There are books that are full of bells and whistles. And there are books where the writing is not necessarily most polished, and does not follow the most recent hypey style, and they still easily thrive for centuries on the shear power of the ideas inside. Dostoevsky and Phillip K. Dick are probably the standard examples. They give the reader something of value, something that allows the reader to process the world in a new, or additional light.

I do not know much about the databases, but it I'd imagine its one of the backbones of the information age. In particular probably the efficiency aspects. It is a powerful material. And so as long as you come into the classroom and make it clear that today you are going to deal with something that makes the student more powerful, the students are going to listen, no matter which manner of delivery you choose. It may not always seem like this, but they are young adults, not little kids whom you need to trick into eating by stories or something.

Being an industry veteran, you likely have a great perspective on what works and why. The usual things, examples, critical distinctions of what could be a good idea and what could be bad, are useful. But whether its eventually provided as HTML or not, I don't think it matters.