Website development skills and application
Overview of course
Learning outcomes
The Practitioner Research Cycle
Course information
Course schedule
Face-to face event
Post-event activities
Working with learners
Shared knowledge
Evaluation
Overview of course
The course will explore the stages in the development of websites from client brief to delivery.
Website developers from industry will contribute to the face-to-face training session, which will include workshops focusing on the stages of website development, including integration of audio and video.
Participants will have the opportunity to advance ideas for website projects to use with learners and will see learning resources that have been created to support delivery of website development in the classroom.
Learning outcomes
At the completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate the following outcomes:
Professional and reflective practitioner skills
- An understanding of the processes involved in the development of a website from client brief through to delivery
- To critically consider and discuss the areas where learners have most difficulty, including scoping and evaluation, and how these can be supported by use of learning resources from e-skills UK.
Practical skills
- To develop a simple project plan from a suitably detailed client brief
- To work with learners to plan and create a website that includes animation, audio and video
- To support learners in the evaluation process, including user testing, collecting and analysing feedback, and planning for change.
Knowledge and understanding
- An understanding of the content of learning materials available from e-skills UK and how these can be used with learners to develop websites
- An understanding of website development in the business world, and how successful development is contingent on detailed client specifications, user and audience research, and design decisions taken during the planning phase.
Cognitive skills
- To critically discuss how employer or client requirements are a key part of providing learners with realistic modelling of website development for a purpose
- To discuss strategies for supporting learners in gaining confidence in the evaluation phase of website development through processes of user testing and acceptance of feedback and need for change.
The Practitioner Research Cycle
Vital Courses are based on the Practitioner Research Cycle as shown in the diagram below.
You will no doubt already be familiar with the notion of reflective practice, which typically has four stages:
- Identify needs
- Plan
- Do
- Reflect.
The Practitioner Research Cycle extends that by adding in two further stages:
- Find out
- Share.
‘Find out’ involves investigating what the wider education community knows about how to address identified needs (in order to help learn from other people’s prior experience and avoid re-inventing the wheel).
In the ‘Share’ stage you pass on what you have learnt to the wider community so that they in turn can benefit from your experiences and expertise. (This is then mediated by a process of peer review before becoming an established part of the education communities’ shared knowledge base.)
This cycle draws on, and develops, personal and professional knowledge bases (Pers KB and Prof KB in the diagram). The latter is the knowledge that underlies professional practice in education, and is reflected in the literature, resources, policies and other materials that are used to inform practice. Throughout the course icons will indicate the stage of the cycle being addressed.
Course information
You will need access to:
- the internet
- sound recording and editing equipment, and video recording and editing equipment for post-course activities in the classroom
- a group of 14–19 learners who are following programmes of study that include multimedia development, e.g. the Diploma in IT Higher and Advanced level, GCSE ICT, A-level ICT and Applied ICT.
You should have the following skills and qualifications:
- An understanding of the requirements of the qualification specification for GCSE, Diploma in IT or A-level relating to multimedia development.
Duration of the course: 10 hours over six weeks.
Online hours / Collaborative (timetabled) / 0 hoursCollaborative (flexible) / 3 hours
Independent study online / 0 hour
Sub-total / 3 hours
Offline hours / Facilitated face-to-face / 5 hours
Workplace: working with learners on project ideas emerging from the face-to-face session / 2 hours
Independent study offline / 0 hours
Sub-total / 7 hours
TOTAL / 10 hours
Course schedule
Week / Activities / Stage* / Type / Approx time needed1 / Face-to-face event: Opening event and Workshops 1–3 / Find out / Face-to-face / 3 hours, 30 minutes
1 / Activity 1 Workshop 4 Planning a project for learners / Find out / Face-to-face / 1 hour
1 / Activity 2 Final plenary with facilitators and developers / Find out / Face-to-face / 30 minutes
2 / Activity 3 Contacting participants in the forum / Share / Online / 30 minutes
2–5 / Activity 4 Working with learners on website development / Do / Workplace / 2 hours
6 / Activity 5 Reporting back to the forum / Share / Online / 1 hour
6 / Activity 6 Negotiating our shared learning / Share / Online / 1 hour
6 / Activity 7 Course evaluation / Online / 30 minutes
Total / 10 hours
*Stage in Practitioner Research Cycle.
Face-to face event
The main focus of this course is a face-to-face training event. A facilitator, together with IT industry website developers, will be explaining the processes of development from the client brief, through generation of a project plan, to the production and delivery of a product to the client. You will also be working in small groups to generate ideas for projects with associated client briefs with course participants and employers. These ideas will be of value in the classroom.
Activities 1–2 are completed as part of the face-to-face event. Activities 3–7 are online and classroom activities following the face-to-face event.
