What Sets Batky-Howell Apart?

Use What You Learn - Batky-Howell's philosophy is to give students the ability to move beyond the basics, adapting their new skills to the needs of their project. Our courses combine hands-on, creative exercises with the real-world experience of our instructors to provide a real education - not just basic syntax.

Instructors

All of our instructors are seasoned software engineers. They bring personal knowledge to the classroom, applying their experience to the needs of each training class. At the same time, they are continually updating their own set of skills and knowledge of emerging technologies. Many of our instructors are also authors - of both our classroom materials and of industry publications. Meet a few of our world-class instructors.

Our philosophy is to provide first-quality training to students with a wide range of backgrounds, learning styles, and work environments. We are an independent training company, so all of our materials are vendor-neutral, and instructors are free to compare pros / cons of different systems.

Our courses include information on Best Practices , pitfalls, and “gotchas.” The platform-independent nature of our core classes allows students to understand the technology as a whole and not just as it relates to a specific software package.

Of course, all of our courses are easily customized for private deliveries. Instructors often tailor the course presentation to the specific environments of their students, addressing their needs so that they will be immediately adept at applying their new skills in the workplace.

Materials

Lab exercises strongly reinforce chapter topics by using real-world situations for practice. Our examples stress creative thinking - everything in our teaching classes is designed to get the student analyzing and understanding the subject matter.

Our examples and labs don’t follow a step-by-step procedure. Students are given a set of project parameters and expected to apply the concepts independently. Possible solutions are provided as an example, but are certainly not meant to limit the creativity of the student. Students learn different methods of application because examples in the chapters and lab exercises are usually different situations.

We choose our topics based on what's going on in the industry - both current uses for the technology and upcoming trends. Frequent updating keeps us ahead of the industry curve, and our students prepared for technology changes when they happen. We distill the pieces of a technology down to the fundamentals and then separate more advanced topics in order to meet the needs of students.

For example, Java is a language that is used for a myriad of projects. Our Java Programming course teaches the basic skills that all Java programmers need. We then offer a variety of specific topics that students can take in order to fulfill the needs of their particular project area. These distinct topics, such as Enterprise JavaBeans, JEE, the Spring Framework, or JavaServer Faces can be taught separately, or combined in order to provide the specific training needed.

Additionally, we provide curriculum paths for those students seeking Certification. Our courses will teach students everything they need to know in order to gain that certification and much more. We don’t just teach what you need to know to pass the test, but also what you need to be successful.

Our books are designed specifically to enhance learning and encourage hands-on practice. Our style encourages discussion, teaching students to think about the subject-matter, rather than being "spoon-fed," and thus preparing them to implement new skills.

Certain courses, such as our Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, include projects that teach students how to apply their new skills to real-world situations.

We develop our materials specifically with customization in mind. Our customers often have very individualized needs. We can accommodate those needs. Our courses easily integrate with one another, creating a seamless custom presentation.

Our instructors have a wide variety of experience, adapting all of our curriculum to the environment and skill level of the student. Not only do we teach the student the basic concepts of the topic, but facilitate creative thinking, leading to quick implementation of the technology.