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Meeting Joel Kallman – one of my finest moments in Academia

When in 2018 I heard that #JoelKallman was going to be attending the #ukoug conference in Liverpool, I sent him an introductory email explaining that Oracle APEX was part of the database curriculum at Birmingham City University and requested him to do a Industry Guest Lecture.

We have all been there haven’t we when we take a chance, not knowing if anything will materialize

Well guess what, he replied. I travelled to Liverpool to attend the conference like I do every year but did not know whether I would actually get to meet Joel.

However, after he finished his presentation, he recognised me straight away and came over to introduce himself. It was definitely a pinch-me moment. The Vice President of Software Development at Oracle America recognised me? A University Academic!

We discussed the database curriculum at Birmingham City University and he said “When is your next class?” The next thing I know he wants to come to meet the students and present an Industry Guest Lecture. I was astonished. I said what about the conference? He said “this was more important” and he will manage both. We had coffee at Liverpool Train station, talked so much about APEX on the train and had lunch after his Guest lecture.

He was very passionate about APEX and the Oracle APEX community. His Guest Lecture was a tremendous success. He asked the students questions, gave out prizes such as baseball caps, apex laptop stickers etc and had the knack of engaging everyone. I have never seen so many students go up to a Guest Lecturer to get his contact details.

On #JoelKallmanDay as we all pay tribute to I would like to take this opportunity to show my gratitude #JoelKallman for everything he did for the Oracle APEX community and for being the most generous person with his valuable time.

I will not forget that day, hand-on-heart I can say it was one of the finest days of my academic career that is indelible in my memory. Thank you #JoelKallman.

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Not another Mandatory Training Course I hear you say!

Research Integrity

With busy schedules, when a mandatory  course requirement pops up in your inbox, most of us are not overspilling with excitement.

However this one is different, I signed up for the Research Integrity course at BCU and I can’t believe I am enjoying it so much to the point that it really was the best decision.

It is a hefty course that consists of 13 modules.

I have only completed the first 2 modules (Responsible Research Practice and Irresponsible Research Practice)  but am enthusiastic to say the least about progressing onto the remainder of the course which covers all of the stages of the research cycle finishing off with research supervision and mentorship.

In Module 1 I learnt about The Concordat to Support Research Integrity which all members of the UK research community need to adhere to for meeting the high standards of rigour and integrity.

The module explains the difference between ethics and integrity.

It covers discipline specific responsibilities, institutional responsibilities and public responsibilities at a government level.

Cudos to the course designers for providing a course which enables active participation through the use of case studies, activities and finishing off with a Quiz with a passing score of 80%!!

They practice what they preach by providing a list of reference sources which have been used in the course design 😊

Module 2 Irresponsible Research Practice provided that much needed balanced view. 

This module highlighted the difference between questionable research practice and misconduct.

It provides guidance on what questions a researcher should ask in order to avoid irresponsible practices.

The module spends some time on discussing the serious  impact of Irresponsible research practices.

Finally what mechanisms are in place to report irresponsible behaviour in research so that it can be investigated and handled in the correct manner rather than turning a blind eye to it.

I am proud to say that I achieved 100% on this quiz in my first attempt 😊 which is much better than my 80% on the Module 1 Quiz which took several attempts.

Stay tuned for insights from the rest of the course as I progress.

I would be interested to hear about your experiences of a course that was so clear and really made the penny drop for you.

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ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION – STEP 4

certification steps4.Result

 

Within 30 minutes of completing your Oracle Certification exam, you will receive an email from Oracle notifying you that your exam results are available in CertView. If you have previously authenticated your CertView account, simply login and select the option to “See My New Exam Result Now.”

If you have not authenticated your CertView account yet at this point, you will need to proceed with your account authentication.

Authentication requires an Oracle Single Sign On username and password and the following information from your Pearson VUE profile: email address and Oracle Testing ID. You will be taken to CertView to log in once your account has been authenticated.

 

On passing the exam you will qualify as ORACLE DATABASE FOUNDATIONS CERTIFIED JUNIOR ASSOCIATE

WELL DONE 🙂 🙂 🙂

You can follow this up with Professional Certification later on in your career – please see https://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=50 for the wide range of available certifications.

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ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION – STEP 3

certification steps

3. Exam

The discounted exam voucher has an expiry date. You must sit the exam prior to the expiry date.

To take the exam you:

  1.  Register for an exam. 
  2.  Be prepared to provide a faculty or student ID or other documentation confirming that you are a faculty member or a student at an Oracle Academy member institution.
  3. Specify that you will apply an exam voucher towards payment for your exam.
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ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION

 

certification steps2.Study and Practice

 

If you wish to take the certification, email your tutor so that:

  1. an Oracle Academy ilearning account can be created for you
  2. A discounted exam voucher can be ordered for you

You will receive an email with your login details after your account is created.

Once you have your login details you can use them to login at http://ilearning.oracle.com/ilearn/en/learner/jsp/login.jsp?site=OracleAcad

Work through the Database Foundations course slides and activities to prepare for the exam.

Practice, practice, practice

When you are scoring in the 80s or above for the quizzes and mid-term and final exam you are ready to move to step 3 ….

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STEPS FOR ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION – STEP 1: Enquire

certification steps1. Enquire

 

To find out more about the curriculum, read the following:

Course curriculum https://academy.oracle.com/pages/database_foundations_course.pdf

To find out more about the  exam, read the following:

Certification Exam details http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=5001&get_params=p_exam_id:1Z0-006

If this hasn’t put you off, move to step 2….

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STEPS FOR ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION

STEPS  FOR ORACLE JUNIOR CERTIFICATION 

certification steps

Since Oracle introduced the novice-level certification, staff and students have expressed an interest in preparing for and sitting the 1Z0-006 Oracle Database Foundations  exam.

The 4 steps are summarized in the above image.

However, in the next few posts, I will present the whole process in small bite-size chunks.