From May 2004 through October 2007, I had one of the most formative and rewarding chapters of my career as a Lead Computer Applications Instructor at New Horizons Computer Learning Center in San Diego, CA.
During that time, I trained thousands of students across a wide range of technologies. I worked to bridge the gap of knowledge and experience for business professionals in our ever-evolving world. The world of computer software and applications. Looking back, I’m astonished at both the breadth of courses I taught and how those experiences shaped my career in program management, cloud technologies, and enterprise information systems to this day.
Check out my Linkedin Profile Gregory Scott Wall for more information about me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggwall/
A Global Top Performer in Training
Before diving into the courses themselves, it’s worth noting just how impactful this role became for me personally and professionally. At one time, in 2005, I was ranked #9 (number nine) out of more than 1,100 instructors worldwide based on total students trained. At the same time. I also consistently scored in the top 6th percentile (better than 94% of all other instructors) in student evaluations.
Those results were driven by one simple philosophy: Make the complex tools approachable, practical, fun, and immediately valuable.
The Core Curriculum: What I Taught
At New Horizons, I delivered instructor-led and eLearning courses across systems built by Microsoft and Adobe along with coding for web development, and database platforms. The classes I led ranged from small focused groups of as small as 5 to sessions of up to 45 students in one room at a time.
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the key courses I taught:
These courses formed the backbone of corporate training: Microsoft Office Suite (The Foundation of Global Business Productivity)
- Microsoft Excel (Part 1, 2, & 3)
- Microsoft Word (Part 1, 2, & 3)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (Part 1 & 2)
- Microsoft Outlook (Part 1 & 2)
- Microsoft Publisher
- Microsoft FrontPage
From part one courses through part two, three, and four, I helped students move from simply “using” Office tools to truly mastering them for productivity, automation, and decision-making.
These were some of my highest-rated courses: Advanced Microsoft Applications (Power Users & Specialists)
- Microsoft Project (Part 1 & 2)
- Microsoft Visio (Part 1 & 2)
- Microsoft Access (Part 1 & 2)
In fact, I became the top scoring Microsoft Project instructor in the California and Arizona regions and even served as the sole instructor for Project courses at the San Diego location. These classes focused heavily on real-world application experience to project planning, data modeling, and process visualization.
Development & Automation
Long before automation was a buzzword, these courses helped professionals extend software capabilities by using some of the following.
- Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
- HTML 4.1 & CSS 2.1
Teaching VBA was especially rewarding as it empowered students to automate workflows and build custom solutions inside tools they already used every day.
Collaboration & Enterprise Tools
Even back in the mid-2000s, collaboration platforms were gaining traction: Microsoft SharePoint (Windows SharePoint Services)
I was recognized as a top-performing instructor in SharePoint as well, helping organizations understand how to centralize content, manage workflows, and collaborate more effectively.
Adobe Creative Suite
One of the most fun, and um-yeah creative, areas of my instruction was centered around.
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Dreamweaver
- Other: QuarkXPress
These courses catered to designers, marketers, and business users alike. Photoshop in particular was one of my top-scoring subjects.
Publishing & Content Tools
Crystal Reports stood out as another area where I ranked highly, helping students turn raw data into meaningful, visual insights while also using FileMaker Pro.
- FileMaker Pro
- Crystal Reports
Business & Soft Skills
In addition to technical courses, I also taught: Project Management Fundamentals
This course helped professionals understand planning, execution, and stakeholder communication—skills that would later become central to my career.
How Teaching Project Management Shaped My Career Path
At first, it was simply part of the curriculum that I was scheduled to teach, designed to help professionals understand the basics of planning, execution, timelines, risk, and stakeholder communication. Over time, something unexpected happened for me as follows.
“I wasn’t just teaching project management concepts, I was internalizing and applying them.”
Explaining these principles to others drove me to break them down into practical, real-world modes of application. I saw firsthand how structured planning, clear communication, and disciplined execution could transform both small initiatives and large organizational efforts. The more I taught that soft skills course and Microsoft Project, the more I realized this wasn’t just a class, it was a career path that I could follow. That realization ultimately led me to transition from instructor to practitioner.
