Web Curriculum Endorsements

From W3C Wiki

Industry

Adobe

I'm honored to be part of the (Web Curriculum) effort with such an amazing group of individuals. You can always count on a SOLID plug from me, of course. Looking forward to lending a hand!

Scott Fegette
Dreamweaver Product Management
Adobe Systems, Inc.


Professionals

Jeffrey Zeldman

The Web represents the leading edge of 21st century publishing, communications, and application design. Unfortunately, web education is still in the dark ages. InterACT With Web Standards presents a badly needed course correction. Armed with this book, educators can better serve tomorrow's web designers, and through them, millions of users.


Teaching Institutions

University of Georgia

I wanted to share with you how we have been using the WaSP Interact Curriculum in our Master of Internet Technology program at UGA.

I've been working various aspects of the curriculum into our courses (http://mit.terry.uga.edu) since the Fall semester of 2009 shortly after I first became aware of the curriculum. For most of the courses, I can find something in the curriculum to include that educates and enriches the students.

The Web design portion of the curriculum best fits our Web Design and Usability course where I am currently using the InterAct with Web Standards book. The book contents fit the objectives of the course perfectly. I have assigned reading from the book (see attached syllabus and course schedule) and have been able to incorporate many of the assignments and projects that can be found on the WaSP Interact site. We're currently in the 5th week of that class and several students have commented to me about how much they like the book and the contents of the curriculum.

The curriculum and text have been great for my needs in the Masters program, but perhaps the biggest advantage is the connections that I have been able to make through the use of the book and the InterAct curriculum. It's supported by a group of people who have a passion for Web Standards and education. Many of whom have been guests to speak to my students and have supported my work by answering my questions. It's very exciting for me and my program to be a part of this great community.

Craig A. Piercy, BSEE, MBA, PHD
Director, Master of Internet Technology
Department of MIS
Terry College of Business
The University of Georgia
309 Brooks Hall
Athens, Georgia 30602-6273

Carnegie Mellon University

We are excited by the prospect of working with you to develop a case study for our Open Learning Effectiveness study.

We hope to contribute advances in the learning sciences, especially involving understanding processes in which resources that are designed in the hope of improving learning effectiveness can be adopted and used productively by educators in their local settings. In the case studies that we hope to conduct, we will be analyzing the design principles that have influenced and are influencing the resources that designers and developers produce, especially aspects of the resources that are intended to facilitate adopters’ success when they use them. A second conceptual focus will be on ways in which resources are adaptively incorporated into local learning programs. We believe that an idea of “travel” is a better basis for thinking about distribution of learning programs than “dissemination and implementation,” and we hope to gain understanding of ways that resources need to be and can be appropriated in local settings. A third conceptual focus will be on ways that collaboration between designer/developers and adopters of resources might be important for effective adaptive deployment.

We hope that you will want to participate with us as collaborators in the investigation of these issues, or of other issues that would be significant for you. We would begin with some extensive conversations with each of you about the resources that WASP has developed, your reasons for designing and developing the features that you built into these resources, and your understanding of how the resources can and should work and what conditions you expect are needed for them to work successfully. It’s probably obvious that this will require us to become familiar with the resources you’ve developed.

Leslie, we believe that we understand your role in WASP as including both designing/developing resources and using them in your teaching. If we’re right in this, your perspectives and insights into the resources and their use will be especially valuable to us.

At the same time, our commitment to the funder of our project (the William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation) includes studying a site where a resource is used by someone who didn’t play a significant role in its development. We hope that you could identify someone whom you’d like to work with, along with us, who is using — or planning to use — some of the material that WASP has supplied. Or we could jointly contact some people and choose such a person (or group) to include in the study.

We hope that the idea of working with us to develop a case study of your resources and practices is appealing.

Renee Fisher
Course Developer and Associate Project Manager
Open Learning Initiative
Carnegie Mellon University

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

I have been mapping the InterACT book and the InterACT curriculum to the web media courses that teach at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I was actually able to do a preliminary prep for one of my courses for the entire semester in a single day because the book and the curriculum were so clear and so well connected.

Granted, because I am a co-author and the creative director of the book I have had the opportunity to read the book many times and I am familiar with the curriculum because I have helped to both develop and write it, but still the combination of the InterACT book and the InterACT curriculum is a game changer for me. I am now able to spend more time keeping up with the change that is constantly happening on the Web. I am able to have a stable curriculum that has a solid foundation versus starting from scratch each semester. Now I have a strong foundation for my courses—a foundation I can build upon. I can add the newest trends and techniques into my curriculum because I have time to learn them myself. I have gained time, which means I remain relevant to both the industry and to my students.

As a consequence, my students get a better education and are more prepared to enter the working world. My students are responding well to the book and to the curriculum. I only have the ability to teach two web media courses so I appreciate that the InterACT curriculum is modular and I can combine different aspects of various courses to create the courses that I need. It makes the curriculum completely customizable for my needs. I also enjoy the assignments and grading rubrics that are included in each course. These save me a lot of prep time. It is also great to learn what other educators are assigning in the classroom. This type of living curriculum will help move web education in a positive direction.

