As previously posted, I have downloaded in 15 minutes the latest Maya
PLE, but I haven't bought the DVD to see for myself what it shows.
There is a $29 lesson DVD in API and callbacks :
http://www.academicsuperstore.com/market/marketdisp.html?PartNo=766600having this free maya as an alternate system requirement.
Where, three years ago, I've gone through a book on Maya PLE 5.0,
done many exercises and fiddled with an offshoot of Lucasfilm's DVD,
"Melbot Wars", perhaps, today, Maya PLE 7 now teaches oop symbolics
by doing through virtual world visualization.