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I am now nearing the end of my ITILv3 Foundation studies, having used one of the market-leading distance learning courses http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/1359 to study for the exam. So, the thing that next springs to mind is what to study for next, and how to study?

With this conundrum in mind, I am faced with an enviable task as I work for the leading reseller of IT governance-related classroom and distance learning courses. Which option to choose next, I ask myself?

To be honest, I fancy progressing my ITIL studies on to the next level, Intermediate, as most people will after completing their Foundation studies. The ITILv3 Intermediate qualifications are structured around two streams, the Lifecycle and the Capability streams. You can take courses from either stream to count toward your ITIL Expert certification.

 With each ITIL course you take, and pass the relevant exam for, you accumulate points which you can accrue toward the ITIL Expert certification. In total you have to have gained 22 points from a mixture of Version 1, 2 and 3 courses, plus completed the Managing Across the Lifecycle course and passed the relevant exam to gain ITIL Expert status. 

With this in mind I am now wondering whether to take either a classroom or a distance learning course to progress my studies? We’ll there are advantages and disadvantages asssociated with both, such as with a distance learning course you can study at a time, place and pace that suits you, plus they are usually considerably cheaper than classroom courses. But you do have to be disciplined enough to ensure you complete your studies.

With a classroom-based course, you have the benefit of being taken out of the office for a few days and being able to focus on nothing but your studies, plus you have the benefit of having an experienced traininer on hand to help you with any queries, and are able to sit and take the exam on the last day of the course (most of the time). Though, the downsides are often the cost, classroom courses are usually more expensive, and you have to take valuable time out of the office. 

I find I learn best when studying at a time, place and pace that suits me. So, a range of courses for the Intermediate level of ITIL qualifications comes to mind. These online ITIL Intermediate courses http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/catalog/674, allow you to study for the ITIL Expert qualifciation, building up the sufficent credits you’ll need to count towards it along the way. Plus there is an online version of the Managing Across the Lifecycle course that forms part of this same series.

I will probably study one of the Lifecycle stream courses courses first of all, and then may be move on to a Capability stream course. I can even arrange the exams for myself as we offer the ability to pay the exam fee online http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2583 and book to take the exams at one of 600 test centres worldwide.

Having the ITIL Expert certification will be great!

Posted by Jamie Titchener, IT Governance Product Manager.

Tags: Distance Learning, ITIL, ITILv3, Training

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under ITIL & ITSM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.