Reverse-engineering requires a fair amount of experience, training, and even intuition. But without the right tool, even the most skilled reverse-engineer will spend a considerable amount of time performing the most tedious tasks or even fail to spot the crucial bits of information.
Approach
IDA Pro is the perfect tool to teach binary analysis: it is fast, powerful yet easy to use, supports most processors & file formats out-of-the-box, and is even available as educational free licenses for institutions. It's not surprising then to find IDA Pro being used all over the world by universities, online-or-offline classes, trainings, and seminars alike.
Introduction to Reverse Engineering with IDA Pro by SANS Institute