Birket Foster queried:
> I am trying to come up with a list of educational
institutions/organizations
> where MPE is taught, or used as a basis for the machines on which some
> courses are taught ...

Jonathon Bakus replied:


> Naturally Tech Group University springs to mind :)  As you may know we
have
> over 70 MPE related classes in our catalog.  We've tried very hard to
bring
> training for all aspects of the MPE platform, including 3rd party
utilities
> and applications, together in one location.  Additional classes and
> instructors are always welcome...

While I appreciate the efforts that Tech Group University is doing, I think
only addresses part of the issue.  While there is a movement to corporate
universities (and the ensuing encroachment on traditional education), it is
only useful for those you have already hired.  The other side of the coin is
where do I find people that already have some exposure so that I can keep my
training costs down (and probably gain some retention advantage also).

I heard (read) Birket as really trying hard to find out where MPE/iX is
still used in either the curriculum or as part of the curriculum.   This was
the approach that worked well way back when (late 70's).  There were a
number of colleges and universities that offered programming courses that
were based on the MPE platform.  Like Birket, I would be interested in
knowing if any of these still exist.  Such knowledge (for the benefits of
this list) would be enormous.  Birket already mentioned that it would be a
great place to hire students from because it would reduce the amount of
training needed.  I think it would help to know because there are several
(many?) of us on this list who have been on the 3000 for a long time (25+
years now) that don't have degrees.  Knowing where we could go to work on a
degree and utilize what we already know would be beneficial.  Finally,
knowledge of such institutions could be used to steer the bright young minds
that all of us know to places that will eventually benefit our platform of
choice.

>From another perspective, it could be used by HP (nah!) or other interested
parties as leverage to get our local institutions interested in furthering
the cause.  Smaller educational institutions traditionally have been
hesitant to jump to alternate platforms (especially platforms which are
continually berated as "antiquated", "classic" or "legacy") because of the
costs and risks involved.  If they were aware of successful programs using
the 3000, it would be a much easier sell to convince them of the viability
of the solution.  If it could be shown that such a platform is a reasonable
cost effective solution, the process becomes even easier.  The more
institutions that we can garner to use an integrated MPE approach to
teaching computer science, the better our chances of increasing the
longevity of the program.  Of course, it comes back to support for the
concept from HP, Client Systems, and the VARs out there.

Glenn Koster
Quintessential School Systems
Developers of QWEBS (www.qss.com)

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