Cognitive Program of Teaching Web Production

Objectives: This course will introduce you to creating documents using HTML (hypertext markup language), which is the standard for the World Wide Web. You will learn to author basic Web pages and produce a Web site using basic HTML grammar and syntax. Students will also learn to organize and storyboard their sites. You will also learn common mistakes and error patterns, and how to create clean code that can be shared with others.

Methodology: Because we're following the Cognitive Processing model (see diagram), we are going to make sense of the HTML experiences by assembling logical connections between what the students understand about technology and the Internet. The goal of the class is to provide structure to by demonstrating the HTML lesson by providing clues to help students remember exactly what they are learning. I have set up the lessons using acrostics, mneumonics and visual clues that are geared towards keeping their attention, motivating them and attaching new concepts to their memories of more common topics. I will also try to help code the information onto their longterm memories by repeating crucial topics in each lesson.

I will also teach the course in a structured way that will help students create an internal organization. I will proceed linearly, relating new subjects to previous subjects and their previous experiences. This way, I hope learners will assimilate new information into pre-existing knowledge. I will also introduce projects that I hope to be relevant and meaningful to their past experiences so that they will be motivated and able to remember what they are learning.

Schedule: This is an six-week class, where we meet for three hours each week.

DAY ONE: Working with text
Objectives: Students learn a the common language and structure used in HTML coding, including elements, tags and attributes. Students will use a simple text editor and a browser together to understand the edit/view cycle in constructing their resume in HTML.

DAY TWO: Linking and Images
Objectives: Students will learn how to use the three types of linking: mailto, hyperlinking and linking within a document. They will also learn how to bring images into Web pages and how to link them.

DAY THREE: Color and Tables
Objectives: Students will learn how to use color in their Web pages. They'll learn basic table tags, which they'll use for their in-class table assignment. Also, they'll learn how to upload HTML documents and images to a server.

DAY FOUR: Review and Frames
Objectives: Students will review the HTML information that they've learned up to this point. Then, they will learn about frames and framesets.

DAY FIVE: Form elements
Objectives: Students learn how to use form elements and understand how they interact with both the browser client and the server. Also, they'll learn how the client side and server side information transfer and processing occurs.

DAY SIX: Review, FTP and Final Project
Objectives: Students learn how to upload pages to the server. I review any topics that they have questions about up to this point. They will be given a final assignment that includes elements from all their lessons.