This week has been really interesting, and really busy.  For that reason, I’m doing another week in review (and it’s only Thursday!). 

First, Apple Training.  I taught the Mac OS X 10.6 Server Essentials course this week, and had two students.  Both were sharp, but one, Aaron Hix, works with Apple.  It was fun to talk with him, learn some things from his experiences, and talk about people we know.  I also got to see him at work (three laptops, an iPad, and an iPhone all running).  It was great fun, and we got a lot accomplished, and quickly!  It was the first time the Server Essentials class finished in 3 days instead of 4 (though we did skip exercises that both students were not anxious to go through). 

Second, I ordered an iPad from the Campus bookstore.  They had a sale where sales tax was not included in the price of all Apple merchandise, so I thought I would go for it.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have any iPads in stock (none!  Not even the 32GB which is supposed to be the unpopular one).  So, I placed the order and paid for it anyway, and I’m still waiting for it to show up (it could be in as late as next week).  In the mean time, I’m getting my apps ready, my pictures put together, and other fun things that come with getting a new device. 

Third, I became a Master Trainer for Apple IT classes, which means that we at the University of Utah can offer T3 courses.  It’s pretty exciting, and I’m looking forward to some being scheduled.  I also found out that we are unique among Apple Authorized Training Centers because we are able to run classes with just two students.  Other AATC’s usually need to have 5 to 8 to run a class.  We are hoping this means we get more students coming to our site, knowing we won’t cancel on them. 

Now for the Politics.  Apparently former Illinois Governor Blagojavich wants to have President Obama testify in his corruption trial, as part of the defense.  It will be interesting to see if a federal judge will try to subpoena the President in this matter.  My guess is he will not find reason to do so, though it’s always possible.  Even if it doesn’t happen here in Federal Court, it may be taken to the Supreme Court where the President will be asked again to testify.  And if asked, will the President make a personal appearance, or will he participate in some other way?  I’m keeping my eye on this one, just because it’s an interesting situation for the Judicial and the Executive branches. 

Apple vs. Adobe:  An interesting game of attacks, primarily from Adobe.  All over Flash..  Sure, Flash is a big part of the web (advertising, at least for my part), and it’s quite popular.  But Apple doesn’t want it on their iPhone or iPad.  So, Adobe tried to work around it by using Flash to develop apps for the iPhone and iPad, which Apple killed with the 4.0 user agreement (which also killed Titanium from Appcelerator).  Rumors were flying about Adobe suing Apple, but today they attacked Apple by saying they would rather work with Open platforms with their proprietary platform than with Apple’s closed ecosystem that supports open standards.  Apple fired back, the first time the Company has said anything publicly, while Adobe as a company and as individuals have been spewing forth hatred and ire at Apple. 

Now, I really like Apple.  I teach about their technologies, and I’m developing for the iPhone using their tools (mostly because I can’t use Titanium for my class I’m developing).  I like Adobe.  Photoshop is great, as are many of their other products.  But, much like fanbois for any technology that attack others for their choices, Adobe as a company has been very, well, surprisingly unprofessional.  So has Steve Jobs in his remarks, though they were never made publicly (I don’t consider a company meeting public, as it’s within the private company). 

I come away from this liking the experience I have with Apple’s tools, not having stupid Flash ads pop up over websites I’m trying to read, and enjoying the idea of having open standards grow faster on the Internet.  I also come away from this with a bad taste in my mouth for Adobe.  Perhaps I should start to look at the GIMP a bit more.  Also, I come away with having less respect for Steve Jobs as a person, though he seems to be doing very well as a CEO. 

Anyway, that’s the week in review.  Hopefully there will be some new news on the iPad soon, as in tomorrow.  But if not, I’ll be talking about it when I finally get my hands on it.

Recently I have been looking at various trainer and instructional design positions to get a good view of what the Industry is looking for, and how we as a Continuing Education department could help meet those needs.  One program that kept coming up is Captivate.

Captivate, for those of you who are not familiar with the program, is a process and training development tool from Adobe.  It will make Flash videos from processes and provide a number of plugins, such as SCORM, so that these processes can be in turn graded and developed in that manner.  I haven’t had any previous experience with Captivate in the past, and as such this new process is new to me.  Also, Captivate is not currently available for the Mac, which makes learning in a Virtual Machine all the more difficult. 

So why bother?  Well, for one, I can make a better looking test for my classes, and have the results plug directly into a WebCT or Moodle course.  I can also provide additional training that I don’t have time to cover in class.  All in all, it’s a great method for professional looking presentations that are self-paced.  Anyway, there is a chance that Captivate could be released for the Mac soon, and it will be interesting to see how it will be implemented. 

