I disagree. They could add a lot of context by simply explaining the key and its importance, and the concepts of confusion and diffusion.

i agree that the why is complex. but threating it as "math is complex, so let's treat it as a religion and never question or try to understand. just accept." is just plain wrong.

So, the first step should be to NOT start with the "Advanced" standard :) look for block cyphers.

And if you found your self blocked on this little presentation during the non-sense (and not explained) column transformation step, this may help you:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:H0QmIsUIBbkJ:w...

Understanding AES Mix-Columns Transformation Calculation Kit Choy Xintong University of Wollongong,

I've thought about it and I think I agree with you. I've only taken a little advanced math and I was able to understand most of it.

However, I still don't agree with the OP that that makes this presentation pointless.

No, not really. The most complex math AES uses is operations in the finite field GF(256). Given that addition in a power-of-2 finite field is simply XOR, I expect any good programmer to be able to get AES.