LEARNING-BY-DOING (LBD), STORY-CENTERED CURRICULUM

This course gives you opportunities to practice what you learn by participating in learning-by-doing activities that include individual and small group tasks, completed in a situated, context-rich environment that authentically mirrors the workplace.

This environment, called the “back story,” casts you in the role of a junior intern at a firm, iCarnegie Consulting, where you will solve problems that resemble those encountered by real companies every day.

As you complete the projects, I will play two roles in addition to my traditional function as an instructor. I will act as:

• A manager who will play the role of your boss at iCarnegie. As your manager, I want (and expect) you to do well at the work I give you, and will have information to help you succeed. However, I have my own job to do, so you will need to respect my time. I will have little patience if you come to me unprepared or ask questions you could have answered yourself.
• A coach who helps you to complete your assigned project, not by spoon-feeding you the answers, but by guiding you to find them on your own. As a coach, most of what I say to you will take the form of questions. My goal in doing this is not to frustrate you, but to make you think.

In this class, professionalism is as important as technical skill. Besides demonstrating your skills, you will need to work effectively in teams, examine problems from multiple viewpoints, ask questions and conduct research to ensure you understand the requirements, and articulate your solutions clearly. When you have mastered these skills, they will be essential after you graduate and enter the workplace.

Another integral part of learning by doing is seeking and absorbing the hard-earned wisdom of seasoned domain experts in your community of practice. In this course, you will be able to do this by consulting me, of course. You will also have access to case studies, textbooks and other materials. I encourage you to refer to these resources as needed to complete the deliverables for this course.

Finally, just as on the job, your work products will be evaluated against standards—by you, your classmates, the instructor, and the whole class. You will need to work both quickly and effectively, and doing so will require a solid command of the basic individual skills from the reading and lectures.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

· Organize, browse, edit and manage a variety of file types

· Develop, validate and debug simple interactive websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript

· Describe basic software-development tools, processes, and concepts such as debugging, data representation, source code, executable code, verifiers, and APIs

· Deliver short, easy presentations and documents that are well considered, compelling and supported by evidence

· Research and evaluate information

· Present findings in an organized and compelling manner

· Discuss the notion that every problem has multiple solutions, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and that success is tied to finding the technical solution that best fits into the non-technical dimensions of a specific problem.

PREREQUISITES/CO-REQUISITES

There are no prerequisites or co-requisites for this course.

Textbook

Creating a Website: The Missing Manual

· Matthew MacDonald

· 3^rd Edition

· ISBN: 978-1-449-30172-9

Online Resources & References

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 895