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This is a bit of a cry for help... or at least for creativity and advice.

I've been tentatively offered an instructor position at JHU... teaching a course in XML and newer XML technologies for Masters students. The course would be at the "Applied Physics Lab" and be aimed at military officers working on their advanced degrees. I still haven't received permission from my company to do it... so I'm not sure if it's a go, but I'd still like to plan for it.

So, my question is: What the hell am I going to teach?

Obviously, there are plenty of XML topics to go over... though I'm going to have to struggle a bit to fill 14 lessons of 3 hours each. In addition to the basics, I'm thinking of AJAX (Like how gmail auto-fills in email addresses as you type), or Web Services (having your page look up weather or news items from remote pages). What are cool military-ish ideas that I could do with these?

Also, what has been y'alls favorite ways of learning? I'm thinking classes will be broken up into:
1 hour of lecture with powerpoint slides
1 hour of applied/practical code review and questions/answers on projects
1 hour of though-discussion on new technologies and use of XML

Rather than homework (which I've always thought of as being annoying), I'm thinking of having 8 in-class projects, of which the best 6 are graded along with one final exam. No attendance, no homeworks.

Again, this will be taught to professional 25-35 year olds with a strong leadership background...so I need some help in how to inspire them. What thinks y'all? How would you like to learn if you were in this situation?

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--The Hermit

Could the 8 in-class assignments combine into one much larger and complex application. One that would never be attempted in just one class?

In that fashion each assignment has importance as a part of a much greater whole.

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They will want to know how to solve real-world problems (period). most classes do a good job at giving you an idea on what the tools can do on a basic level, but getting int othe meat is rarely the case. Though University courses will allow you more time, so you can expand the subject matter/depth.

I'll get back to this or PM me, if I lapse. I have a munchkin that needs to go to bed right now and a conference call in 20 minutes.

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one of my biggest annoyances is when I buy a book and it is a project walk through. Doing one project (as a class or book) is a nice way to learn how to do that -one- thing but you always end up saying "that is out of the scope of the class or book" and that just kills me.

If you do projects then maybe spend a few days on what is possible and then allow them to build there own projects through a proposal/presentation (like you would have to do in RL. That way you have several projects cover a vast array then during the 1hour question period people can be exposed to other people problems and workarounds that they themselves may never run into on there specific project but it is still excellent knowledge.

Once you spend a week on the 'what this does' lectures you will find your class time filled more with questions and work than lectures. This in my mind is that best way to learn without limiting to a unified project.

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Moge

Show it in action in the Real World. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.... well a good real life example is worth a thousand lessons. Then show where this idea is heading in the future or in its coolest most advance applications.

The instructors/professors I admire the most have been able to connect the subject matter with what really matters in the real world. They also tend to be the ones who know and are passionate about the material, or are experts in the subject matter and use it as a living on the side of their teaching career.

I have had several real world professionals as teachers. One example was being taught AutoCAD, and residential estimating by a guy who owns his own company and builds houses for a living. The first house he ever built was one made from the very same blueprints we were drawing in class as our main project. He got out of school and build his drafting project and sold it for his first income. Now his employees build hundreds of house each year. Teachers that do the subject matter in real life can’t hide their passion. The examples and insight they offer students are more meaningful than any textbook… and they tend to be lasting lessons.

Excellent inputs.

I was thinking of having the X (doesn't have to be in class projects all combine into one uber project that would be something similar in complexity to what a defense contractor would be paid to do.

I was also thinking of taking real world examples of things that are used in the military, and then have a few of the projects be add-ons to improve functionality... and the result is something that military people could use the next day.

Or, I might have it so every even numbered project is part of the overall whole... and the odd numbered projects are something that everone can pick anything they want and apply a specific XML technology to improve it... and then present the pros/cons of their approach.

Good call on the passion, Cyrus. I think this is something I'd bring the most to the course... the fanatical passion of someone who loves this geek stuff.

Moge, you're right. I don't want it to just be a "click this, click that" type of class. It would be one where there'd be no book, all notes would be online, and the output of the class should be "understanding" of how to accomplish something.

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--The Hermit

Do some explanation, give a hypothetical problem within the subjects limits, then ask for a solution from them of how to do it.

After then ask: Why?

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1st Feb 2008

I was also thinking that I could make all class grades available as an XML web service... and the first in-class assignment will be to write a program that will pull their grades from the web service in XML to display them.

A bit nerdy, but a great way to get people invoved from Day One...

_________________
--The Hermit

Well I might not know what I'm talking about but hear me out.

I work for an educational publisher and it's very possible that much of what you want has been done for you. I'm sure there must be at least a couple companies that publish a textbook you could use as at least a course outline and offer several suggestions for the types of projects you are talking about.

I do not work in the Higher Education area but I'd bet you can find something out there that would be pretty helpful. Good luck!

Yeah, I've been thinking of going the TextBook route...

After taking tons of Masters courses, I've pretty much determined that anyone teaching a 'new technology' (ie, less than 5 years old) that uses a textbook is always going to be dated with their info. For example, the AJAX stuff (advanced Javascript and XML) is only about 6 months old... no real textbooks use it yet.

But... I HAVE browsed through a bunch of course books looking for ideas.

The problems that I'm going to have are:

1) These people are going to be SMART. They'll be experts at googling, and experts at finding data and parsing it together well. Anything that's already out there (and not a new combination of good ideas) is something they can search for, and so wouldn't need me for.

2) This class is going to be a military-oriented course... most of the concepts will be in terms that aren't discussed by the rest of the world. A thousand acronyms that only mean anything to DoD types.

and the most relevant...

3) I guess I'm a bit full of myself in thinking that I can invent a new way of teaching... that goes in the face of a hundred years of experience by people smarter than me. In reality, I'll probably be given a text book to go by (I haven't even done the job interview yet), and was just looking for some creative ideas that would give me a leg up on my first time teaching to adults.

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--The Hermit