Web Standards Group Interviews Notre Dame Web Group

An interesting interview by Holly Marie Koltz at the WaSP site: Notre Dame Web Group – The Web Standards Project “The University of Notre Dame Web Group, formed through the Office of Public Affairs is responsible for the production of websites which embrace standards and accessibility at the university-though the work they do does not stop there. The group undertakes work on several strategic fronts, including work experience with student interns and taking part in the CMS procurement process. WaSP EduTF had the fortunate opportunity to interview Steve Smith about what is making a difference at the University of Notre Dame.”

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Are you using Angel or Moodle?

I just learned about another online teaching and learning tool called ANGEL Learning. I’d be interested in hearing about how it compares with Blackboard and WebCT, if you have any information to share. It uses XHTML and makes some accessibility claims that sound good, but what’s the reality?

This just in: two more content management systems for learning that claim accessibility. ATutor and Moodle. Is anyone using either of these? Can you tell me what you think?

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Should industry expertise count as a qualification for college instructors?

I was chatting in the hallways with Stephanie Sullivan at SXSW. She is a premier Dreamweaver expert, active at Community MX, an author, and an excellent web designer. But, and here’s the ‘but’ that matters to college HR departments, she doesn’t have a degree. Therefore, the most knowledgeable person in her whole geographic area (Stephanie herself) in the subject of Dreamweaver is not allowed to teach Dreamweaver at her local college.

This trend to exclude real world experience and industry expertise is not limited to the state where Stephanie lives. I’ve seen it elsewhere, too. Perhaps that explains why college course work doesn’t seem to be able to keep pace with the latest knowledge and what industry considers best practices in web design.

I suggest that in a fast changing field like web design where technology changes are rapid and constant, using people with real world/industry expertise is a good idea. Heaven knows that full-time college faculty have very little time to spend on keeping up with technological change. Maybe the need to accept industry experience isn’t true of disciplines like history or math, but in terms of web design, it seems like an important idea to embrace.

Tales from the Trenches

The young man carries an 18 hour class load this semester, but he found time to come to my presentation on CSS layouts to the New Mexico Adobe Users Group last night. Every class he’s taking relates to web design: HTML, Dreamweaver, Flash, Director, Photoshop, etc., and leads toward a certification as a web specialist. He complained that over a month into the semester his HTML instructor has yet to explain how HTML and CSS interact. Apparently the instructor does not take kindly to questions about CSS, either.

A second attendee commented that he’d taken a Dreamweaver class at a community college in the northern part of the state where he learned a whole lot about Photoshop and nothing about how to use Dreamweaver to create CSS layouts.

I taught in systems that organized classes in exactly those patterns when I rebelled and began working out a way of teaching HTML and CSS at the same time. That system ultimately ended up in my book, Integrated HTML and CSS: A Smarter, Faster Way to Learn. Readers learn to use HTML and CSS simultaneously to create standards-based and accessible web pages in the book.

The tales I want to hear from the trenches are about classes where the instructors understand what standards are, understand how CSS works, and give students skills that reflect current best practices. Surely there are classes like that out there! I want to hear some success stories.

Much of the problem comes from above the classroom level. State agencies set requirements for what has to be taught in certain classes and hand teachers a laundry list of ‘required skills’ that a student must have on exiting the class. To satisfy accreditation agencies and other educational overseers who control funding, teachers are expected to teach the skills on the laundry list, whether or not they reflect current standards. Maybe teachers are the wrong audience for my message. Maybe I need to take it to the state and national education agencies who determine what classes are offered in our schools. I’m going to be thinking and talking about this to see if that may be a better way to effect change. Ideas are welcome.

Professional vs. Unprofessional web development practices

Le blog personnel de Joe Clark: Failed Redesigns Joe Clark tears into some sites who fail to redesign with the latest standards in mind. Instead they still contain tag soup, tables, or other design factors he labels unprofessional. He says the designers should have known better.

The question becomes, for me, Are we teaching students to know better? If your students leave your classroom thinking tables-based layouts and tag soup are the way to do things, then have you failed as a teacher? Have you turned people loose in the workplace who are less than professional? I think the answer is yes.

We need to work toward ensuring that college teachers meet professional standards so that students will reach the same levels of professionalism.