We launched HighSchoolWebDesign.com in 2010 with the objective of providing high-quality, affordable curricula to high school technology teachers. The curriculum materials are created as a collaborative effort between U.S. high school teachers and professional web designers.Our original motivation for creating the Intro to Web Design curriculum was that nearly all existing textbooks and lesson plans on the topic of web design are based on Dreamweaver or other tools, which we feel do not adequately educate students on how web pages and the internet actually work. We believe the best way to learn the fundamentals of web design is to first learn how to code by hand.
From feedback we’ve received from teachers, those students who first learn HTML and CSS by hand coding in a text editor gain a far deeper understanding and appreciation of web design. Many of these students who are later introduced to Dreamweaver find such tools to interfere with the control over their web pages and return to straight coding.
The lesson plans, slides, projects, rubrics, handouts, and tests were all created with one goal in mind: to teach high school students how to be competent web designers without the use of any specialized or expensive software.
A secondary motivation for us was the issue of affordability. Many traditional publishers of high school technology courses charge on a per-student basis or require that each student have an expensive textbook, workbook, or software license. This can run the costs for a typical school into the thousands of dollars. With budgets already severely strained in most districts, we wanted to provide a much more affordable solution.
Our courses are licensed on a per-school basis, no matter how many teachers or students are using the materials, and our annual renewal fees are extremely affordable. Therefore, our low-cost curricula can save schools a tremendous amount on their budget, while still allowing them to provide outstanding instruction to their students.
Should you have any questions about the course materials or this website, please contact us. You may send us an email, call us at 1-888-552-1323, or send us regular mail at:
Fort Collins, CO 80527
