Developer Apprenticeship/Design Studio
Objectives
- Students will design and develop functional, usable, and accessible websites.
- Students will work in teams to correctly accomplish the work.
- Students will be able to describe how a real web development project is implemented.
- Students will work with "real clients" in designing websites.
- Students will use the correct terminology (vocabulary) for all HTML and PHP used.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to correctly use the Big6 problem solving skills.
Materials
- Computer for each student
- In each student's web browser, a bookmark to a central link repository will be placed so they can access relevent information throughout the course.
- Reference material (books, etc) should be available to the students in the classroom.
- Big6 Summary worksheet
- Skills Checklist
Audience
Students in this class are in a high school level web development course. First, second, and third year students will be mixed together in the same class period.
Time Frame
This lesson format will be followed throughout the course of the year.
Previous Knowledge
The students in this class may or may not have had HTML experience. Due to the fact that several years of experience will be mixed together in one class, it is assumed that each student understands how to use a computer to accomplish the following:
- Save and edit documents
- Create folders
- Send/Receive email
- Access the internet
Students will also have previous experience with the Big6 and how to use it.
Lesson Outline
Design Firm
This course follows a somewhat different format than others. In this course, and throughout the year, students "work" in a design firm that handles several projects concurrently. The instructor plays the role of lead project manager, content editor, and technical consultant.
Development Teams
Since there are several projects happening at the same time, the class will be broken up into development teams of no more than 5 people. The lead project manager will assign one project to the group at a time.
Ideally, there will be several people from the first year and one or two each from the second and third year students in each team. Typically, a third year student will be assigned as the team lead and will direct that project, reporting all progress to the lead project manager (the instructor).
It is the responsibility of each team member to learn the skills necessary to contribute to the team's current project. The team leader should assign specific tasks to each team member. It will be the responsibility of each student to learn what is needed in order to accomplish the given tasks.
Projects
Most of the projects will be web-based consisting of such functionality as web pages, images, videos, and interactive flash. Each projects will have a due date assigned that the assigned team will have to either meet or negotiate that date with the client.
Clients
The projects will be completed for either real, or virtual clients. Examples of real clients might be other departments in the school or real organizations in the community that need a new or redone website.
Daily Team Meetings
Each development team is expected to meet once a day (with the exception of the day of the weekly meeting), at the beginning of class for a maximum of 10 minutes and a minimum of 5. All team members are required to attend and participate. This meeting should be held to a minimum so that the maximum amount of time for work is available.
The purpose of the meeting is for each member of the team to summarize what they accomplished the day before and what will be done that day. It is also an opportunity for problems to be brought up and discussed. The group leader may also adjust current assignments or give new ones at this time.
As the teams meet on a daily basis, students will likely encounter vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them. They will need to be pro-active in learning the "lingo" and catching on. Students are expected to assist, when appropriate, other members of their team to learn and understand what they need in order to accomplish the assigned duties.
Weekly Meetings
All the project leaders and the instructor will meet in a weekly meeting to correlate any cross-project issues and to help the instructor determine what topics might need to be covered in the next seminar. This meeting should be limited to 30 minutes. It is a time for each project lead to report progress and request additional help and/or training if needed.
Seminars
The instructor will schedule regular seminars during the course of the year. Students may choose to attend the seminar, but need to register in advance. The topic of each seminar will be determined either by the needs of what students need to learn or a pre-determined schedule. The instructors will be prepared to demonstrate the skills and lead discussions among attendees. There will be no specific assignments attached to the seminars.
Skills Assessment
Since the students will be operating in a fairly fluid environment, it may difficult to assess learning. For this reason, a skills checklist is prepared for each student. This checklist will include most of the state standards and objects for web development in checklist form. It will be the shared responsibility of the instructor and each student to review this list as the course advances. When a student feels that they have demonstrated a given skill, it will be the job of the instructor to verify that by viewing the "proof" that the students provides. In most cases, this proof should be in the form of either a web link or a written document. Students should use the Big6 skills sheet to document how they have implemented the Big6 steps to solve problems.
Learning Theory Justification
I suppose this lesson plan is more of a course management method than a single lesson plan, but it just seemed to fit the current learning theory. In order to correctly implement situated cognition, the entire course structure needed to be altered. In this course, students work in design teams on real projects in what I hope will be realistic situations that mimic those found in industry. The students are required to learn new material to accomplish what their teams needs and will, hopefully, find this motivating and seek out that knowledge. The instructor plays the role of facilitator and consultant and should encourage innovative ways of accomplishing tasks rather than dictating what the right way to do it is.
Students in this course will undoubtedly run into lingo (vocabulary) problems, but hopefully as they learn the definitions of terms they will be able to situate those new definitions into the project they are currently working on.
Students will use the knowledge previously learned about the Big6 when they document how it was used to solve problems.