Introducing Challenge Mode for A Cloud Guru’s Hands-On Labs

As the leader in hands-on learning, A Cloud Guru is committed to expanding learners’ options to learn, check, and test their hands-on skills across multi-cloud and open source technology. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new Challenge Mode option for Hands-on Labs! 

The new Challenge Mode addresses the needs of learners advancing their Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cloud skills who want to challenge themselves and show off their guru skills.

Challenge Mode is designed to be a true test of learners’ hands-on skills—instructional videos and guides will not be accessible and learners can’t check their work until they submit their lab, making the Challenge Mode score a valuable indicator of learner’s ability to execute real-world cloud tasks! 

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The initial release will offer a Challenge Mode option for a small subset of labs across all three cloud providers. We’ll add scoring to additional labs on an ongoing basis, so learners will see more and more labs available in Challenge Mode over time. With the largest catalog of Hands-on Labs available, this will offer learners a robust opportunity to test their hands-on skills.

Challenge Labs available from other providers allow students to check their work an unlimited number of times before submitting their lab. If a student or administrator truly wants to test hands-on skills, the best way to do that is without do-overs. That’s why we’re so excited about this new Challenge Mode option for our Hands-On Labs.

Additionally, for students who are continuous learners, the opportunity to periodically check the retainment of prior learned skills is an important option. This is especially essential when a student isn’t actively applying prior learned skills on a day-to-basis. Taking a Hands-On Lab in Challenge Mode will offer a valuable option to check and recheck learned skills so students know where they might need to brush up on their knowledge.  

With the addition of scoring for labs in Challenge Mode, students will also have the option to check their progress as they complete objectives during a Hands-On Lab taken in Guided Mode.

Guided Mode refers to our existing Hands-On Lab experience which includes access to instructional videos and guides. The option to check progress in Guided Mode will be available for the same labs that are available in Challenge Mode.  

As the leader in hands-on learning, A Cloud Guru is committed to expanding learners’ options to learn, check, and test their hands-on skills. The release of the new Challenge Mode and Guided Mode will support all learners no matter where they are at in their learning journey.

To see Challenge Mode for Hands-On Labs in action, log into the ACG platform, click "Labs" in the top navigation bar, and then select "Challenge" under "Lab Mode."

You can switch between Guided Mode and Challenge Mode on any Hands-On Lab that features Challenge Mode by clicking the drop-down menu to the left. (See below.)

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