Conference koolit::vms_curriculum

        I have been asked to help with the revision of this course.  We need
    comments and suggestions from the other instructors.  Unless somebody
    comes up with a better idea, we probably will keep Skills for Users as
    a prerequisite course, keep the operator course at 5 days, and add
    additional topics by taking modules from other courses.  The following
    are the additions I suggested in 117.11:

        - REPLY/REQUEST (from the old VMS for Operators) 
        - MOUNT/DISMOUNT/ALLOCATE/DEALLOCATE (I think Sysnet II has these?) 
        - MONITOR (from Sysnet II)
        - Command Procedures (from Sysnet I, Chapter 2 - but not the entire 
	     chapter - that goes into too much detail for operators)
	- The operator log file (from the old VMS for Operators)
	- PHONE (?)


    The course is in desperate need of labs - please send ANYTHING you have.

    - Ed

  Ed, 
  
    Make sure you contact Ewen, he had lots of ideas for the Operator
  course when I was up there last.  You might also want to send mail
  to John SOAEDS::Grundhoefer in Atlanta.  He's taught it in the recent 
  past and I would expect him to have a good "extra" lab or two.
  
  $

    Ed,
    
    I have some info you might want to use for this course as well. I made
    some handouts for it.  I think file protection is something that also
    needs to be included and isn't always done justice in the User Skills
    class. I don't think a review would hurt.  I'll mail you the files
    
    Meg

    The Operator course (OpenVMS System and Network Node Operations) is
    being revised.  In an ideal world (or at least an ideal Digital) the
    course probably would be redesigned from scratch, and its place in the
    curriculum rethought.  Constraints of time, money, and policy, however,
    led us to just grab some modules from other courses (mostly Sysnet I)
    to extend the existing course enough to fill its allotted five days.
    (The biggest change is the inclusion of the DCL Command Files chapter
    from Sysnet I.)  OpenVMS Skills for Users will continue to be a
    prerequisite.

    This week I had to teach the course, and since the new books are not
    ready I used photocopied handouts to turn the current student guide
    into a pretty close approximation of what the new student guide should
    be.  The response from the students was very favorable.

    The following is the schedule I used: 

    Day 1 - Chapter 1 - Lecture ended at 3:30, lab lasted until 5:00.
    Day 2 - I handed out the Command Files chapter from Sysnet I
       I didn't go into as much detail here as I do in Sysnet I.
       I treated the last three sections - lexicals, file I/O, and
       error handling - as appendices (I recommended that they be
       printed as such in the revised Student Guide).  I covered each of
       the lexicals, but only quickly.  (In  addition to F$TIME and
       F$EXTRACT, which were used in an example earlier in the chapter, the
       only one needed for any lab is F$EDIT.)  I gave only a quick example
       of file I/O and the briefest of explanations of SET NOON and ON
       ERROR.  That seemed to satisfy them, and was sufficient for them to
       do the Sysnet I Command File labs.  I told them that the labs from
       page 2-21 on (File I/O and Error Handling) were optional.
       Lecture ended at 2:15, lab lasted until 5:00.
    Day 3 - Chapter 2 plus REPLY/REQUEST, Chapter 3
       Since I didn't have the course material on REPLY/REQUEST handy, I
       just printed out the on-line help for those commands.
       We ended earlier than I expected.  There was only about 30 minutes of
       lecture after lunch.  Maybe I'll do things differently next time.
       Lecture ended at 1:30, lab lasted until 5:00.
    Day 4 - Chapter 4, Chapter 6 plus MOUNT/DISMOUNT/ALLOCATE/DEALLOCATE (from
       HELP), Chapter 7 plus MONITOR (from HELP)
       Lecture ended at 2:00, lab lasted until 4:45.
    Day 5 - Chapter 5
       Lecture ended at 11:15, demo/lab lasted until 11:30.

- Ed