Program Provider

Vanderbilt University Virtual School

Contact Information

Patsy Partin
patsy.partin@vanderbilt.edu
2007 Terrace Place
Nashville, TN  37203
Phone: (615) 322-6511
Fax: (615) 343-1145

Program Title

CAREERS in WEB DESIGN

Target Audience

Grade(s): 7 - 12

Presenter

Larry Blankenship is CEO and Chief E-strategist for Digital Dog Inc., one of America’s premier web services

companies. Headquartered in Nashville, TN, they provide a wide range of web design, development and

strategic planning services for some of America’s best known companies and organizations. Clients include

Discover Card, Vanderbilt University and dozens of others.

Larry’s career also involved 14 years with GTE, a Fortune 500 company (before founding Digital Dog in 1994)

and one of the first web firms in the U.S. With hands on experience with over 600 web projects, he continues

today to provide clients with guidance and strategy on how to best use the Internet’s next generation of

technologies, from streaming video to interactive animation to connect and communicate with users.

Digital Dog Inc.’s website is at: www.digitaldoginc.com

Program Description

Meet Larry Blankenship, as he discusses education requirements and preparation for a career in web design along

with his day to day responsibilities. He will then answer questions posed by students from the participating classes

in an interactive Q & A session.

Going professional in the Web industry can be setting up your own Web design Web site, or

taking a four year college course in Web maintenance and development. There is a lot to think

about for the professional designer, beyond just how the pages look: pricing, contracts, legal issues,

freelancing or not, how to get customers, and how to keep the ones you have.

Becoming a professional Web designer or developer is different for nearly everyone who does it.

Some people start out building sites for friends and family and teach themselves,  while others

spend years in school learning the ropes,  and others learn the ropes from someone with more

experience to guide them.

There are lots of ways to get the education and experience needed to become a professional Web designer or

developer.  But there are some basics that you should know in order to get a job so that you can gain the

experience needed for more advanced jobs.

Three Primary Styles of Web Development

1) Content Developers

Content developers write the Web page content and they may also be graphic artists (for graphical content sites like photo galleries). If a Web site doesn't have awesome content, it won't have customers for long.

Content developers have to worry about having good writing skills or drawing or photography skills, good spelling and grammar, and a strong understanding of how to use the tools available to them like Content Management Systems.

2) Web Designers and Web Graphic Artists

Web designers and Web graphic artists are the people who make the Web sites look nice. In the three layers of Web design they work on the style and presentation of the pages. These are the people who worry about the position of elements on the page and all the design specifics like color or balance.

Most Web designers use WYSIWYG Web editors and if they write any code it's Cascading Style Sheets. Designers should learn the basics of HTML so that they can fix minor problems as they come up.

3) Web Programmers

Web programmers deal with the third layer of Web development, the interactivity or behavior layer. They build the applications that make the Web pages "work." The most common languages used for Web programming are JavaScript, PHP, Perl, ASP and Java.
The best way to determine which language would be best for you to learn is to read job postings in your area or in the area where you think you'd like to work. This is because popular programming languages seem to vary by location. In the Silicon Valley in California, you couldn't walk three yards without tripping over a JSP developer, but ASP was very hard to find. However, in Seattle, Washington (Microsoft country) ASP programmers are everywhere. Ruby and Python are getting very popular with "up and coming" firms, but many established firms prefer the security of using established company products like ColdFusion or Java. PHP is popular because it's widely available and Perl because it's versatile.

Focus on Your Passion

Once you know what type of developer you are, you should focus on that discipline. If you're going to be a graphic designer, learn as much as you possibly can about Photoshop and how to manipulate and design graphics that work well for the Web. If you're going to write Web content, hone your writing skills. And learn the techniques that set a great Web writer apart from the pack. If you're going to do design, make sure you're familiar with the basics of design and not just Web design. And if you're going to be a programmer, learn your chosen programming language(s) inside out.
Be sure to test what you know on the real world. You'll get more work if you are doing work. There's always more to learn, and some universities offer courses in Web development.  If you prove you can do the job, you'll get work. Focusing on one part of the job that is your favorite will allow you to become an expert. . . a WEBMASTER!

