chance to strive for a qualification that cannot be acquired in other schools," he said. "It builds their confidence and pride in what they learn and gives them further motivation to study."

For information management students at Nakatsu Commercial High School, IC³ will provide a pathway to employment and success in the business world. "It is hard to know how much a new graduate's knowledge or skills can meet a business's requirements," Watanabe said. "But, because IC³ is a worldwide industry standard that validates IT literacy, it improves one's practical IT skills. I am so happy to have IC³ in our curriculum."