This Thursday, ReInvent Abilene is hosting Open Mic Night for any and all to come and let people know what cool things you are up to. Come prepared to share the cool things you have going on in technology and business development! The event will be held at Texas Tech University in Abilene across from the downtown Post Office from 5pm to 7pm. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

Hope to see you there!

I really enjoyed the experience, and from the student responses, I’m pretty sure they learned a thing or two. The course was Intro to Internet Programming. Even though the students feared programming, there was no way they were getting out of Internet PROGRAMMING without learning some code. So, I set out to cover the primary technologies and languages it takes to create a web application in a hands-on sort of way. For the first half of the course, I talked a lot, but once the basics were covered it was all hands-on, programming assignments. Having recently graduated from college, I tried to mimic the professors that I really enjoyed learning from. So, for starters: no attendance policy, real-world problems and hands-on training.

I’ve posted all my slides and assignments below. I’d love to hear your questions, comments and feedback.

*** For any computer science / business-related university staff or faculty reading this, I’m curious to know your thoughts on how I think databases should be taught in universities.

The “Anatomy of Web Apps” slides covers the flow of web applications, showing how data is transferred and introduces the basic technologies required.

“Introduction to XHTML” simply gives a breakdown for how to use the markup language, tells what it is and what it isn’t.

“Designing Websites with CSS” breaks down the CSS language and gives some examples how you can use it.

“Javascript Programming Basics” outlines the basics for most programming languages.

Everyone needs to use a Javascript library when programming in Javascript, there’s really no reason not too. Learn the “jQuery Basics” and make javascript fun again.

And here are the slides for a very “Basic User Authentication with PHP & MySQL”. Please read the disclaimer slide at the end.

And for the assignments:

As I said before, I’d love to hear any questions, comments and feedback. Thanks!

So, on with my suggestion:

If you have anything to do with course curriculum for any degree plans that requires a database-related course, I highly recommend the topic of databases be split into two courses. The first should be a hands-on, 100/200s level, “Intro to Relational Databases” course that is entirely about learning SQL and writing queries, nothing that goes too deep into the theoretical and mathematical side of databases. Reserve the theoretical and mathematical course for the upper-level, 300/400s course. I suggest this for a few reasons: 1) Simply knowing how to create and structure a database and using SQL to SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and JOIN records can take someone a long ways, in many different professions. 2) By having a lower level intro course, you can open up the basic knowledge of databases and SQL to other degree plans. 3) You just don’t need the theoretical and mathematical knowledge behind databases to make effective use of databases.

By all means, relational databases and SQL barely scratch the surface of the entirety of databases, and the in-depth science behind databases is absolutely necessary for those who want to learn, research and improve databases, so it should still be a required, upper-level course for any Computer Science major. I believe giving the “Intro to Relational Databases” course a lower barrier to entry and a higher hands-on experience will dramatically improve students’ understanding of databases and incline them to be more interested in the deeper theory of databases.

Thoughts?

So… here’s the info from Tom Dolan for tomorrow night’s ReInvent Abilene:

Larry Williamson of EarthCo Building Systems will tell his story of inventing the Megablock extruded earth block machine which is now complete and building structures including a couple in Amarillo. Larry hopes to soon build earth block homes with a developer in Abilene. Many of you will remember Larry as a regular ReInvent attendee in the early days. I believe you’ll want to hear Larry’s story of research, invention, development and company formation.

A couple of you had questions about the engineering of the EarthCo MegaBlock - especially integrity when flooded with water. What we haven’t said is that several entities considered these and other issues including the Texas Tech University Whitacre College of Engineering departments of Mechanical and Civil Engineering as well as the TTU Small Busienss Development Center.

Come find out if the MegaBlock melts away or stays together in a flood! Earthco founder Larry Williamson will fill you in on engineering integrity and business development details at the ReInvent Abilene gathering 5pm tomorrow. Free food and beverages!

“Inventing Megablock”
Thu Dec 10, 2009
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Texas Tech University at Abilene
302 Pine Street - Across from the Downtown Abilene Post Office

Garrett Winder and I spoke about Marketing in the new Economy. It’s all about caring: listening, engaging and being personable. I’ve posted the slides here. Sorry if the slides are a bit out of context without any commentary.

As mentioned before ACU’s Springboard Accelerator hosted the event in their new location. The Accelerator is doing very well, already having several co-working and incubator clients. If you are a free-lancer, business owner, or early-stage startup, the Springboard Accelerator is for you. It provides a place to work, meet with clients, coffee, internet, etc. at a low fee for students and those in the community. For more information, contact Kevin Christian via email kevin.christian@acu.edu or phone 325-674-2786. You can also learn more about them by following their facebook group.

The next event should be sometime early next year.

Here are the details from the Facebook Event:

On Thursday Dec. 3rd, ACU’s College of Business Administration is hosting an Open Coffee (i.e. bring your laptops and work, hangout, study, network, etc.) from 9am-4pm in the SpringBoard Accelerator (corner of Washington & 16th).

Lunch provided and guest speakers Chad Hutchins & Garrett Winder will speak @ noon on using the social web in business.

It has been a few months since the last open coffee in Abilene. We’ve abused the Open Coffee event to be several things here in Abilene: co-working, networking, showcasing, etc. etc. The cool thing about it is we make it what we want it to be. So, bring your laptop and business cards and be ready to get some work done, meet like-minded entrepreneurs and drink some coffee. It is a come-and-go all-day event.

The Open Coffee will be at Brew Net coffee shop on the north side of Abilene. The event is hosted by the ACU SpringBoard Accelerator, and they will be buying your coffee and food. Around noontime, Garrett Winder, co-founder of GANDR Web, and I will be giving a talk on how you can use Social Networks to benefit your businesses.

I hope to see you there! If you have any questions, give me a call or shoot me an email.

hutchins.chad@gmail.com
903.539.0014

There is no easy way to create an effective blog. It takes more than just setting up a Blogger or Wordpress account and posting something every couple weeks. You have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to create a quality content and a healthy readership. My three favorite points in the article are: “Content doesn’t matter. Promotion matters.” “Social Media isn’t a Silver Bullet” and “Twitter is worth it”.

Blogging for your niche can have a big impact for your business, but it won’t happen over night. At Milsoft, we’ve created a niche Smart Grid blog. It is still very young, but because of the nature of the niche, a little promotion and quality content, in five months it has become the top referring website (excluding search engines) to Milsoft’s primary website.

How is your blogging experience going?

Don’t forget, ACU is hosting another one of their distinguished speakers events today. If your lunch is open, be sure to buy your ticket and come listen to James Lentz, president of Toyota USA, talk about his experiences.

It is really amazing how far the alumni networks of universities extend. With the Six Degrees of Separation, it really doesn’t surprise me the level of speakers ACU is able to bring to their events. At the first Springboard Challenge there was Kenneth Starr, at COBA’s yearly Leadership Summit retreat there was John Aden (Walmart’s Senior VP of International Operations), and the list goes on.

If your lunch is open on Tuesday, I highly recommend you buy your ticket and check out the event.

It is really amazing how far the alumni networks of universities extend. With the Six Degrees of Separation, it really doesn’t surprise me the level of speakers ACU is able to bring to their events. At the first Springboard Challenge there was Kenneth Starr, at COBA’s yearly Leadership Summit retreat there was John Aden (Senior VP of International Operations), and the list goes on.

If your lunch is open on Tuesday, I highly recommend you buy your ticket and check out the event.