MS-600: Labs Broken, no responses to Github posts

Mindy_Allison 

We are currently delivering an MS-600 class and our instructor is running into a lot of issues and students are not happy. 

Our main concern is the value the students feel with the course at present. What is the best resolution to these concerns?

While the lecture content has been working out well, the labs have run into repeated issues and now lead into concerns for the upcoming labs as well. Even the option of Demos is disrupted when it comes to any of the code blocks, as the content would need to be rewritten extensively to work and this could not be done spontaneously effectively during the class. Technically, most of the exercises could be played through provided videos, but I'm unsure what the students' responses may be to that at this point.

The issues encountered thus far, possible remedies, and training impact...

Learning Path 1:

     4 exercises, only the first of which worked

Issues:

     Virtual Machines provided by Skillable have a too new version of the .NET Framework and SDK installed

          Fix: Only a partial fix so far, but I've located a version of the SDK that was indicated in the labs and updated the software installation.

               - still receiving some build errors, but continuing troubleshooting and rewriting in the evening

Impact:

     Exercises 3-4 depend on a successful exercise 2, which is where the build errors still exist. Therefore the students have been unable to work on them.

     Note:  There are no videos available for students to view in replacement of the lab, so no exercises 2-4 remain unfinished.

Learning Path 2:

     No exercises possible to complete

Issues:

     Some of the code provided is no longer provided in the code library the entire Learning Path is based on.

          Fix:  Only fix option seems to be having students watch the demo videos provided alongside the exercises. Any coding fix would require a significant research and rebuild of the labs.

     Added note regarding the code issue. A Microsoft post in relation to this problem indicates that they are removing the exercises entirely soon, possibly any day now as the post indicated a pending update that was targeted for Sept 1.

Impact:

     Multiple hours worth of lab content cannot be completed and would have to be limited to demo videos.

Learning Paths 3-4

     I will be tearing through them tonight to avoid further unexpected results, however, unsure of what the result may be yet.

          Fix:  There are videos provided for at least some, if not all, of the exercises, so they are another potential fallback if needed.