Standards education

Patrick H. Lauke / Teaching the Web – W3C Germany and Austria Office Opening / Potsdam / 15 October 2009

WHAT STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEB STANDARDS AND ACCESSIBILITY

web evangelist at Opera

big picture: importance of web industry

mind the gap: disconnect between industry needs and education

wide spectrum of skills required

web design modules: can you convey web standards / best practice in such short time?

moving target: outdated materials, outdated skills, IT resources, changing requirements

slow to change: lead time for new course creation too long, bureaucratic?

web design: art, science, or both?

IT / computer science focus on “real” development

art / design don't care about code

“hybrid” courses: multimedia design

teaching industry best practice

“why” not necessarily “how”

MACCAWS business case

business case aimed at students

relevance of standards for cross-browser, cross-platform … ubiquitous web

mobile / widgets reuse web standards

rebranding accessibility

accessibility = blind users + screenreaders?

accessibility doesn't have to be hard

accessibility = usability (in most cases)

again:“why” not necessarily “how”

WAI Education & Outreach

Education and Outreach for other web standards lacking?

resources and initiatives that can help…(and incidentally Opera are involved with)

Opera University Tours

Opera Web Standards Curriculum

association with Yahoo! Developer Network

learner-centered articles providing focused, self-contained lessons, split into topics on

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, …

Web Standards Project (WaSP) InterAct

modular curriculum frameworkaimed at educators

● course descriptions● competencies● prerequisites● assignments● exam questions● reading lists

aggregates / structures existing resources(such as Opera WSC)

built by educators and industry experts as a community-driven initiative

various levels from community college to graduate level

living curriculum continuously updated as technologies and requirements change

pragmatic look at both open web standards and proprietary (Adobe Flash, PDF, Microsoft Silverlight, …)

open source learning: open to contribution, encourages sharing of good practice

W3C Open Web Education Alliance Incubator

explore needs and issues aroundweb development education

organising delivery of curriculum toteachers and students

dialogue between industry and education

what does education need from industry?placements, internships, guest lectures…

deliverable: white paper outlining industry body (W3C or other) to further adoption of web

standards in education

involvementfrom Adobe, IWA, Microsoft, Opera, W3C …

bigger vendor-neutral voice for outreach

future challenges?

world wide webtranslation and localisation of resources

colleges and universities…but even earlier?

young designers and developers

call to arms action

studywww.opera.com/wsc

teachinteract.webstandards.org

organisewww.w3.org/2005/Incubator/owea

www.opera.com/developerpatrick.lauke@opera.com