Web Design Curriculum and Syllabus Based on Web Design Practice and Students' Prior Knowledge

Abstract

The Advanced Technical School from Novi Sad set up a completely new study group for web design in 2004. The paper explains its organization and gives course descriptions. When it was established, there were not many similar groups in the world exclusively dealing with web design, whose programs could serve as role models, hence the curriculum and syllabus had to be based on our own experience. They cover inevitable web issues like usability, user-oriented web design, accessibility, privacy and security, which are briefly discussed in the paper. The purpose of the research referring to web accessibility and privacy presented in one of the sections was to help create the two documents. The students' prior knowledge was also an important parameter in their writing. The curriculum and syllabus have been updated recently, and the improved version given herein will be in use from the next academic year.

Challenges IT Instructors Face in the Self-Education Process

“…Using the help of advanced students, either in class or for added activities such as creating and updating Websites (Krunić et al, 2006).. Different approaches to self-directed learning yield different benefits.…”

Development of Concept-Based XHTML/CSS Pedagogy for Non-Technical Learners

“…Finally, as Web page multimedia and interactivity demands increased, so Web design curricula swelled to include topics like creating Web databases, applications, video and audio (Gordon, 2005;Krunić, Ružić-Dimitrijević, Petrović, & Farkaš, 2006;Mackey & Ho, 2005;Whitehead, 2002).…”

“…(Mull, 2001, p. 1) Statements like these permeate Web design literature, likely as a way to transition the topic beyond a 'software training' stigma (Walker, 2002) and to encourage use of Web design as a student-centered learning activity (Hofstetter, 2006;Lim et al, 2003;Mackey & Ho, 2005;Niess et al, 2008). Technology-centric fields such as instructional technology or engineering sometimes go so far as to advocate entire programs of study or even a new academic field to address Web design (Hadjerrouit, 2005;Krunić et al, 2006;Victor, 2002;Wang & McKim, 2013;Whitehead, 2002). It is also seen as an increasingly essential component in information literacy education (Mackey & Ho, 2005).…”

“…Web design "is transitioning from a cutting-edge technology to a more accepted, more transparent technology" (Karper, 2004, p. 35), because of the Internet's presence in daily life; this sometimes means that computer literacy instruction presents Web design as software training, but more often these educators reclassify it as an advanced 'new literacy' that requires integration of not just technological skills, but the judgment and perspective of communication and composition skills in the Web medium (Karper, 2004;Krunić et al, 2006;Mackey & Ho, 2005;Royal, 2005;Turnley, 2005 It should be noted that many traditional computer literacy standards promote advanced intellectual skills, including problem solving and design, as "critical elements in technology education" (Jakovljevic, Ankiewicz, de Swardt, & Gross, 2004, p. 267), even while focusing on software or hardware training-these two ideas are not mutually exclusive (Ebersole, 1997;Niess et al, 2008). Accreditation standards for colleges and universities also mandate the integration of information literacy and technology as intellectual skills in higher education curricula rather than just software training (Mackey & Ho, 2005).…”

“…Web design educators may recognize that "visual design is a significant factor in the development of web design" (Clark et al, 1997, p. 356), but the complexity of adding subjective topics like aesthetics discourages practice, because it "poses many challenges that traditional instructors are not accustomed to" (Burch, 2001, p. 362). Krunić et al (2006) are an exception; they argue for a combination of technology and art education, with a series of courses devoted to Web design's creative processes:…”