IT Systems Support Specialist

Students will learn at their own pace, and don't need to worry about attending classes at specific times. While most students complete the program in 3-4 months, we give you up to 6 months to finish. You can access our course materials and virtual labs whenever and wherever you like. All content is hosted on the Coursera platform, and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

The Old Dominion University IT Systems Support Certificate programs is comprised of 10 different modules, with content coming exclusively from IBM and Google. In addition to earning a certificate from ODU, students will earn the IBM Technical Support Professional Certificate.

Modules include:

• Introduction to Technical Support
• Introduction to Hardware and Operating Systems
• Introduction to Software, Programming, and Databases
• Introduction to Networking and Storage
• Introduction to Cybersecurity Essentials
• Introduction to Cloud Computing
• Technical Support Case Studies and Capstone
• Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
• The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking
• System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services

Introduction to Technical Support

This course is designed for beginners with no prior IT experience or formal degree. Get an insider’s view into IT Support work. Learn about IT Support roles and levels, the support escalation matrix, ticketing systems, common support tools, and remote support software. Then, hear about career opportunities and career pathways from experienced, expert Information Technology professionals.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe and develop a customer service and support mindset.
2. Define the levels of IT support and the escalation matrix.
3. Explore the features and benefits of ticketing systems.
4. Identify support tools and systems used in technical support.
5. Explore various tech support roles and responsibilities, including service level agreement responsibilities.
6. Recognize the career paths and progression in Technical Support.

These skills will equip you to speak with prospective employers and ask insightful questions that demonstrate your knowledge of the day-to-day administrative role-related responsibilities.

Introduction to Hardware and Operating Systems

This course provides the core hardware and operating system knowledge needed by anyone new to IT and computer hardware.

Learn about the software brain of a computer—its operating system software—and explore Microsoft Windows. Become knowledgeable of internal computer components, including motherboards, central processing units (CPUs), memory, hard drives, expansion slots, and others. Learn to identify interfaces, ports, connectors, and peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and others. 

Explore workstation setup processes, commonly used operating system settings, screen capture commands, computer acquisition practices, and job-essential troubleshooting processes. You will also learn about mobile operating systems, Linux, and macOS, and complete a final project.

Throughout the course you will practice what you learn using interactive exercises and hands-on labs.

Introduction to Software, Programming, and Databases

Discover the world of software with this comprehensive course designed for beginners. Gain an understanding of various types of software and how to manage software from an IT perspective. This course covers the basics of software, cloud computing, web browsers, development concepts, programming languages, and database fundamentals.

After completing this course, you'll have a better grasp of software processes and feel more confident about using and securing applications. From mobile phone operating systems to workplace database applications, this course covers a wide range of software. You'll also learn about installing and managing web browsers, using extensions and plug-ins, and keeping them secure and updated. Discover the benefits of cloud-based technologies and see how using the cloud can help businesses create and deploy applications faster.

Learn about software development and delivery, as well as simple programming concepts and types, and become familiar with database management fundamentals. 

 To solidify your understanding and put your skills to the test, the course ends with a challenging final project where you’ll develop a complete solution to a problem encountered in everyday life.

Your work on a real-world scenario will showcase your newfound expertise and demonstrate your understanding of software, programming, and databases. 

Introduction to Networking and Storage

Continue your journey to becoming an IT Support Specialist or network technician role and enhance your base knowledge for system administration.

Videos, practice activities, and virtual hands-on labs will help you develop and apply the skills you need to diagnose and repair basic networking and storage issues so you can keep users connected.

You'll learn about network types, topologies, and models, see how data travels across a network, and discover how protocols and standards enable all network activity. Then, you’ll learn how to set up and configure devices and cables for both wired and wireless networks.

And then you’ll learn to diagnose and troubleshoot network connectivity issues and discover how to use command line utilities and network tools in Windows Settings. After that, you’ll identify different types of storage drives and discover the difference between short-term and long-term memory. Lastly, you’ll find out the features of local, offsite, and cloud storage and when to use each. And you’ll investigate file, block, and object storage and work out which cloud provider solutions work best for different networking scenarios.

Introduction to Cybersecurity Essentials

Build key skills needed to recognize common security threats and risks. Discover the characteristics of cyber-attacks and learn how organizations employ best practices to guard against them.

Designed specifically for beginners, this course dives into the world of cybersecurity to give you the critical skills employers need. This course also supports the needs of technical support roles, who can find themselves on the front lines of defense for cybersecurity issues.

Learn about malware and explore methods for securing and managing confidential information.  Then, discover how to configure browsers to help reduce security breaches.

