News & Updates           

In an effort to keep contacts and staff members at Academy Support Centers and Instructor Training Centers aware of developments within Cisco Networking Academy, the Program Team will periodically publish bulletins about issues of special interest to our ASC and ITC partners. In this bulletin, we will provide an overview on topics such as the new dashboards, the Sustainability survey, upcoming webinars, and other exciting news.

If you have not visited the ASC and ITC Community, we encourage you to do so here. The community is where all of us can engage in discussions with each other and find important news and updates. Please feel free to post any questions or feedback in the forums. We hope to chat with you soon in the community!

As we come closer to the beginning of another year, we want to thank you. You make NetAcad happen.

New ASC Dashboard Available!
Just a reminder that the new version of the ASC Dashboard is now available.
 
The ASC Dashboard shows the contact and enrollment data for the academies you support as an ASC. If you are an ASC Contact and/or Academy Support Advisor, you can access the ASC Dashboard by clicking the Access Academy Reports link under the Manage tab in NetSpace.
 
We are aware that many of you have experienced performance issues when accessing the dashboard and we apologize for the inconvenience. Our development team continues to analyze and refine the tool and we hope to see improvements over the next month or so.
If you are unfamiliar with the ASC Dashboard or are having troubles navigating the new version, a tutorial is available on the the NetSpace FAQs and Tutorials page.
 
If you have questions about the dashboard, please contact us at partner_advocacy@cisco.com. 

Membership Agreement Changes
The transition to the new membership agreements started back in September. As you know, the renewal period for partners was extended to three years and academy agreements will be valid for the duration of an academy's participation in the NetAcad program. Multiple communications will be sent to notify contacts when the new agreement is available in NetSpace starting at 60 days prior to the renewal date. Because not everyone will check auto-generated emails from NetSpace, it would be beneficial for Academy Support Advisors to preview their supported academies' renewal dates on the ASC Dashboard to determine when to send advance and follow-up communications to the contacts. The Renewal date is three years from the agreement created date that is recorded. There is also a banner being created that will be released on NetSpace. This banner will notify everyone at the respective academy when the renewal agreement is available. It is important that the academies sign their agreement by the end of the renewal date to avoid losing access to create new courses.

You can find more details about the new agreements here.

NetRiders Skills Competitions- 2015

Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders skills competitions utilize Cisco’s web technologies to create an interactive networking skills contest that enhances classroom learning, unites students from across the world, and motivates students to pursue further technology education and training.

We will be once again running NetRiders Skills Competitions for our CCNA and IT Essentials students on www.academynetriders.com.  Depending on your region, there will be some changes to the competition structures for 2015.  We will be running regional competitions in seven regions:

1. Asia Pacific and Japan
2. Europe, Russian Federation and CIS
3. Greater China
4. Latin America and the Caribbean
5. Sub-Saharan Africa
6. Turkey, Middle East and North Africa
7. USA and Canada

Each region will run a CCNA, CCENT and IT Essentials competition.  Complete rules and eligibility requirements for each competition in your region will be posted on the NetRiders website at least one month before Registration opens.
 
We are hoping to have all the dates for these regional competitions posted by the end of January 2015 but for those of you in USA/Canada and Europe/Russia/CIS, the competitions will open Registration in February 2015 so please check back in early January for all of the dates and details.