Valmai, our workshops have not primarily been about 'teaching' ballads (although some participants with limited access to good libraries for either books or cd's are grateful for any additional repertoire). Rather, we have been trying to encourage the PROCESS of assimilating a ballad, making singers aware of all the choices open to them - both musically and textually - and hoping to give them the confidence to listen critically and make those choices.
As far as the 'Jamie Douglas' tune was concerned, there was an interesting rising leap in line 2 which took the tune into its upper range for line 3 - but instead of some run down to the starting notes, it bumped itself straight down onto a stodgy repetition of the first two notes for 6 syllables. Everyone felt it as a real anticlimax.
For myself, I was vaguely aware of echoes of another tune in my head (possibly a friend's version of 'Tam Lin') but couldn't nail it because of the group discussion. So that's today's homework sorted out!
Your workshops sound fascinating - pity they're so far away!