Face-to-face event agenda
Opening keynote address from IT industry developerA website developer from the IT industry will start the day by reflecting on the changes in website development over recent years and how important the user journey is to a product’s success.
Workshop 1 – From client brief to project plan
The first workshop will focus on working with clients and will examine the steps from receiving a client brief through to generating a requirements specification and a project plan for a website. The session will include a developer discussing how this process is carried out in the industry and its importance in delivering a product that meets the original client brief.
Workshop 2 – Effective use of multimedia in website development
This workshop will look at the different use of multimedia in website development, including production and integration of audio, video and animation. Examples of software that can be used in the classroom to support creation of multimedia content will be demonstrated.
Workshop 3 – Supporting learners in the evaluation process
One of the most difficult tasks for learners is to evaluate a final product whether this is a written piece of work or a website. This workshop will look at strategies for evaluation, including organisation of user testing and evaluating a product against the original brief. Industry developers will talk about the importance of this part of the development process and how they manage the user testing and delivery phase.
Activity 1Workshop 4 – Planning a project for learners
Participants will break into smaller groups to work with facilitators and developers to come up with ideas and client briefs for website projects. These ideas will be useful in the classroom and can be used with learners in the post-course activities.
End of activity.
Activity 2Final plenary with facilitators and website developers
To finish off the day, a question and answer session will be held for participants to ask any questions of those who have been involved in delivering the day’s sessions.
The Vital Community will also be demonstrated at this final session, where a forum will be available for five weeks after the event. Participants will be able to meet up again online and discuss and reflect on their progress using the learning resources created from Activity 1 (Workshop 4).
End of activity.
Post-event activities
These activities are designed to build on the contacts made at the face-to-face training event and to reflect on the use of the learning resources provided by the session with groups of learners.
Activity 3Meeting participants in the forum
30 minutes over 1 week during week 2 of the course
The objective of this course activity is to make contact with other course participants by posting a message in the forum which reflects on the face-to-face training event.
Go to the course forum. Post a message that reflects on your experience of the face-to-face event. Indicate how you intend to work with learners using the project ideas and insight into industry website development gained at the session. Respond to any messages posted by the facilitator or other participants, including discussion threads relating to the employer-led workshops.
End of activity.
Working with learners
In these activities, you will use the project resources, tools and skills from the face-to-face session with a group of learners and then report back on this in the course forum.
Activity 4Working with learners on website product development
A minimum of 2 hours over 3 weeks during weeks 2–5 of the course
The objective of this course activity is to work with a group of learners on a website development activity that makes use of the resources, project ideas and skills gained from the face-to-face event.
During Workshop 4 of the face-to-face session, you will have worked with employers and other participants to generate ideas for projects that can be shared with learners. You will have also seen examples of the website resources created by e-skills UK, which give you two project ideas for web development with associated multimedia products for integration. You may also have picked up skills and techniques in website development that you would like to share with learners.
You need to work with learners using something that emerged from the face-to-face event. This may be the project idea from which you can create a client brief and use it to start to create a project plan for a website with learners.
You may wish to work with a group on specific skills, such as writing for the web, or preparing audio or video for integration. You may wish to share information about the industry developers who contributed to the face-to-face session and what their roles are in real life website development for clients.
End of activity.
Activity 5Reporting back
1 hour online week during the sixth and final week of the course
The objective of this course activity is to share your experiences of working with learners on website development activities with other course participants and your facilitator.
When you have worked with your group of learners, go back to the forum and respond to the ‘Reporting back’ discussion thread created by your facilitator. Post a message to the other participants reflecting on your work with learners and including your thoughts on using the materials, ideas and skills gained from the face-to-face session and subsequently.
End of activity.
Shared knowledge
The practitioner research cycle is based on sharing your experiences and expertise in order to develop the professional knowledge base.
Having reflected individually upon your own learning within this course the next stage is to share these reflections within the course group and see what commonalities there are in what each of you has learnt. You may then want to share these insights more widely within the community.
Activity 6Negotiating our shared learning
1 hour online, during the sixth and final week of the course
The objectives of this course activity are:
- to discuss and agree what you have learnt as a group
- to identify what information, if any, we wish to share with the wider community (and to share it).
Go to the course forum and, in the Discussion called ‘Shared Learning’, post a message in which you summarise the key learning points that have emerged for you during the course.
Then read through the key learning points that other members of the course have posted.
In your group decide on ONE combined set of key learning points which you are all agreed upon.
End of activity.
Evaluation
This final section allows for evaluation.
Activity 7Course evaluation
30 minutes online, during the sixth and final week of the course
The objectives of this course activity are to complete an evaluation form and rate and review the course.
Your task is to complete the evaluation questionnaire, which can be found on the course page.
End of activity.
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