Re: Attention Experienced Professionals
From: Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 18:04:30 -0700
Message-ID: <1097802357.53252_at_yasure>
>
>
> For years, I taught 1 or 2 week intensive courses to DEC's customer's and
> employees. After I left DEC, they were willing to hire me (at a very good
> rate!) to teach people Rdb programming and design. They didn't like
> putting an "outsider" in from of their customers, but they didn't mind
> having me teach their software specialists. And they had me teach a few
> customer courses in Mexico and Puerto Rico, when the course had to be
> taught in Spanish.
>
> These people were competent professionals, with a degree or "equivalent
> experience". They didn't need to learn how to program. The programming
> examples used BASIC, C, and COBOL. Many of these people knew their language
> at least as well as I did. They needed to learn SQL, they needed to learn
> how to use precompilers and module languages, they needed to learn the
> rudiments of relational design.
>
> But mostly they needed to "get it" about databases, relations, tables, and
> indexes. Sometimes what they already knew was an obstacle to learning.
> Often, it was a help.
>
> I used collaboration to the hilt, especially in lab work. If one student
> already "got it" and explained it to another student who didn't "get it",
> as far as I was concerned, real education was going on. Of course, I
> wasn't responsible for certifying these people. The only certificate
> Digital gave them was a certificate of attendance.
>
>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 18:04:30 -0700
Message-ID: <1097802357.53252_at_yasure>
Laconic2 wrote:
> "Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message
> news:1097720224.593786_at_yasure...
>
>
>>My students are all 35+ years old. All have a BA or BS degree minimum. >>Almost all have 10+ years of experience. And 75+% are in industry doing >>the job albeit sometimes poorly. They need to learn the skills necessary >>to do the job and do it well.
>
>
> For years, I taught 1 or 2 week intensive courses to DEC's customer's and
> employees. After I left DEC, they were willing to hire me (at a very good
> rate!) to teach people Rdb programming and design. They didn't like
> putting an "outsider" in from of their customers, but they didn't mind
> having me teach their software specialists. And they had me teach a few
> customer courses in Mexico and Puerto Rico, when the course had to be
> taught in Spanish.
>
> These people were competent professionals, with a degree or "equivalent
> experience". They didn't need to learn how to program. The programming
> examples used BASIC, C, and COBOL. Many of these people knew their language
> at least as well as I did. They needed to learn SQL, they needed to learn
> how to use precompilers and module languages, they needed to learn the
> rudiments of relational design.
>
> But mostly they needed to "get it" about databases, relations, tables, and
> indexes. Sometimes what they already knew was an obstacle to learning.
> Often, it was a help.
>
> I used collaboration to the hilt, especially in lab work. If one student
> already "got it" and explained it to another student who didn't "get it",
> as far as I was concerned, real education was going on. Of course, I
> wasn't responsible for certifying these people. The only certificate
> Digital gave them was a certificate of attendance.
>
>
Exactly! Amen! and a few other words of praise.
-- Daniel A. Morgan University of Washington damorgan_at_x.washington.edu (replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)Received on Fri Oct 15 2004 - 03:04:30 CEST