I guess it's the time of year, but I was intrigued to read "Pedablogue" (Michael Arnzen)'s post about teaching what he refers to as "101" courses. Such a course is a very basic introduction to a topic, required by the institution as a study skill, but not obviously connected to the course the students signed up for.

This rang bells with me because two days ago I was suddenly informed that my lovely software development course aimed at working prefessionals (which I had spend months preparing for) had been cancelled. Instead, I am now teaching level 1 "IT key skills" (wordprocessing, web searching, email etc.) to five groups of shiny, new, "hair and beauty" students one hour each week for a year. I've spoken to colleagues who have taught such groups before, and it seems that these students generally neither have much by way of existing skills in this area, nor appreciate the benefit of learning them.

I'm sure I know the material, and (all things being equal) could fairly easily teach the class. What I'm worried about is classroom management, motivation, and simply "connecting" with the students. I'm not naturally interested at all in hair or beauty - I never use any "grooming products", and have had my hair cut in the same boring style for more years than I can remember. Oh, and I'm not female or 17.

I've got just one weekend to prepare, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to find some point of contact to engage their imaginations and help make at least some aspects of information technology interesting. We'll have to see...