So how am I learning Captivate?  There is a Captivating video podcast that provides some great instruction on Captivate and using it in a classroom setting.  To date I know how to create a video demo and training process with Captivate, and I’m looking forward to the Editing episodes.

My son is currently trying to learn how to write his name.  He is excited about this, because I have been trying to help him write his name since he was 2, and now he has the chance to show his teachers what he can do.

There are two things to keep in mind when teaching an autistic children:  

1. Autistic children need to have the steps broken down for them.
2. Autistic children need to have both auditory and visual stimulation to keep their attention.

For the steps, this may seem easier than it really is.  For writing, you need to include “Touch the paper” as the first step, then down for a line, up for a line, over for a horizontal line, and so forth.  It can be pretty involved, but it’s the same steps that you should be using for any pre-schooler.  The result is a step by step instruction manual for writing the alphabet.  

For auditory and visual stimulation, just saying the letter as it’s written has worked for my son.  His preschool will say the steps as they write, but I would rather he identify the letter with the visual queue.  For me, it just makes more sense.  

Of course a really neat tool that could be used to teach children how to write with their fingers would be, say, an iPhone app that would give you a letter to write, tell you the steps as the letter is written in front of you, and let you trace your finger as it writes.  This would be a huge SCORM module for the iPhone (if the iPhone supported Flash of course), and could help teachers evaluate preschoolers in general.  Hm.  Something to work on, I suppose.  ^_^

For now, I find using a whiteboard easel (available at IKEA) works for my son, as he can write his name and then draw other things on it.  We have also used a Magna-Doodle, crayons and paper, and finally sidewalk chalk.  The medium doesn’t matter, it’s the motion and the sound that helps the autistic child learn.

So now while he’s able to write some letters, I want to help him understand that they are related and have specific sounds.  This is going to be really hard, because sounding out letters is primarily auditory.  Perhaps if I add some finger gestures with each sound…  I’ll post what I find.  

So for those of you with autistic preschoolers and were wondering how to reach them with writing, give the above a try.  A huge thanks to my son’s preschool teachers for their help and insight!

Starting this next month, the University of Utah’s Technology Education department will be offering advanced Mac OS X IT classes.  Currently we offer the the Support and Server Essentials classes which cover an introduction to the Apple Certified Support Professional and the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator certifications.  

On February 9th to the 11th we will be offering Mac OS X Deployment v10.5, which covers deploying your Macintosh systems initially, deploying the OS systems for various uses, and providing updates and maintenance for the Macintosh system.  For any of you who manage large Mac labs or businesses that are migrating to or integrating Macs, this would be a great class for you attend.  It is one of 4 tests required for the Apple Certified System Administrator certification.  More information can be found the the following URLS: 

http://training.apple.com/itpro/leopard302

https://continue.utah.edu/edtech/detail.php?subject=edtec&catalog=631 

April 13th to the 16th will bring the Mac OS X Directory Services class, which covers the Directory system built into the OS X platform.  This covers the local directory and it’s management, Open Directory (Apple’s implementation of OpenLDAP), and integrating with third party Directory systems (like Active Directory and eDirectory).  Because there is so much information, this class will be a 4 day class.  More information can be found the the following URLS: 

http://training.apple.com/itpro/leopard301

https://continue.utah.edu/edtech/detail.php?subject=edtec&catalog=632

This summer we will also offer the Mac OS X Advanced System Administration v10.5 course, which is a comprehensive course on managing the UNIX aspect of the Mac OS X system.  Focusing primarily on the Command Line tools for installation, deployment, directory management, and automation, this course is a must have for every system administrator working with Macintosh machines, either at the user or server level.  This class is not yet scheduled, but is planned for the Summer semester.  It is the capstone course for the ACSA certification.  More information can be found the the following URL: 

http://training.apple.com/itpro/leopard401

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Technology Education department at (801) 581-6061.

On October 28th at the University of Utah, President Young will be talking about the future of higher education.  I’m not sure what he will talk about, but I thought I would mention what I found out looking at the current state of affairs in higher education (particularly with state funded schools).  

Essentially, the future is to tighten your belt.  What does this mean?  This means that the current economic climate has put funding into a lockdown.  You have whole states that are looking at huge deficits across the country, and as such they need to start cutting funding somewhere to bring themselves into a less bright color of red (if not in the black).  Traditionally, in periods of economic stress, the first areas to go are education and parks.

