>From my perspective as the manager of an Adobe authorized training center, course author, and certified instructor -
There are 3 principal benefits to taking an instructor-led training course: 1) It gets you out of the office so that you can actually FOCUS on learning 2) Vendor-authorized courseware focuses on specific functionality that is CORE to the product as well as BEST-PRACTICES 3) Instructors from authorized training program usually have an insane amount of expertise. For example, the least amount of practical experience that any of Fig Leaf's ColdFusion instructors have is 10 years. This means that they can articulate how information presented in the course maps to your specific application requirements. For anyone considering taking an instructor-led course, I strongly advise the following: 1) When you get to the training center, turn off your cell phone and don't check your email. Focus solely on learning. 2) Understand the project requirements that you've been assigned to work on. Describe this project to your instructor and ask him/her about their suggested approach and to specifically call out items in the class that would specifically apply to this scenario. 3) Briefly review the product that you're being trained on before coming to class. It's best not to walk into a class completely "cold" 4) Make sure you meet ALL the course pre-requisites. 5) Ask lots of questions during the class about practical applications of the material. If you feel like there's something you don't quite understand, ask the instructor to repeat the point, or come up with a different illustrative example. 6) If there is a topic that you'd like to see covered that is not part of the official courseware, ask the instructor if he/she can cover it informally either during lunch or after normal course hours. Instructors HATE quite classes. We want there to be an interactive discussion of the points and like the challenge of answering student questions. And now...a brief plug: Fig Leaf Software offers the most comprehensive ColdFusion curriculum of any training partner. We wrote the official "Advanced ColdFusion" course under contract to Adobe and have since released the following courses: Administering ColdFusion 8 (The only hands-on, instructor-led CF admin course available on the planet) http://training.figleaf.com/Courses/Administering_ColdFusion.cfm Moving to ColdFusion 8 (upgrading from a prior version of CF? This is your class!) http://training.figleaf.com/Courses/movingtocoldfusion8.cfm Fast Track to AJAX with ColdFusion (the only CF-centric AJAX class available anywhere - now includes jQuery!) http://training.figleaf.com/Courses/ajax.cfm On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 7:22 AM, Rudi Shumpert <shump...@gmail.com> wrote: > This is all great info! Thanks again! > > -Rudi > > > > On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 8:36 PM, Mark Richards <clemud...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I sent a 3 of my developers to training at Sterling Ledet. They're an >> Adobe certified training center and my crew said that it was a good class >> with a good instructor. >> >> http://www.ledet.com/ >> >> Here are some other good online resources if you want them to learn on >> their own as well: >> >> http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=432 >> http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=433 >> http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=426 >> http://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/ >> http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/ >> >> Hope this helps. >> >> Mark Richards >> >> >> >> On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 6:31 PM, Mary Spencer >> <webarchitec...@hotmail.com>wrote: >> >>> Dear mason: >>> >>> I agree! >>> >>> Mary Spencer >>> >>> > Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 14:09:46 -0400 >>> > From: ma...@fusionlink.com >>> > To: discussion@acfug.org >>> > Subject: Re: [ACFUG Discuss] Intro CF Training >>> >>> > >>> > That's probably how most of us learn. I frankly I like to see people >>> > teach themselves. It shows determination and dedication. It can be >>> > painful though and you might learn some bad habits along the way. Bare >>> > in mind the books are gear to demo an operation and so they don't hit >>> OO >>> > principles and code separation as much. Lots of bad habits can develop. >>> > >>> > I taught myself Flash several years back (around version 3 and 4) but a >>> >>> > couple years ago took some Adobe Flash classes. It was pretty amazing >>> > all the little things I was doing wrong or not in an efficient way. >>> Self >>> > teaching is great but some classroom time should always be attached to >>> it. >>> > >>> > John >>> > ma...@fusionlink.com >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > John Youngman wrote: >>> > > Hi Rudi, >>> > > >>> > > I've always found the best training to be a reference book and a >>> small >>> > > little project. >>> > > (That's how I did learned anyways).. >>> > > >>> > > Does your dev have any previous web programming experience? >>> > > >>> > > -John >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > *From:* Rudi Shumpert <mailto:shump...@gmail.com> >>> > > *Sent:* Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:34 PM >>> > > *To:* discussion@acfug.org <mailto:discussion@acfug.org> >>> > > *Subject:* [ACFUG Discuss] Intro CF Training >>> > > >>> > > Hey folks, >>> > > >>> > > We have a new dev starting out fresh in CF with a background in php. >>> > > >>> > > Any suggestions on where to send the dev for some CF training here in >>> >>> > > the ATL? >>> > > >>> > > -Rudi >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------- >>> > > To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >>> > > http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform >>> > > >>> > > For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >>> > > Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >>> > > List hosted by FusionLink <http://www.fusionlink.com> >>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------- >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > ------------------------------------------------------------- >>> > To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >>> > http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform >>> > >>> > For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >>> > Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >>> > List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com >>> > ------------------------------------------------------------- >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits. Check >>> it >>> out.<http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage_062009> >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >>> http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform >>> >>> For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >>> Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >>> List hosted by FusionLink <http://www.fusionlink.com> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> > -- Regards, Steve Drucker CEO Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com Adobe, Google, Paperthin Consulting/Training/Sales
