Why Our Training is Different
With over twenty years of experience in training, we have learned quite a bit ourselves. And we integrate principles of cognitive psychology into the way we design our courses.
We have seen both the bad and the good. We have seen bad training materials that do not organize the information into coherent units. We have seen bad exercises that simply tell the participants what to do without helping them to fully understand the material. So we pride ourselves in the experience we leverage and the dedication we devote to creating our training materials.
We know that humans have limits. People aren't containers that you can simply pour information into. People need time to digest information and relate it to their prior knowledge, so they can integrate the information with their existing mental structures.
We focus exclusively on Ruby and Rails. Ruby and Rails are not just topics we offer alongside others. We actually care about both Ruby and Rails. Our past training experience includes Java, C, C++, Pascal, UNIX, Bourne Shell programming, and so forth, and we're done with that. We now want to focus on the technologies that make developers productive, their work enjoyable, and their lives easier.
Our Goal
We strive to provide you with the most effective training in the industry at a competitive price while remaining flexible to meet your specific needs.
Our Principles
Our training is based upon a few fundamental principles:
New Knowledge is Built on Prior Knowledge
Our courses break down the topic(s) into meaningful chunks. Earlier chunks are directly linked to the knowledge participants already have. Later chunks build systematically upon earlier chunks. This process allows participants to incrementally expand their knowledge while without feeling overwhelmed.
People Learn More by Doing than from Listening
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
—Confucius
After a meaningful set of material has been covered by the instructor and any related discussion, the participants will work on a hands-on exercise to solidify their knowledge of the concepts just presented. Participants are encouraged to use the instructor as a resource during this phase to discuss the exercise or Ruby at any level of detail.
We strive to design the hands-on exercises to reflect real-world issues. We want the code base that participants create through the course to be a useful future resource to them.
A Relaxed Atmosphere Amplifies Learning
People do not learn well when they are stressed or inhibited. Therefore we strive for a relaxed atmosphere. In addition to being knowledgeable and able to illuminate and clarify the topic, an instructor should be approachable, understanding, and kind.
Extreme Flexibility to Meet Your Needs
Although we offer standardized courses, we also understand that you have specific needs. So if you would like to modify the course content or change the schedule, just let us know, and we will work with you to meet your needs.
Here are some examples of what we can do:
- Teach a course over a sequence of half-days. This can be easier on the participants while allowing them to keep up with their work schedules.
- Schedule a course with a break in the middle, such as a weekend. Participants can use the break to catch up with work projects, work on deeper course-related exercises that we provide, or simply to rest their brains.
- Add course material, including customized material, related to a current or future project.
- Remove material that is not fundamental to your needs.
- Add a mentoring phase to the course. This allows participants to work on projects for an extended period while still using the instructor as a helpful resource. These projects can be work projects or others that we can provide to help deepen participants' understanding and keep them fresh. This can be particularly helpful if there is a time gap between training and the first Ruby project.
