Web Design

Web Design

Instructor — Tammie Patten
Room 132
Web Design Syllabus

Course Standards

Introduction
The objective of this class is to help students achieve a better understanding of Web Technologies, how websites are put together and how to use the medium to communicate with others. The skills gained in this class will allow students to be more confident website creators as well as more informed web “consumers.” A new addition to our class this year will be participating in the ThinkQuest competition. All students will create a website that meets the qualifications for entry into the competition and will be encouraged to enter although participation in the competition is not mandatory.

Web technologies change rapidly. Because of this rapid change, we all need to be prepared to adapt and change as necessary. Our classroom will be one of constant discovery and collaboration. One of the most important expectations for this class is that we treat each other and ourselves with kindness and respect. Everyone in this class should feel comfortable making mistakes and sharing successes with support from the group. Following are some general guidelines about the essential skills that students will gain from the class, grading, and class participation. I look forward to working with you all this semester.

Grading
Most assessments in this course will be in the form of projects. Each project will be based on activities outlined in the core competencies for this course and in most cases will support topics being covered in the students other courses.

There will however be occasional quizzes on vocabulary, on topics covered by visiting speakers, or on subjects such as copyright and fair use. These will be graded on a points system. Quizzes will count toward no more than 10% of the final grade.

The Final Project —completion of a major website — will take the place of a Final Exam.

Assignments are due on the date specified in the syllabus. One letter grade will be deducted for each day a project is late. However, I understand that we all have circumstances that may arise, making it difficult to meet a deadline. For this reason, you will be allowed 1 (and only one) opportunity to arrange with me in advance to turn in an assignment late. If prior arrangements are not made, the standard penalty applies.

X periods and Attendance
There will be no X periods in this class. In lieu of X periods, there will be outside speakers, presentations by classmates and time for working on projects. Because many of you may not have access at home to the tools we are using in class, it is important that you take full advantage of lab time to complete assignments.

Attendance expectations are outlined in the school policy in the Student Handbook, and will be strictly enforced for both absence and tardiness.

Core Competencies
Core competencies represent key activities that will be used to achieve mastery of a subject. Following is a list of competencies for Web Design:
Creativity and Innovation
1. Students will examine ways in which the World Wide Web has contributed to innovation in the past decade and will produce a short paper outlining future innovations and their impact on society.
Communication and Collaboration
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of effective online communications techniques.
3. Students, using the web, will demonstrate persuasive communication.
4. Students will use a team approach to develop effective websites.
5. Students will employ online collaborative environments such as Blogger and Moodle.
Research and Information Fluency
6. Students will demonstrate knowledge of effective digital research strategies, including the use of Boolean search techniques to limit and focus search results.
7. Students will use relevant, scholarly research using websites such as EBSCO and other subscription based scholarly research tools.
8. Students will examine the way that search engines categorize and prioritize information and use this information to influence ranking results for their own websites.
Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making
9. Students will formulate decisions related to usability and user interface based on an understanding of basic design principles.
10. Students will display data in ways that effectively communicate ideas.
Digital Citizenship
11. Students will examine issues of digital copyright, fair use, and digital ethics.
12. Students will demonstrate an understanding of Internet safety.
13. Students will examine issues of Internet security and how those issues relate to website production.
Technology Operations and Concepts
14. Students will write html code using a text editor.
15. Students will use a content management system to develop a website.
16. Students will produce digital images and animations in a web-ready format using Adobe Photoshop Elements, Fireworks, etc.
17. Students will format sound and video files for the Internet.