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Randy Muller

Just what the trainer ordered

By Randy Muller on Mon, 11/17/08 - 3:21pm.
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So there I was teaching a security class not so long ago with a group of interesting students.  This started out as your average, everyday class, a few quiet students a few not so quiet students with the bulk of the students somewhere in the middle.  What made this class so interesting was the direct application of so many issues of security in such a small setting.  Normally you get some feedback and some examples from their own environment - but this was different.

The majority of the students in class were planning on taking the test for the class - but it ended up we weren't going to be able to test on the last day of class.  I think this might have contributed to some of the antics that occurred that week.  We had spent a lot of time discussing what was in the course (as expected) plus bringing in issues from other areas as well.  We had just finished talking about physical security when one of the students left for an extended period of time.  As part of the class "rules" locking your computer and keeping your cell phones and security devices secured were mandated.  The student left for over an hour leaving a security device out in the open.  One of his colleagues secured the forgotten item and it became on object of much amusement later.  This became a reference point in class afterwards for directly applying what we learned in class with the "real-world".

A lot of discussion in class centered on the subject of the new Security+ test that was released in October from CompTIA.  Students were concerned that the current material they were using in class would not prepare them for the new test.  I assured them that not only was the material relevant but that they could also take the "old" test until July 2009.  This is a concern of many students who take a class when the exam associated with the class is in a transitory period as this one is in now.

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Randy Muller, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCDST, is currently an instructor with Global Knowledge, specializing in teaching Certification Boot Camps as well as courses on Exchange, Server 2008 and Office Communications Server.

Global Knowledge offers a comprehensive catalog of Microsoft courses:

Microsoft 2003 MCSE Boot Camp
MCITP: Server Administrator Boot Camp
MCITP: Enterprise Administrator Boot Camp
MCITP: Database Administrator Boot Camp
More Microsoft courses