Introduction to Cloud Computing

This course introduces you to the core concepts of cloud computing. You gain the foundational knowledge required for understanding cloud computing from a business perspective as also for becoming a cloud practitioner. You understand the definition and essential characteristics of cloud computing, its history, the business case for cloud computing, and emerging technology use cases enabled by cloud. We introduce you to some of the prominent service providers of our times (e.g. AWS, Google, IBM, Microsoft, etc.) the services they offer, and look at some case studies of cloud computing across industry verticals.

You learn about the various cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and deployment models (Public, Private, Hybrid) and the key components of a cloud infrastructure (VMs, Networking, Storage - File, Block, Object, CDN). We also cover emergent cloud trends and practices including - Hybrid Multicloud, Microservices, Serverless, DevOps, Cloud Native and Application Modernization. And we go over the basics of cloud security, monitoring, and different job roles in the cloud industry.

Even though this course does not require any prior cloud computing or programming experience, by the end of the course, you will have created your own account on IBM Cloud and gained some hands-on experience by provisioning a cloud service and working with it.

The completion of this course also makes you eligible to earn the Cloud Computing Core IBM digital badge.  More information about the badge can be found here: https://www.youracclaim.com/org/ibm/badge/introduction-to-cloud-computing

Technical Support Case Studies and Capstone

This course allows you to show what you’ve learned in the previous IT Technical Support professional certification courses and apply that knowledge to realistic situations.

The IT Technical Support Capstone leads you through a series of technical support case studies that require hands-on work to resolve. You will practice analyzing user help requests and troubleshooting various issues. You’ll demonstrate your knowledge of hardware, software, networking, security, and cloud computing. You’ll also demonstrate your understanding of escalation, levels of support, ticketing systems, and other support tools and systems. And along the way, you’ll show what you’ve learned about the essential communication and customer service skills for effective technical support.

By the end of the course, you will better understand how to use your technical support skills in everyday professional settings. You’ll also be prepared to take the CompTIA ITF+ exam for certification.

Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User

In this course -- through a combination of video lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on practice -- you’ll learn about the main components of an operating system and how to perform critical tasks like managing software and users, and configuring hardware.

By the end of this course you’ll be able to:

1. navigate the Windows and Linux filesystems using a graphical user interface and command line interpreter
2. set up users, groups, and permissions for account access
3. install, configure, and remove software on the Windows and Linux operating systems
4. configure disk partitions and filesystems
5. understand how system processes work and how to manage them
6. work with system logs and remote connection tools
7. utilize operating system knowledge to troubleshoot common issues in an IT Support Specialist role

The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking

This course is designed to provide a full overview of computer networking. We’ll cover everything from the fundamentals of modern networking technologies and protocols to an overview of the cloud to practical applications and network troubleshooting.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

1. describe computer networks in terms of a five-layer model
2. understand all of the standard protocols involved with TCP/IP communications
3. grasp powerful network troubleshooting tools and techniques
4. learn network services like DNS and DHCP that help make computer networks run
5. understand cloud computing, everything as a service, and cloud storage

System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services

This course will transition you from working on a single computer to an entire fleet. Systems administration is the field of IT that’s responsible for maintaining reliable computers systems in a multi-user environment. In this course, you’ll learn about the infrastructure services that keep all organizations, big and small, up and running. We’ll deep dive on cloud so that you’ll understand everything from typical cloud infrastructure setups to how to manage cloud resources. You'll also learn how to manage and configure servers and how to use industry tools to manage computers, user information, and user productivity. Finally, you’ll learn how to recover your organization’s IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.

By the end of this course you’ll be able to:

1. utilize best practices for choosing hardware, vendors, and services for your organization
2. understand how the most common infrastructure services that keep an organization

running work, and how to manage infrastructure servers

3. understand how to make the most of the cloud for your organization
4. manage an organization’s computers and users using the directory services, Active

Directory, and OpenLDAP

5. choose and manage the tools that your organization will use
6. backup your organization’s data and know how to recover your IT infrastructure in the case of

a disaster

7. utilize systems administration knowledge to plan and improve processes for IT environments

• Gain essential skills and knowledge: The program covers a broad range of essential topics in technical support, hardware and operating systems, software, programming and databases, networking and storage, cybersecurity essentials, and cloud computing. By taking this course, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of IT Support, and gain valuable skills that will prepare you for a career in the field.

• Increase employability: The program is designed to provide you with the entry level skills and knowledge that employers are looking for, which increase your chances of landing a job in the field of IT Support.