Leslie Jensen-Inman
Assistant Professor, Graphic Design and Web Media
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Students

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Stephen Bush

InterACT Case Study: Stephen Bush - graduate of University of Tennessee Chattanooga About University of Tennessee Chattanooga

Interview With Stephen Bush

Q: Stephen, you are a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Could you tell us a bit about the program, and the types of things you studied?

A: The Graphic Design BFA at UTC is an immersive study in both the theory and practice of graphic design. We look at design as a Fine Art and as a vocation. The course load is intense. My classmates and I spent many sleepless nights completing our assignments, and it was definitely worth it. We had several courses devoted exclusively to typography, some to photography, some to new forms of media, and several to professional practices in the field of design. The course which most influenced my career was Web design with Leslie Jensen-Inman. Before that I was certain that I would pursue a career in print and logo design. Then we learned Standards-Compliant (X)HTML and CSS. Once we began coding our Web designs, something felt right about the Web. I became obsessed and devoted all time outside of class to reading and practicing as much as possible. You had a pretty unique opportunity to intern at a web agency while in school. Tell us about that experience and how it influenced your perspective in your course work.

While interning I realized that work outside of college comes with a much different set of expectations. While in school, a lot of emphasis is placed on the "process." It is common to spend weeks developing multiple sets of thumbnails and critiquing each other's pieces. In the workplace, however, turnaround is key. You learn to identify a good idea and develop it quickly. It is important to balance creativity and problem-solving to deliver the right solution in a timely manner, in both the graphic design and Web development fields.

Q: How did your degree prepare you for your career and how did it influence your ability to get a job?

A: Essentially my degree led me to my career. A design background translates well to front-end development. Well-trained designers are comfortable with Photoshop and already have an eye for pixel-precision and good typography. Furthermore, design education instills a conceptual understanding of usability and teaches you to educate yourself. It is important to learn concepts in the beginning; specific training will always be necessary in the workplace, especially in an ever-changing field like Web-development. Since joining the front-end team at Medium I've become proficient with multiple programming languages, particularly JavaScript.

Q: Are web standards best practices part of the workflow at your job? Did your knowledge of standards play a role in getting hired?

A: Absolutely. Any project that I take part in adheres to Web standards best practices. When applying to work front-end, the management was impressed with my Web standards-based knowledge. Having a solid foundation to build upon made me a more valuable addition to the company. What's next for you in your career?

I'm excited to continue furthering my JavaScript abilities, learn the intricacies of HTML5, and get more involved with the server-side aspects of Web development. I really enjoy learning to build sites with Message, a soon-to-be open-sourced CMS developed by Medium. This involves the use of the programming language Python and Google AppEngine's document-based data store. I'm also interested in custom Web application development, particularly on mobile platforms. I plan to progress towards new and innovative solutions for the Web.

Elena Nikolaeva

Quality web education is very important in today's internet laden society. We use the web for almost everything in out lives: from basic household purchases to tracking our location on the surface of this earth. The demand for well educated individuals in web development and design is rising, so it is natural for students enrolled in any education level to expect more than what is currently being offered.

The Web is like a living, breathing thing, which constantly changes and grows. Web education needs to match that speed of change; otherwise we end up with graduated students unable to meet qualifications. This is also a reason for why academia needs to keep in contact with the industry's latest expectations in qualifying job skills. High quality web education programs, like the current InterACT course offered at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, are needed all over the world.

I am currently using the InterACT book in my Web Media 1 class, and it has proven easy to comprehend. I love the structure of the lesson plans, because there are engaging and clearly labeled sections for resources, tips, try it yourself sections, and warnings. The color coded sections and pages eliminate any reading anxiety I expect to experience from a five hundred page textbook. What I most like about the assignments so far is that they direct you to work with current, up to date web material.

Laura Winn

Participating in the InterACT curriculum has taught me more about the Web in one month than I have learned in six months at a web design company. As much as I thought I knew about the Web, this class has given me a broader view of the internet's history and progression. InterACT accommodates all types of learning styles, so no student gets left behind. Between personal reading, discussion and projects I know I'm getting the web education I need. From personal experience, I know a large part of working in the web industry is collaboration with groups or teams, as well as presenting information. InterACT provides ample opportunities to participate in group projects and presentations. I feel proud to know I'm learning applicable skills in the classroom.

Dawn Pfeiffer

The Web is a relatively new technology and therefore lacks a formal academic study program in many universities. Courses on web education and web standards are essential to my career as a graphic designer. Most companies include websites as part of their branding and marketing strategies in addition to printed materials. As a designer possessing knowledge of both, I will be able to better serve clients in a cohesive and encompassing manner. Merely learning print-based design is a great disservice to my future career.

As a patient, it would be unheard of to see a doctor who had not attended medical school. Yet, that is exactly what is happening with a lack of strong web education programs in universities. Graphic designers who potentially know little about web standards are creating the future of the web. The Web is an incredible innovation of our time and has the potential to be even better, it deserves better. This presents an opportunity for academia and industry to unite to improve usability and accessibility for all web users. By the two working closely together, universities will have tools to shape well-rounded students who will easily mesh with current industry standards. The future of the Web lies in the students of today.