Hi guys
Well, I have decided to go ahead with the web development training business, even though it means I will probably have to stay in this perpetually cold and wet city a bit longer :)
These are my current ideas and I would appreciate any feedback.
Initially I will start with PHP and Drupal training, then add in others like MySQL, JavaScript and so on as I prepare the notes and slides. The goal over the next few months will be to develop enough sessions to run the room 4 evenings per week, with one 1.5-hour session each evening from 18:30-20:00. This schedule should allow people enough time to get to the training room (which is in the CBD) from work, and to get a snack if they want.
Students will be encouraged to bring their own laptops with an environment set up and ready to go. There will also be a few netbooks spare for people who don't have laptops. I will open up the room at 18:00 each evening in case anyone needs help setting up their development environment.
Each session will cost $50 each per person. Rather than signing up for a whole course, I think it will be easier if people just pay per session, then no-one feels locked in or has to fork over large sums. The PHP course, for example, might run for 12 or so weeks from beginner up to ZCE, but you wouldn't have to attend (or pay for) every session. This will allow more experienced developers to skip over the most basic sessions if they want.
I am thinking of organising the courses into 4 streams, as follows:
Monday: PHP, MySQL, SQL
Tuesday: Drupal
Wednesday: JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery
Thursday: XHTML, CSS
If there's a PHP or Drupal meetup on then there won't be a class that night and the students will be encouraged to attend the meetup instead.
Over time, I might start running day classes, or swap these days around for the different streams in order to accommodate different people.
What do you think? Any suggestions or feedback? Most importantly - what courses would people be most interested in? (so I know what to prepare notes for first). If you're seriously interested, I hope you will send me an "expression of interest", because it will help me to know how many people to expect. I would like to start from the beginning of November.
Thanks!
Mossy
P.S. Also, if anyone wants to teach a class, please let me know - you would get paid 50% of takings.
Comments
interested, however...
I would feel more confident in signing up, if I could take a look at some work/tutorials you've done in the past :) If you have a website that uses AJAX, jQuery, and advanced MySQL stuff, integrating with Drupal, then I'd take a look and (hopefully) think to myself, "Wow! I need to learn how to do that, and this guy knows how!"
Thanks :) Great idea though
Hey aeronox, Shaun has done a
Hey aeronox, Shaun has done a lot of consulting for Em Space, so other than a general recommendation of his skills and styles I can give a bit of a break down.
http://babycardsnow.com (plus http://babycards.ie, + 2 more and counting) is a very smooth little multi-site setup with unique content per country/domain (but running off a single admin, code base and database).
http://dtoba.urbits.com is phase one of a project with the Cancer Council of Victoria. It involves collaborative book editing with extended diff module support, among other things.
He has also been working on a pre-beta site which involves calculating astrology information and building chart images with imagemagick.
Cheers
Simon
experience
Hi aeronox
My degree is in computer science and I've also done postgrad studies in information systems engineering.
I've been a developing commercial software for about 20 years, specialising in web-based applications for 10 years. So, I've been coding in HTML/CSS/JS for about 10 years, PHP/MySQL for 8 years, and Drupal for 1 year. I'm an expert. Regarding my teaching experience, I tutored high-school students for several years in maths, science and computing subjects and also worked as a lecturer of computing topics in an adult education centre (like a TAFE) in the UK. Generally my students tell me I'm an excellent teacher :)
I recently gave a presentation on rapid web development using Drupal at phpMelb which might give you some idea - you can listen to it here: http://blip.tv/file/2637485
Cheers,
Shaun
Interested if it is for beginners
Hi Mossy/Shaun
I would be very interested in this if it will take me from being a very basic PHP coder to being competent. To clarify I am not really that technical, have never formally studied IT, but want to learn. So if this course if applicable to my situation then sign me up.
It might help people if you clarify when different levels of competence should join, e.g. beginners from week one, intermediate from week 4, etc. Alternatively a sentence or two on what will be covered in each session will allow people to pick and choose the courses relevant to them.
Cheers
George
George
Help create universal education by 2015 - teachmyself.org
great
Hey stGeorge
Thanks for your comment. Sorry for the delay in replying - the last couple of messages must have been lost in the noise.
I'm pleased to hear you say that you're interested in beginniner's courses. I was wondering if anyone would be, and starting to think that maybe I should start with the more advanced stuff, like OOP. But I would prefer to begin with beginner's stuff and progressively develop the course from there.
I will certainly be advertising what will be covered in each session and what prerequisite knowledge is assumed. For beginner PHP, only core HTML will be assumed.
Mossy
PHP Training - Great Idea!
Hey Shaun!
What a great idea - And sounds like an easy flexible approach for getting started.
cheers
Donna
Donna Benjamin
Former Board Member Drupal Association (2012-2018)
@kattekrab
cheers
Thanks, Donna :) The goal is to make it as simple as possible to get involved. Most training courses seem to require many hundreds, if not thousands of dollars commitment for a entire course, but I would prefer it if people could simply choose the sessions applicable to them. I think this is much more convenient for the customer and more efficient also.