I began applying those same principles beyond the classroom, first in internal initiatives and later in full-scale programs, building the foundation for my career in project and program management. That journey culminated in earning several key certifications as follows.
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
Each certification represented a step forward, from traditional project delivery methodologies to Agile and product-oriented thinking. Looking back, teaching Project Management Fundamentals was more than just another session in my rotation. It was the spark that shifted my career trajectory from teaching tools and techniques to leading complex programs, managing stakeholders, and delivering large-scale technology initiatives.
Beyond Teaching: Building Learning Systems
While teaching was my primary role, I also had the opportunity to contribute beyond the classroom:
- Led eLearning initiatives across the San Diego region
- Built out an instructor-led online training library
- Helped implement Microsoft Office 2007 across the organization
- Migrated nearly 100 employees from local PST files to a centralized email system
These projects gave me early exposure to large-scale system rollouts, migrations, and change management skills that I still use today.
What Made These Courses Special
Every class was different, and every session required adapting the material to the audience in real time. What made this experience unique wasn’t just the variety of tools, it was the diversity of students:
- Corporate professionals upgrading their skills
- Career changers entering tech
- Designers, analysts, project managers, and executives
- Organizations adopting new platforms at scale
Getting Assigned a new Course, Then Teaching It!
One of the most dynamic parts of my role at SDNH, and honestly one of the reasons I advanced so quickly, was how new courses were introduced into my rotation. Around the 15th of each month, we all would receive our teaching schedule for the following month. It was always a bit like opening a surprise package or a jack-in-the-box. Almost always it contained many familiar classes and customers, but other times it included something entirely new… an application or course I had never taught prior.
That’s where things got interesting. If a new course appeared on my schedule, the process was straightforward but fast paced. Ideally, I would sit in on a live session taught by another instructor to observe the material, how the application worked, and where students typically struggled. After that, I would get about a day to prep before stepping into the instructor role myself.
If sitting in wasn’t possible, I would be given two days to prepare on my own, that was it. There was no expectation that I would become a deep technical expert in the application overnight. Instead, the expectation was clear and consistent:
- Know the course material thoroughly
- Understand the structure and flow of the book
- Deliver an exceptional learning experience
In other words, command of instruction mattered more than prowess within the software. This approach fundamentally shaped how I thought about teaching. It enabled me to quickly break down unfamiliar tools into understandable concepts, anticipate student questions, and deliver material with confidence… even when I was learning parts of it in parallel with my students. It also created an environment where adaptability wasn’t optional… it was required.
Just Like “Mikey Likes It”!
Looking back, teaching new courses reminds me of the old “Mikey Likes It” commercial. Once it became clear that I could take on new and increasingly complex courses and still deliver strong results, I kept getting assigned more and more of them. New tools, additional advanced content, broader audiences and that just coming. This was not because it was easy, but because there was a trust that I could figure it out and make it work in the classroom and I did.
That continual challenge became one of the most valuable aspects of my experience. It pushed me beyond comfort, accelerated my learning curve across dozens of technologies, and reinforced a skill that still defines my career today:
- The ability to quickly understand something new, translate it into practical knowledge, and help others succeed with it.
Lasting Impact on My Career
Looking back, this role laid the foundation for everything that came after.
- Teaching strengthened my ability to break down complex systems
- Instructing improved my communication with both technical and non-technical audiences
- Coaching gave me hands-on experience with enterprise tools long before leading large-scale programs
Today, as a Technical Program Manager, I still rely on those same skills… just at a different scale.
Final Thoughts
Teaching at New Horizons wasn’t solely about delivering courses to others, it was about enabling people to do better work, be better employees, generate faster results, and build confidence. While the tools have evolved from Office 2003 to Microsoft 365 and from static websites to modern cloud platforms the core mission of my training and teaching remained the same.
Make technology accessible, practical, and impactful.