SQL Server Express is a great database for students to learn the basic on - it's a fully featured RDBMS, and it's totally free.  I've been a fan of SQL Server since 6.5, and used it at all kinds of levels - from simple web sites through to enterprise data exchanges.  What amazed me about SLQ Express was the huge amount of functionality built into a free product.

Best of all, there's a whole bunch of training material that's sprung up around it - ideal for self-directed learning.  A good place to start is the Learning Resources page, with around four hours of training videos that you can download and use in or out of class.

And as always, there's plenty more - webcasts, ebooks, sample applications, articles, whitepapers, and of course, the Mircosoft staple - the newsletter. Have a dig, and let me know how you get on.

Andy