So educational facilities are generally asked to be more judicious in their spending.  Some schools are asked to cut as much as 15% from their overall budgets, which generally means that people are let go and departments are consolidated.  I lived through that at the Salt Lake Community College, where my department was essentially wiped out, and people were leaving (or asked to leave) in order to come under budget.  Outsourcing becomes the new standard for many services for which the school couldn’t or wouldn’t pay.

Currently, from what I have heard through the grape vine, that will not be happening at the University of Utah.  But budgets will still need to be tightened, and costs slashed for all divisions.  Running lean and mean is something that needs to happen in order to better service the student and offer the right programs at the right time to the right people.  

One way to save in the costs of doing business is to develop curriculum in house.  This means creating a class environment from scratch, including all the teaching materials.  I wouldn’t do this with Certification courses, such as Linux, Mac, or CCNA (after all, they are specifically designed already, and high income classes), but all of our one-day classes could be redesigned.  

So what is the benefit of curriculum development over purchasing external course materials?  One is your control of the course.  Students are given a guided list of skill sets that are most important for them to know and/or build upon to get to the next level.  It means utilizing the ADDIE process extensively.  I’ve blogged about this before, and now I’m going to be spending a lot of significant time focusing on these steps as I redesign some of my courses away from expensive books.  

For those of you working in higher education, what have you seen as the future?  Do you see a lot of belt tightening, or are your programs well funded and see no decline?  How about those in private institutions vs. State institutions?  How many of you develop your own course materials in lieu of mainstream published materials?

I’m back from the Chicagoland area, and It’s good to be back home.  The trip home was mostly without incident, with both planes actually arriving on time (or earlier).  The trip was pleasant, and I made some really great friends with other instructors and developers out there within the ranks of the Apple Certified Instructor network.  

So, what about the training?  

Directory Services:  The Directory Services class was phenomenal.  It focused on connecting to various directory systems out there (both Active Directory and OpenLDAP), using the built in GUI tools, third party tools, and using the command line utility.  

We spent a lot of time demoting and promoting our servers to Open Directory Masters, while connecting to another directory system and making an Open Directory Replica.  

I learned a lot of new things at the training, mostly on how to replicate and create backup Directory systems for failover.  I’ll start covering each chapter in more detail as time permits, but needless to say it was a very useful class.  

Overall the flow was well designed.  The material was a little lacking in that some work in the workbook was not available or mentioned in the reference guide.  But other than that, it was well done.  The cognitive load was well managed with the timing of the class, and the constructivist method was well represented in this material.  Arek Dreyer, who wrote the reference guide, did a great job with the work.  I hope he works on the material again with the new 10.6 materials for which Apple Training is already planning.  

Advanced System Administration:  I want to preface this review by mentioning how this class was originally conceived.  When 10.5 came out, Apple Training looked at the existing certification and noticed that an Apple Certified Systems Administrator could go the whole certification process without once taking anything more than Server Essentials.  

Apple wanted to make the certification more meaningful, and so decided that knowing how to set up the environment was more important than knowing how to manage an Xsan or Podcast Producer.  And, quite honestly, they were right.  A Systems Administrator needed to focus on the core system that allows for Xsan and Podcast Producer to work well with the rest of the system, and not just the peripheral systems.  

So, basically, anything that didn’t fit into Deployment (system imaging and image maintenance) and Directory Services needed to be dumped into this class.  As such, the class is 5 days long and still too short for the material.  It’s also a fairly new class, as it is the only class that was not recreated from Tiger classes.

So, what do I think of it?  It definitely shows the signs of a kitchen sink class.  If you don’t have experience in the Command Line and didn’t take any of the other classes, you would be totally lost on this one.  It is completely designed to be a capstone course, and allow the student to design their own solution while completing the class.  

But there are problems:  If you don’t focus on the on-going narration (which the instructor had better be creating along the way for the sanity of the learners), then you can easily get lost in the details.  There is a lot of focus on current UNIX solutions, potential issues, tools that are still in development, and proprietary command line tools that Apple has created to manage their utilities.  All this is thrown at the student in four pillars:  Planning and Implementation, Networking, Administration (monitoring, security, and automation), and Troubleshooting.  

The narration is thus:  You have just been hired as the new PretendCo Systems Administrator, and the company is on the cusp of huge growth.  You find out that the company, up to now, has been running on one server, set up as a Standard configuration system for convenience.  You now have to do some real management to scale up the system you put in place in order to cope with the new growth expectations.  

For me, it’s going to be a challenge to teach this in a For-Credit schedule, if just because the course narration will be really difficult to keep in the student’s mind.  When I offer this class, I’ll be spending a lot of time focusing on the instructor notes, so that I can keep that narration flowing.  I may need to build the narration into some online exercises as well.  

