Friday, January 16, 2009

My First Blended Course: Part 2

Having decided to create a Blended Course about Web Design at ANU, my first task is to divide the topic up into modules. This is not starting from scratch, as I am using the content from an existing course, "Networked Information Systems" (COMP2410/6340). The task is to try and divide this into logical units.

The existing course is 6 "units" (8 such units make up a year of a full time course). The simplest arrangement seems to break the course into two 3 unit components. Dividing up the existing lectures gives:
  1. NETWORKING AND SECURITY
    1. Networking
      1. Lecture 1 - Introduction to Networks.
      2. Lecture 2 - Network Models.
      3. Lecture 14 - Web Servers, Proxies & Caches.
      4. Lecture 3 - TCP/IP.
      5. Lecture 4 - IP Addresses.
      6. Lecture 5 - Telnet & Ftp.
      7. Lecture 6 - Email, SMTP & MIME.
    2. Security
      1. Lecture 15 - Network Security.
      2. Lecture 16 - Encryption.
      3. Lecture 18 - Web Security.
      4. Lecture 8 - HTTP & SSL.
  2. WEB TECHNOLOGY
    1. HTML
      1. Lecture 7 - HTML & XHTML and an XHTML example.
      2. Lecture 11 - More XHTML & XHTML Forms and an XHTML & form example.
    2. CSS
      1. Lecture 12 - CSS and an XHTML example with style sheets 1, 2 & 3.
      2. Lecture 13 - More CSS and an XHTML example with a style sheet.
    3. Intranet website development and maintenance
      1. Lecture 17 - Web Standards
      2. Lecture 19 - Website Design - Introduction & Testing
      3. Lecture 20 - Website Design - Structure
      4. Lecture 21 - Website Design - Design
    4. Java Script
      1. Lecture 27 - Web Programming - Client-side with an example and a JavaScript file.
      2. Lecture 28 - Web Programming - Server-side with an example and the script.
      3. Lecture 29 - Cookies.
    5. Portable devices
      1. Lecture 22 - Website Design - Mobile & E-web
This creates a few problems. There are 12 web lectures, but only 7 networking and security ones. Also there are some topics from the course which do not logically fit in either category:
  • Lecture 9 - Topic Analysis and Essay Writing
  • Lecture 10 - Ethics and the IT Professional
  • Lecture 30 - Copyright.
These are the sort of topics which tend to get left out when courses are modularised. They were included because web design is about more than the technology of serving up web pages. The content of the pages has to make sense to human readers and has to meet legal and social requirements.

Looking at the textbook, Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (Jennifer Niederst Robbins, O'Reilly Media, Inc. 2006) might provide some clues on a better way to arrange the material:
  1. The Web Environment
    • Chapter 1. Web Standards
    • Chapter 2. Designing for a Variety of Browsers
    • Chapter 3. Designing for a Variety of Displays
    • Chapter 5. Accessibility
    • Chapter 6. Internationalization
  2. The Structural Layer: XML and (X)HTML
    • Chapter 8. HTML and XHTML Overview
    • Chapter 9. Document Structure
    • Chapter 10. Text Elements
    • Chapter 11. Creating Links
    • Chapter 12. Images and Objects
    • Chapter 13. Tables
    • Chapter 14. Frames
    • Chapter 15. Forms
  3. The Presentation Layer: Cascading Style Sheets
    • Chapter 16. Cascading Style Sheets Fundamentals
    • Chapter 17. Selectors
    • Chapter 18. Font and Text Properties
    • Chapter 20. Color and Backgrounds
    • Chapter 21. Floating and Positioning
    • Chapter 22. CSS for Tables
    • Chapter 23. Lists and Generated Content
    • Chapter 24. CSS Techniques
    • Chapter 25. Managing Browser Bugs: Workarounds, Hacks, and Filters
  4. The Behavioral Layer: JavaScript and the DOM
    • Chapter 26. Introduction to JavaScript
    • Section 26.1. A Little Background
    • Section 26.2. Using JavaScript
    • Section 26.3. JavaScript Syntax
    • Section 26.4. Event Handling
    • Section 26.5. The Browser Object
    • Section 26.6. Where to Learn More
  5. Web Graphics
    • Chapter 28. Web Graphics Overview
    • Chapter 29. GIF Format
    • Chapter 30. JPEG Format
    • Chapter 31. PNG Format
  6. Media
    • Chapter 33. Audio on the Web
    • Chapter 34. Video on the Web
    • Chapter 36. Printing from the Web
From this list I removed the items which belong in "Networking":
  • Chapter 4. A Beginner's Guide to the Server
  • Section 4.1. Servers 101
  • Section 4.2. Unix Directory Structures
  • Section 4.3. File Naming Conventions
  • Section 4.4. Uploading Documents (FTP)
  • Section 4.5. File (MIME) Types
And items I didn't want to cover at all:
  • Chapter 27. DOM Scripting
  • Section 27.1. A Sordid Past
  • Section 27.2. Out of the Dark Ages
  • Section 27.3. The DOM
  • Section 27.4. Manipulating Documents with the DOM
  • Section 27.5. Working with Style
  • Section 27.6. DOM Scripting in Action
  • Section 27.7. Supplement: Getting Started with Ajax
  • Chapter 32. Animated GIFs
  • Chapter 35. The Flash Platform
Refining the "wanted" list more:
  1. The Web Environment
    • Chapter 1. Web Standards
    • Chapter 2. Designing for a Variety of Browsers
    • Chapter 3. Designing for a Variety of Displays
    • Chapter 5. Accessibility
    • Chapter 6. Internationalization
  2. The Structural Layer: XML and (X)HTML
    • Chapter 8. HTML and XHTML Overview
    • Chapter 9. Document Structure
    • Chapter 10. Text Elements
    • Chapter 11. Creating Links
    • Chapter 12. Images and Objects
    • Chapter 13. Tables
    • Chapter 14. Frames
    • Chapter 15. Forms
  3. Web Graphics and Media
    • Chapter 28. Web Graphics Overview
    • Chapter 29. GIF Format
    • Chapter 30. JPEG Format
    • Chapter 31. PNG Format
    • Chapter 33. Audio on the Web
    • Chapter 34. Video on the Web
  4. The Presentation Layer: Cascading Style Sheets
    • Chapter 16. Cascading Style Sheets Fundamentals
    • Chapter 17. Selectors
    • Chapter 18. Font and Text Properties
    • Chapter 20. Color and Backgrounds
    • Chapter 21. Floating and Positioning
    • Chapter 22. CSS for Tables
    • Chapter 23. Lists and Generated Content
    • Chapter 24. CSS Techniques
    • Chapter 25. Managing Browser Bugs: Workarounds, Hacks, and Filters
    • Chapter 36. Printing from the Web
  5. The Behavioral Layer: JavaScript
    • Chapter 26. Introduction to JavaScript
    • Section 26.1. A Little Background
    • Section 26.2. Using JavaScript
    • Section 26.3. JavaScript Syntax
    • Section 26.4. Event Handling
    • Section 26.5. The Browser Object
    • Section 26.6. Where to Learn More
This merges "Web Graphics and Media" and moving it just after "The Structural Layer". I extracted "Printing from the Web" and placed it at the end of "The Presentation Layer" as it depends on using Cascading Style Sheets.
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