Need Help Teaching a Web Design Class?
March 7, 2017
I’ve been teaching web design and coding through my courses and personal mentoring since 2003. Over the last 6 years, I’ve been working with schools and teachers, to refine the process of teaching code. This is all found in the StudioWeb app and curriculum where we teach:
- HTML5
- CSS3
- JavaScript
- Python
- SQL and databases
… Among other things.
Having said that, let me offer a few tips that will help you, whether or not you choose to automate your classroom with StudioWeb.
My top 8 web design teaching tips:
- Don’t teach old XHTML. This is no longer used in web design. Any curriculum that teaches XHTML should be avoided.
- The spiral teaching method is perfect for teaching code.
- Get your students writing code asap!
- CSS is a must learn in any web design curriculum.
- CSS offers a simple way to introduce animation into a web page – fun!
- Once students know the basics of HTML tags, have them research on the web for more tags you have not covered. Being able to use Google and the W3C to explore coding, is an important skill.
- Have your students build simple web pages first, then move them into websites. Very engaging and motivating for students to see their work becoming real websites!
- Have students take hand written notes writing out HTML, CSS and JavaScript code. Nothing beats that for retention.
There is so much more I could get into, but that will have to wait for another article.
Hope that helps!
Stefan Mischook
StudioWeb.com