So, overall, Directory Services was a hit, and a blast to teach.  Advanced System Administration was great, but I was honestly only able to keep up because of what I had already known having both taken all the previous Apple classes, and my experience with Linux.  I’m thinking that I may make the Linux Fundamentals a prerequisite for taking this class.  That way I can know that my students have had time to whet their experience on a UNIX environment in the command line.

This week I finish up with my T3′s for Apple with Advanced Server Administration.  This class is focused primarily on running the ADDIE process (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) throughout the IT  infrastructure of a company, and build it up using both the GUI and Command Line tools.  Because it is assumed that you have been learning the GUI tools up to this point (this is the capstone course), it primarily focuses on the command line tools available to the Mac.  

I’m not sure when we will offer the class at the U, as much depends on other training offerings and any additional infrastructure we would need, but I already have a lot of people interested in this class.  Most of them are Linux administrators who are going to be supporting the Apple platform, and want to do so with SSH (just as they would with Linux).  I already have a list of people who would love to take that class.  

Anyway, it all hinges on whether or not I’m judged “good enough” to train.  Partly judged by my peers, partly judged by the Master Trainer, my fate rests in their hands.  At this point, however, I’m less concerned.  I’m rather more concerned with how my family is doing back home.  I’m literally counting the days until I fly out.  But I will miss the Chicago area.  

Anyway, more details on the classes I attended during this trip sometime next week.  I’ll give a teaser for the classes, and give you my opinion of the materials and flow of the class.  

As promised, here is my review for the Mac OS X Deployment 10.5 T3 that I attended this last week.  

First, the location.  Of course I’m biased, but I have always loved Chicago, and as such enjoyed the trip Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace.  The hotel was nice, and the location of the training facility was fairly easy to get to.  The only problem:  no sidewalks.  It makes it difficult to walk when you don’t have sidewalks, and there isn’t enough room to walk on the street (without getting hit).  Other than that, the location was nothing to complain about. 

The materials:  There are quite a lot of material for this class, and I was a little concerned that it would be impossible to fit it all into a 2 day training.  Luckily, that was the thought of the course developers as well, and as such the training was extended to 3 days.  That fits in perfectly with my training schedule I have planned for the University, so I didn’t complain. 

The Subject Matter:  There was still a lot that I wanted to cover but couldn’t in the class, mostly those focusing around the command line.  But then, there is a separate class for that, which I will be attending in two weeks.  ^_^  But those important topics, such as deploying through the command line, and imaging through the command line, were covered in depth.  Also planning, scaling, and third party utilities for managing a deployment option was well covered.  

One really nice thing I liked about the class was a mandate for the student to immediately apply what they have learned to a real world situation.  They do this through a Deployment planning sheet, which the trainer should have printed out for each student.  We didn’t have it, but it was made available to us in PDF form, and there is a link that comes with the learning materials to PeachPit’s website for the same PDF.  Once the form is filled out, the last chapter talks about real world solutions in many large companies, school districts, and training centers, and gives the student time to go through their document to see what they find useful, and what they don’t need, in their deployment of OS X.  

The Requirements:  It is essential the student have a command of both the Mac OS X GUI and have command line experience before starting this course.  Basically, students would need to have completed at least the Server Essentials course, and be able to manage a UNIX command line experience.  Why?  Because at the beginning of the course you are just expected to set up your computers with little assistance from the book.  At this point, it is expected that the student knows already how to set up a brand new install of Mac OS X. 

The command line experience would be more along the lines of familiar with syntax of commands.  Most, if not all, of the commands used are Mac OS X Utilities and not your typical UNIX commands, yet the syntax is the same and therefore the student needs to be familiar with that syntax.  There may be some situations when troubleshooting is necessary, and as such the student will need to know how to get to the man pages.  

Something else that would be important before taking this class is having troubleshooting knowledge, and an understanding of what you are being prepared to learn.  This way if something doesn’t quite work they way it’s written in the book, you can step outside of the given examples and find alternatives.  That’s part of learning, something that many students I have had in the past didn’t quite understand.  It requires reading/studying ahead of time, asking questions, and being attentive.  

The Pace:  Unlike both Support and Server Essentials where we pend a lot of time trying to catch the class up after some really long first setup exercises, this class is paced just right for the materials.  We as a training class (of 10 trainers) finished with plenty of time on the last day to cover some topics more in depth, and that was with us doing the majority of the optional exercises.  So with a typical class at this level, the pacing will be such that students will have some time to play with some configuration, or perhaps have a long lunch as a thank you for coming to the class.  

