APNIC Members and the wider Internet community are set to benefit from a new online technical assistance platform that connects Members with community experts, and the first stage of an online community discussion platform planned for launch in 2021 as part of new APNIC Academy features.
The online APNIC Academy platform currently has more than 13,500 active users who can choose from 41 self-paced courses, test their skills on 29 virtual hands-on labs, and participate in online webinars.
The new community discussion platform and online technical assistance functionality are among a range of improvements being rolled out this year, which have already included:
- A new Routing Fundamentals course to replace the Routing Basics course, with improved content and lab material
- More virtual hands-on labs including the Linux Basic Lab, SSH Lab, Hashing Lab (File Integrity) and DHCPv6-PD Lab
- Better mobile support, with a mobile-friendly user interface including mobile support for the course catalogue
- Extended language support for a range of popular courses including the IPv6 Address Planning, IPv6 Fundamentals and Policy Development Process courses
- An increased number of monthly live webinars, and a greater number of guest speakers
The majority of the new features and functionality are being supported by substantial investment from the APNIC Foundation with a singular goal — to bring the benefits of a one-stop integrated online training platform to more members of the Asia Pacific Internet community.
Funding from the APNIC Foundation in 2021 will go towards integrating various training-related systems into the APNIC Academy platform, including registration, calendar, and the training wiki as well as the online technical assistance functions that allow Members to book video conference sessions with experts in the areas of RPKI, IPv6 and more. The funding will also extend multilingual support to more courses and contribute to development, and future certification, of the full training curriculum on Internet infrastructure and operations (covering both self-paced and instructor-led training).
New initiatives underway
Technical assistance platform: APNIC’s technical assistance service provides advice on best current practices to help Members with specific technical operations challenges. Over the past five years, APNIC has assisted 42 Member organizations with technical advice covering areas such as RPKI deployment, IPv6 planning and deployment, and IXP operations (among many other topics).
The Academy’s new online technical assistance functionality aims to improve access to this service and better serve Members throughout the region, while overcoming travel challenges (due to either COVID-19 or the costs involved). It is expected to go live before the end of 2021.
Language support: Ten languages (including English) are currently supported on APNIC Academy, however not all courses are available in all languages. As part of this year’s investments, it is hoped the number of courses available in languages other than English will increase by 25%.
Curriculum development: The Academy curriculum currently comprises more than 50 instructor-led, online self-paced, and webinar courses in the course catalogue. However, maintaining an up-to-date curriculum in the fast-moving Internet industry requires continued investment. Courses and hands-on labs covering topics such as cybersecurity, IPv6 and routing are being developed (or considered for further development) in 2021.
Getting started with APNIC Academy
If you’ve never used the APNIC Academy platform before, there’s no better time to try it. Simply visit the Academy and choose from the range of technical courses available to begin your training journey.
Feedback on the APNIC Academy and the 2021 investments is welcome. Please get in touch if you have suggestions or comments to pass on.
The views expressed by the authors of this blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of APNIC. Please note a Code of Conduct applies to this blog.