6 Weeks of Windows Azure comes to and end – and some stats to ponder on

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Note: Cross posted from IUpdateable from Eric Nelson.

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On Monday (21st June) we had our last Live Meeting for the 6 weeks of Windows Azure training virtual training we have been running out of Microsoft UK. Monday pretty much hit the mark of what we were after for the final day – good technical content mixed with a fair old sprinkling of fun. As a reminder, Adrian lost 3-1 in the “Students vs the SME” homework battle. Admittedly I was determine to make sure Adrian lost :-)

This may sound a little corny, but I did want to thank all those who took part during the 6 weeks – attendees and mentors – to make this pilot a great success. Plus a special thanks to my partner in crime, David Gristwood, who shared the load 50:50 throughout and as always, is a pleasure to work with and Adrian Jakeman for his tech savvy and great sessions he delivered.

But the real stars were “the students”. The dedication they have shown has been awesome – individuals completing homework while on holiday, sending in homework late because of child birth (Congrats!), cramming several weeks of study into a long weekend and even taking annual leave just to complete the training. Amazing stuff.

As I mentioned, this was a pilot. Which means we have been very diligent in collecting lots of feedback and stats to understand behaviour when 500 people sign up to this format.

We plan to look in detail at the feedback and the stats, but I thought folks might be interested in a mid point “pulse” we took 3 weeks in.

And finally, as part of yesterday we also gave away some books. FYI they went out (randomly - ish) to:

  • Paul Hadfield
  • Bhaarath Balraj
  • Trevor Fawcett 
  • Mahesh Devjibhai Dhola
  • Gavin Meiklejohn
  • Brian Watson

First 3 weeks “pulse”

We had 500 people registered for the training with an option to attend a weekly Live Meeting or watch the recording. Each week a new study guide was released and each week the students submitted homework.

Engagement - did the 500 actually do something :-)

Live Meeting attendees

  • Week 1 130
  • Week 2 63
  • Week 3 45

Live Meeting On Demand Viewings/Downloads

  • Week 1 191, 162, 173 (We published as 3 separate LMs)
  • Week 2 276
  • Week 3 143

Guide Downloads

  • Week 0 270 (Overview)
  • Week 1 676
  • Week 2 404
  • Week 3 234

Meeting Notes downloads

  • Week 1 200
  • Week 3 98
  • Week 3 108

Homework answers downloads

  • Week 1 141

Useful – did folks learn stuff?

A consistent poll we did on the LMs throughout the course was “Would you recommend this course to a colleague?”. I love this question above all others – “recommend” is just a powerful word.

I am pleased (TBH amazed) that every week 100% voted “yes” to this question. Wow. Thanks all!

Locations – did we help UK developers?

This was intended primarily for UK developers but we didn’t turn away folks from elsewhere.

  • Week 1 Guide - 66% of downloads from UK
  • Week 2 Guide – 70% of downloads from UK

Misc

Browsers and OS usage:

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