Overall, it is the best designed Apple training course I have attended so far.  The materials are well designed, the pace is just right (low to medium cognitive load), and the course talks well to adult students (through Constructivist methods).  This is a class that may not run often here in Utah, but will most likely be a well attended class when it does.  It is by far my most favorite class to date.  ^_^  

Also, I’d like to say thanks to everyone that attended, because they gave me some very welcomed constructive criticism, and the Master Trainer was a great host.  If only the Cubs could have won all three games I was there, rather than just one of the two.  Oh well, there is always next time.  

Last night, at 10:30 PM, I flew into the Chicago Midway Airport.  Why?  Because I am taking a Train the Trainer class for OS X Deployment for 10.5.  I have never been East of the Mississippi, unless you count the quick stop in JFK on my way to and from Germany.  As such, I didn’t know what to expect.  

The flight was, bumpy at first.  I flew Frontier Airlines, which is based out of Denver.  The runway in Denver was really rough, and the plane I was on first made noises as though someone was literally riveting the thing together as we took off and landed.  Other than that, it was a pretty nice flight.  

From Denver to Chicago was different.  Because I was in such a hurry to make my connection (the plane was supposed to be taking off when I landed), I had to place my smaller bag overhead, which had my reading material.  So, I read the magazine available to me, until the entertainment was turned off and then on again.  They had to reboot (and on these planes each person had their own TV screen).  The good news is that we all got free TV content without having to pay for it (normally it was $3.99).  Also, the leg room was MUCH better than either Delta or American Airlines.  I was impressed.

The taxi ride was a bit longer than I would have expected, and the traffic was really light (but then, it WAS after 10:00 at night).  It was pleasant, and the hotel attendant that checked me in was very courteous.  I hadn’t eaten all day (my delay at Denver was more of a mad dash), so I ate the cookie in my room.  I’m sure I’ll be paying for it later, but I was really hungry.  

The room was really warm.  I didn’t see an air conditioning unit, and didn’t know how to cool things off, so I just dealt with it.  It was still cooler than my house had been lately back home with a broken swamp cooler (which I managed to fix for my wife Sunday, before I flew out).  By that time it was midnight Chicago time, and I was planning on waking up at 6:00, since I didn’t know where I was going the next day. 

I woke up at 7:00 AM, checked my email, and breathed a sigh of relief that the training was not starting until 9:00.  I got ready and headed down to breakfast, which was filling, yet light.  Not too much meat, plenty of egg, a half a danish, and some yogurt.  

I then headed out to the training building.  I’m walking, because the training building was supposed to be less than a mile away from my location…  except I got some rather dodgy directions and ended up going the wrong way.  By now the heat and humidity was getting to me, and I was 15 minutes late to the training.  Luckily they didn’t start anything important, and I was able to get settled.  I’ll comment on the training on the last day (but for now I’ll just say I’m enjoying it.  ^_^).  

Lunch was at the Baker’s Place (I think), which has the exact same menu items as Village Inn, which apparently no one on either side of the Rockies had heard of.  It was good, even though the meal came slow.  But it was right next to the training center, which gave us plenty of time to get back (five of us ate there).  

After the training, I headed back to the hotel.  The traffic was horrendous, making me quite happy I opted to walking.  I hate traffic, even in Salt Lake which didn’t even compare to what I saw on my way back to the hotel.  

Along the way, I was looking for options to try for my dinner.  I’m not really that picky, and I like to make something light while on the road.  That way I can study while eating and not be bothered by anyone.  Well, I was about to give up on any type of grocery store until I saw it:  An Aldi.  

Now, many of you may think I’m being silly, but I love Aldi.  Why?  Because I used to always shop there in Frankfurt.  They were everywhere, and held the cheapest, almost tasteless food imaginable.  But it brought back fond memories of the old days, and I picked up some things for dinner and lunch for the next two days.  I picked up fruit, bottled water (mostly for the bottles), and two dinner items.  All total it came to $14.00.  I just had to carry it the rest of the way back to the hotel (again, another Germany moment). 

So, how do I rate my trip to the Chicago area so far?  Traffic is a definite minus, no sidewalks reminds me of Austin Texas (and the blisters I got), and I don’t really like the heat.  

The plus sides are close shops, a nice, comfortable hotel room (I’ve since found the AC ^_^), and an ALDI close by.  I’d say that this is definitely the best training trip I’ve been on.  The only thing that could make this better than going to Cupertino for training would be an Apple Company Store with employee discount.  ^_^

Stay tuned for details on my Training experience!