Comments on: Teaching Web Design Pt. 2

By: live and let learn » Enter the Next level of Web Design

live and let learn » Enter the Next level of Web Design — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 06:13:22 +0000

[...] The biggest problem that we’re facing is how to provide a schedule of learning activities that caters for the ranging needs of learners and addresses the required skills. We tried to implement the idea of a succession of mini-projects where each project builds on the last project and integrates more skills, together with individual learning contracts with individual deadlines (see Teaching Web Design Part II for more details). In practice, we’ve only had time to create individual learning contracts with the flexible students (leaving full-time students who learn at their own pace without any schedule or timeline) and the mini-projects were too difficult to develop without time put aside to do so. In addition to this, quite a few students had something better to work on which demanded their time: real client projects. [...]

By: live and let learn » A brief history of the Web Course

live and let learn » A brief history of the Web Course — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 06:06:20 +0000

[...] See Teaching Web Design Part 2 from March 05 for more detail. [...]

By: live and let learn » Top reasons for blogging in class

live and let learn » Top reasons for blogging in class — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 11:09:26 +0000

[...] I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly hearing that I need to be working on my own professional development and my technical currency – providing evidence to be signed off that I’m participating in professional development activities. Why not have fun while doing so and extend your audience of 1 (your “line-manager”) to anyone else out there who’s keen to learn with you? (for e.g., see Teaching Web Design Part II) [...]

By: live and let learn » A scaffolded Webdesign Project

live and let learn » A scaffolded Webdesign Project — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 01:25:37 +0000

[...] One thought I’ve been mulling over the past few days is to start a client project with those learners who are ready, but with a lot more “scaffolding” to guide learners step-by-step through the complete process (we have been scaffolding projects to some degree after reflecting on our web design course last year, but I guess I’m thinking about a step-by-step process through the first client project). This would allow those learners who are keen to develop a real client project to do exactly that, while ensuring that a whole web design process is experienced. At the same time, it will require a commitment from learners to completing all the details (such as client surveys, user testing etc) and not just doing the coding! [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 10:07:45 +0000

Thanks for dropping in Marcus… nice to know people are finding some of this stuff helpful :)

By: Marcus Wynwood

Marcus Wynwood — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 00:46:07 +0000

Thanks for your wonderful article! I teach a web standards focused Web Design course at TAFE and all the things you talked about are familure and very helpful! Thanks!

By: live and let learn » Helping each other learn Web Design

live and let learn » Helping each other learn Web Design — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 09:43:29 +0000

[...] It’s been a crazy first week back in class, with over 20 of us starting out in the Web Design course! It’s got me thinking about better ways to facilitate our individual learning when there’s so many of us… and I’d love to have some feedback! Just over a year ago, Genie, Jude and I did a lot of thinking about the Web Design course after going through participant feedback. To summarise, the biggest issue was that the lock-step approach (”this week we’re all learning PHP”) didn’t suit most people – for some the learning was too fast, for others too slow. So we worked pretty hard to build a learning environment where we can all learn at an individual pace that keeps us challenged but not overwhelmed, and yet still learn from each other as a social group. While there’s heaps of room for improvement, the feedback was generally good. [...]

By: Tom Flannery

Tom Flannery — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:59:56 +0000

The online learning environment and flexibility of the student blog makes this course managable as it would be difficult to attend full time. I think it is actually benifical that a web design course has a large emphassis on electronic communication and interaction. I think it is also great that the course is now structured less linearly with students able to progress down and develop their own path of learning as each student comes with their own strengths, weaknesses and ambitions in regards to web development.

By: Jordi

Jordi — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:48:30 +0000

Having participated in the bulk of this course last semester I can see the changes highligted and agree fully with their reasons for implamentation. So far I feel that the learning time is being used alot more efficiently and I feel that the step by step approach to using the book in the first project will help the students to see very early on just how a site can be put together, therefore helping the information to sink in without to much effort. Also what I have noticed is that there are some students who already have some background in html and would not benefit from the way in which the course started out last semester.

By: sheena simpson

sheena simpson — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:34:39 +0000

For me learning to manage a mini project from the basic principles of HTML using CSS and at the same time being introduced to communication with prospective clients and project management will assist me to complete a whole project with some confidence in the future. When I have learned all the major steps to be taken in obtaining and then achieving a completed project, I will certainly feel more certain about being able to manage a mini project with minimum support from a facilitator. I find a holisitic approach must more rewarding.