ideaSpark Web Development Course Guide
Curriculum Overview
References
Reference guides are designed to encourage self-directed learning. The activity guides will prompt students to look at their “HTML Reference” or their “CSS Reference”. Students may use these references any time they need a thorough introduction or refresher on any given concept.
Activities
Activities are divided into three major sections:
Starter Activities (~15%)
Students learn the basics through a series of structured activities. In total, these activities take approx 3-4 hours.
Guided Project (~35%)
The guided project still has structured learning activities while allowing the students to gain experience building a full website.
This primes them for their creative project, which is the final requirement to earn the badge. The project is divided into 4 parts, Each part is approx 1½-2 hrs of learning.
Creative Project (~50%)
The creative project allows students to apply skills to a new project in which they'll have more creative control.
Students will also have the opportunity to work as part of a larger team to plan and build a new website of their choosing.
Students will form larger teams for the creative project, with different students working on different sections of the site (this will be detailed in the mentor guide)
The creative project kicks off with teams brainstorming, ideating, prototyping, and planning. Students then spend the rest of the semester going through the “project development process”, which is an iteration of ideating, prototyping, and debriefing. The semester ends with students sharing their projects.
A detailed list of activities with time estimates can be found here:
Semester Pacing
Depending on the total number of session hours at your site, you may not be able to complete all activities in one semester. If your site has fewer than 21 total session hours (# of sessions × hours per session), then it is recommended that your students end the semester completing the Guided Project and earning their HTML & CSS skill badges. Students may attend the following semester to complete their Creative Project and earn their soft-skill and Web Developer Level 1 badges.