Program Format

The video conference will be a 30- minute presentation and may include visuals or audiovisuals to enhance the presentation. This will be followed by an interactive 15-20 minute question/answer session with students.

Objectives

Participants will explore careers in web design that involve:

• using graphic artistry in design to complement and communicate a web site's intended purpose
• making information more useable and accessible to people
• programming to build dynamic, database driven web sites
• producing video editing and streaming media

Participant Preparation

Students should have some familiarity with this subject. Teacher should brainstorm with students before the video conference and ask students to prepare some sample questions to ask presenter during the interactive question/answer session.

Suggestions for Pre Program Activities

1) Students should participate in a class discussion before the video conference and explore:

• How would you define web design?
• What steps are necessary to create a web site?
• If web design was based on only 4 or 5 rules, what would these rules be?
• What roles do graphics play in good web design?

2) Involve students in a web quest to explore what makes good web design. Form 3 to 4 member teams with students. Focus is on developing student understanding of what is good web design.

• Students will learn about good design by looking at bad design.  Go to Web Sites That Suck http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

•  Students will discover essential characteristics of great Web sites. Go to What Makes a Great Web Site? http://www.webreference.com/greatsite.html

Suggestions for Post Program Activities

Divide students into 4- member groups and ask them to explore five different web sites assigned by teacher. Students will rate each web site on a scale of 1-5 (1 is worst; 5 is best) for these qualities:

a) Appearance: Is the site visually attractive? Is the text size and color readable? Does it appear to be uniform or does it look as if it was created by a variety of individuals all working individually? Are there attractive and appropriate graphics? Do they contribute to informational or instructional quality of the site or are they just for flash?

b)Content: Does the site have all the information you would expect to find on a classroom site? If not, note what is missing under "comments.

c)Navigation: Could you find the information you were looking for? Could you tell where you were as you navigated the site? Could you get back to the front page of the site? Was it easy to move around within the site?

d)Currency: Is the information on the site current? How can you tell? (Do the pages indicate when they were last updated? Do event reports include dates, including the year?)

e)Technical/Mechanical errors:
 Did you find dead links, spelling and grammatical errors, other obvious problems.

f) Comments: Mention any particularly good or bad aspects of the site.

Supplemental Resources

Activities for Web Page Design
http://www.uni.edu/profdev/teachnet/four/eval_a4.html

Introduction to HTML
http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/toc.html

HTML for Kids - 12 easy lessons designed to teach the students about HTML
http://www.goodellgroup.com/tutorial/

National Standards to which this program aligns

NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TECHNOLOGY LITERATE STUDENTS
GRADES 7-12
1.Identify capabilities and limitations of contemporary and emerging technology resources and assess the potential of these systems and services to address personal, lifelong learning, and workplace needs. (2)
2.Make informed choices among technology systems, resources, and services. (1, 2)
3.Analyze advantages and disadvantages of widespread use and reliance on technology in the workplace and in society as a whole. (2)
4.Demonstrate and advocate for legal and ethical behaviors among peers, family, and community regarding the use of technology and information. (2)
5.Use technology tools and resources for managing and communicating personal/professional information (e.g., finances, schedules, addresses, purchases, correspondence). (3, 4)
6.Evaluate technology-based options, including distance and distributed education, for lifelong learning. (5)
7.Routinely and efficiently use online information resources to meet needs for collaboration, research, publications, communications, and productivity. (4, 5, 6)
8.Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making in content learning. (4, 5)
9.Investigate and apply expert systems, intelligent agents, and simulations in real-world situations. (3, 5, 6)
10.Collaborate with peers, experts, and others to contribute to a content-related knowledge base by using technology to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information, models, and other creative works. (4, 5, 6)