2011-04-14, 12:59 PM
Most books tend to follow a similar path: grouping a number of topics together, and then focus upon the HOW - eg: how to manage users.. how to manage hardware... how to manage software... etc.
In courses I teach, I try to get across the WHY, WHO, WHEN (and the "what if not") - what are the benefits of doing such an action, who should be expected to do it, how often (could it be automated), what would happen if it was not done (firewalls, logwatch, etc). This focusses more upon objective-based learning than task-based: people will do something because they understand the benefits of doing so, rather than do it because they've been taught to.
Dunno if that makes sense... but it's become my driver for most things nowadays. "why *am* I doing this?" is a frequently-asked question!