Incorporating Open Code and Standards in Education?

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm an instructor for a technical school that has 6 month courses designed to teach various computer skills such as graphic arts, programming, MCSE certification courses, Cisco certifications, and computer repair. I normally teach programming but have been asked by the school to create a web development course. This course should start from the assumption that the student knows absolutely nothing about computers, which is a very difficult challenge. I'm currently leaning towards teaching a course that revolves around ASP w/VBScript however I would love to be able to implement a program that uses open standards however because of the time limitations on this course I'm unsure if its possible. I'd like to ask Slashdot users what they would do if asked to develop this course"