My first thought, like kyle's, was to add in strict, warnings, and diagnostics. With those on it is a 100% better beginner's experience, at least!

I also like that you are going to do an overview of modules like DateTime, WWW:Mechanize, etc. Those are big time savers, easy to learn to use, and useful to almost everyone. Are you facing a reluctant audience, or one with people eager to get into Perl?