Raising the Bar for Linux Trainers

Darren Douglas — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:38:48 +0000

You can write shell scripts in mere seconds, hack the kernel in your sleep and perform other feats of Linux wizardry—but can you teach?

I love teaching Linux. Whether teaching introductory-level courses to people new to Linux or teaching advanced best-practices courses to experienced administrators, I hear common feedback. Most Linux instructors are good, but we can be better. There are common problems with Linux training that most of us have experienced or will experience at some point. I'm convinced that there also are common solutions. After hundreds of hours spent in the classroom, there are a few key concepts I'm convinced will make committed Linux instructors as awesome as the operating system we teach.

If you're interested in taking your practical experience to the classroom or if you already have a role as a mentor or teacher, here are some keys that will help you improve your students' experience.

Key #1: Treat the Student Like a Professional Client

Linux is no longer a technology for counterculture geeks and hackers working in their parents' basements. Linux professionals, including trainers, must present themselves as real pros. That means taking an interest in all students' successes and engaging them as clients. I do consulting as well as training. No good consultant would think about walking into a client's site, opening a terminal and typing away at random. First, the consultant asks questions about the client's objectives, understands the environment and only then starts working. A good trainer approaches the classroom the same way. We don't just open the book, fire up the slides and go through the motions. Instead, we focus on the students.

Focusing on students means understanding what they need from the course. Why are the students in the course? What are their learning objectives? How can they leave feeling that the course was a valuable expenditure of their time and money? A good instructor finds the answers to those questions and then tailors the course to fulfill the students' expectations.

A trainer also has to look inward. A real professional trainer never appears condescending or detached. The pro trainer fosters an inviting classroom environment that makes all students relaxed and comfortable to ask questions. We've all experienced bad training. The instructor was perhaps more concerned with showing how much he or she knew rather than with transferring the knowledge. Or, the trainer might have just read slides (in monotone..."Bueller, Bueller, Bueller") for hours.

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Training

Raising the Bar for Linux Trainers

Key #1: Treat the Student Like a Professional Client