INGOT stands for International Grades in Office Technology (INGOT)

An INGOT is a certificate for office technology with an emphasis in participation in the open source community. It is named after ingots (gold bars), because an INGOT certificate is meant to be something valuable.

Motto: "Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may not remember, involve me, and I'll understand." - Native American Proverb

INGOT certificates vary in difficulty from Bronze, through Silver and Gold. A Platinum INGOT is planned for the future. The higher level certificates also require participation in the open source community, with the goal of learning through participation.

Unique properties

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INGOT certificates have some unique properties:

• They teach about open source and open standards.
• They are not tied to any particular office software.
• They require pupils to participate in the open source community.
• They only specify the criteria to test against, not the teaching method. The teaching method is left to the instructor.
• There is no paper exam. Evaluation is done by direct observation.
• The assessment criteria is available free of charge under a Creative Commons license.

Overview of certificates

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Principal's Award

The Bronze INGOT is an entry level certificate geared towards complete beginners. It requires around 10 hours of study to complete.

Sample criteria

• General computing knowledge
  • I know that some programs are free to copy while others have limits on distribution
  • I know that some standards are agreed by many interested parties whereas others are determined and controlled by individual interests.
• Networking
  • I can send and receive messages by E-mail
• Word processing
  • I can use "Save As" to save files in an appropriate format to transfer to other people
• Drawing
  • I can move, re-size and alter the shape of drawing objects
  • I can zoom in and out to improve the precision with which objects are positioned.
• Presentations
  • I can use templates in a presentation package to put together a series of slides with a consistent format.
  • I can import pictures and diagrams to illustrate a presentation.

Silver INGOT

The Silver INGOT is a medium level certificate. It requires around 30 hours of work for someone at the Bronze level. It includes a task for contributing to open source (burning a CD).

Perreh

• Burn an FOSS CD

Download a useful program, put it on a CD and give it to someone who can't get it. Pupil must show that what they do is legal.

• Make a website

Make a 5-page website and test it on three different browsers. Pupil should understand why the site should not depend on proprietary software.

Sample criteria

• Files and file types''
  • I know I have to choose the right application for each type of file.
  • I understand why open standards are important.
• Searching for and using information
  • I know that E-mail lists are available to provide free support for many applications.
  • I can find a useful product from the Internet that would be good value in an office.
• Spread sheets
  • I can use a range of numbers to produce a graph
  • I can make the result returned in a cell depend on the value in another cell using an IF statement
• Databases
  • I know that database table consist of records that are divided up into fields
  • I can search a database for information using simple queries

Gold INGOT

The Gold INGOT is a higher level certificate. It requires around 75 hours of work for someone at the Silver level. This includes a 25-hour contribution to the open source community.

Community Project

The Gold INGOT level requires a 25 hour contribution to the open source community. The pupil may choose to contribute additional hours to receive a Gold with Merit or Gold with Distinction award.

Notes:

• It doesn't matter if the contribution is complex. What matters is if it's useful.
• The pupil must subscribe to the OpenOffice.org education mailing list to discuss their project and receive guidance.

Sample activities:

• Provide OpenDocument templates.
• Help new users on the support forums.
• Help with QA (e.g. find duplicate bugs).
• Raise money to burn hundreds of CD-ROMs.
• Make posters and donate them to an open source project.
• Write how-to guides (e.g. for primary school).
• Provide support to kids at their school.

Sample Criteria

• Setting up and managing computers
  • I can install an operating system and get it working on a network.
  • I can repair a hardward fault by replacing components.
• Producing documnets
  • I can set up headers and footers with automatic page numbering.
  • I can set up a mail merge to send out a circular to many people.
• Graphic Design
  • I can use 3D objects and lighting effects to make my drawing look more attractive.
  • I can export and input drawings to and from other applications and I understand different graphics file formats and related issues.
• Using spread sheets
  • I can setup a financial model.
  • I can use functions such SUM, AVERAGE, MIN and MAX routinely.
  • I can setup and edit styles in my spreadsheet.

Gold with Merit or Distinction

The Gold with Merit and Gold with Distinction awards require a greater contribution in the open source community. The Merit award requires an additional 50 hours and the Distinction award requires an additional 100 hours.

Resources

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• The INGOTs website
• INGOTs Resources (includes the handbook).