An Instructor and More: VMware Spotlight on Joe Cooper

Growing up in a family of public school teachers, Joe Cooper knew he loved teaching from a young age.

Since joining VMware in 2012, Joe has attained the title of Technical Learning Engineer (TLE) and VMware Certified Instructor (VCI), specializing in VMware vSphere and end-user computing courses. He teaches both on-demand and live courses in addition to writing items for VMware's Data Center Virtualization and Desktop and Mobility Exams.

While Joe is a master of VMware course content, he hasn't just become a favorite among students for his technical expertise. IT professionals who take his courses immediately notice his zeal for learning and his ability to bring the best out of any student, all while maintaining the lively demeanor he's famous for - and telling a joke or two to keep the mood light. Who says you can't learn while having fun too?

VMware Explore attendees will get a taste of Joe's fun-loving approach to teaching - and life - in the two CXS Theater sessions he's leading at Explore next month.

His goal for attendees and students? "If every day I could leave a student with one piece of knowledge where they say, 'Now THAT was worth the price of admission and worth my eight hours today with Joe.' I'm happy."

Stepping up to the plate

After seeing the movie War Games as a child, it didn't take long for Joe to realize he wanted to pursue tech.

Joe started his IT career in California, and then returned for a Master's degree in New York where he enrolled in SUNY Cortland's tech-focused sports management program. He was particularly inspired by a professor who specialized in sports technology and used it to analyze athletes' performance and biomechanics. Largely, thanks to his tech skills, and talent in front of the classroom, Joe was offered an adjunct professor position after graduation.

He quickly recognized his passion for teaching and finding unconventional ways to engage students. He recalls a lesson where he accessed the university's unencrypted wifi to show students how easily someone could steal their Facebook passwords, inspiring students to learn more about network security.

Joe soon found another way to bridge his love for sports, tech, and teaching - by developing a training and certification program for volunteer youth sports coaches across New York. The program trained 15,000 coaches in five years.

Joe continued running the program and teaching at SUNY Cortland until a friend of his recommended an instructor position at VMware. Though he had to familiarize himself with some of VMware's technology, the teaching element of the role was a natural fit.

Making learning fun

11 years later, Joe is a passionate champion of VMware's solution-based education programs and instructional team, and it shows. You can hear it in his voice: "I think this is a really good crew," he said. "As I listen to my colleagues instruct, I get excited about the technology."

Joe most enjoys teaching introductory courses - such as VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage andVMware Horizon 8: Deploy and Manage - to young professionals looking to establish themselves in tech. "You really get to see the light bulbs go off," he noted.

And if that's not enough, Joe has also taken his expertise on the road, traveling and teaching at military bases in Japan, Korea, Guam, and Hawaii. There, he helped soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines build crucial IT skills both for now and when they prepare for post-service life. Helping military professionals and developing their skills for tomorrow are some of his favorite teaching experiences.

Many of the courses Joe teaches are delivered in an on-demand format, which offers students 24/7 access to learning material and allows them to work at their own pace. While on-demand courses are pre-recorded, rather than delivered in front of live students, Joe works hard to keep the course's future viewers engaged. "I pretend that the audience is there, and I tell little funny stories and laugh at them myself," he joked.

Perhaps no story better exemplifies Joe's relaxed, playful teaching style than one teaching memory he recalled. Joe was leading a virtual course when he stepped away from the computer momentarily, only for his young daughter to grab the headset and start singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star into the microphone for all his students to hear. While many instructors might be embarrassed, most teachers aren't Joe - he embraced the moment and hoped his students got a laugh or two from the kerfuffle.

Building strong foundations

As a TLE and VCI, Joe develops the content that other VMware instructors teach, ensuring courses are not only technologically sound but also comprehensible and teachable. "Instructors are useless if all we're doing is reading from the manual. We are storytellers. It's only through that perspective, I believe, that students can understand the why of what they're doing, not just the how," he emphasized.

He also incorporates real-world uses of VMware solutions into lessons, demonstrating how VMware can improve IT professionals' daily lives, and how the technology is this relevant to a live production environment.' That's what the instructor does. Reading a textbook or manual cannot provide that perspective."

To test course material with real students, Joe often teaches Beta courses. These courses are near-complete classes that students help instructors finalize while fulfilling their certification requirements. In exchange, students receive a 50% discount on each course.

Joe believes the overall role of a teacher is to engage students and give them a memorable, practical experience, not just cover material. His passion for students is what gets him out of bed every day and motivates him to tackle whatever teaching challenges come his way, helping students from all backgrounds and areas of IT expertise to become confident VMware users. He hopes that enthusiasm encourages students to love the classroom as much as he does.

In short: "We are VCIs and so much more."

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Want to learn more about a VMware solution? Join Joe or another one of our world-class instructors in a VMware Learning course!

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