Web programming related courses at Honolulu Community College

Hi,

Based on some discussions that Dan and I have had, I am posting (with a few edits) some of the plans we have at Honolulu Community College (HCC) for developing a Web Programming certificate.

Yes, those are a lot of topics (edit - this was in response to Dan asking if the amount of subjects, PHP, Rails, Flex and GWT were going to be overwhelming for the students).  The course lasts 16 weeks (actually 30 class meetings of which 3 are going to be used for exams).  I agree that you could easily have a whole semester for GWT or even a whole semester for Ruby on Rails.  This is why I want to add a second Web Programming course (as there is just not enough time to cover what I want).  I also have to see about getting some non-credit courses offered through PCATT that could add on to what we do.

The ICS department at HCC wants to eventually create a web programming certificate that we would give to students that complete 4 courses.  Our current idea (since this is still in the planning stages) is to have the four courses be designed something like this:

1) Web basics, HTML with CSS.  An existing course would have to be updated for HTML5 and CSS3.  That course would also teach how to use the search operators on Google's search engine to search more efficiently and also discuss how to get help online.

2) Databases - Currently this course teaches basic relational database management.  It covers the SQL language starting with Access (to help visualize the relationships) and moves on to PostgreSQL (with pgadmin3 for a gui tool).  We may include a brief demo of Rails (this semester).

3) Web Programming 1 (the course I am teaching this semester) - Would start with PHP (maybe first 1/3 of course).  Move to Rails and show how basic Rails apps work.  Show how Flex and GWT can be used as front-ends for either PHP or Rails.  Since I feel a greater push towards GWT (and away from Flex), I would also include things such as creating simple libraries (jars).  I also will demonstrate some of the more visually appealing aspects of GWT such as the visualization api or google charts api.  If there is time, I would also like to expose the students to other output formats such as PDF files.

4) Web Programming 2 - This course does not exist yet, but I envision that it would certainly go more into GWT (especially since GWT is growing so rapidly).  I think it would be worthwhile to use a Java stack for the back-end.  This would give the students a look at PHP, Rails, and eventually Java back-ends.  (Edit - It occurs to me that we need to look at developing applications for the mobile market as well.)

For this semester's course, the students have already taken at least two programming courses (one in Python CENT110 and the other in Java ICS111).  Some of the students have also taken a second Java course (ICS211).  All the students have taken the Databases course (CENT280).  So, these are not complete novice students.  Nevertheless, they are in for a pretty wild ride this semester.  I will let you know how things are going as I am constantly revising this course.  In addition, I may get 1 or 2 of the students to follow up with an internship where they create some web-based tool for the campus.

We are in the process of forming some small study groups on our campus that will purposely have members that have wide ranges of computer literacy.  Some will be faculty that use computers (but don't know much beyond word processors and simple web pages).  Others will be our systems administrators.  The hope is that by having regular (weekly) discussions, we can bootstrap ourselves forward in different areas of computer technology.  The first group we are forming will start with cloud computing (probably starting with Dropbox).  But, eventually I want the group (or perhaps another group) to discuss how we create an online tool that faculty can use for different kinds of surveys (satisfaction with services, faculty evaluations, knowledge surveys,  etc.).  I have created such things before and have never been able to get enough people to use those tools.  I believe the main problem was that the tools were developed with my vision (which is not broad enough).  A small group of us realize that we cannot depend on the system (UH or the State government) to improve the education we provide for our students.  Such large entities cannot move fast enough to keep up with computer technology.  I am probably preaching to the choir when I talk to you or other TechHui members about this.  But, most people at my work place don't realize that computer technology is not just a rapidly changing technology but rather it is changing in an exponential fashion.  This accelerating rate of change has caught many individuals by surprise, so I think there is little hope that big organizations have any way of keeping up (if things are mandated from the top down).  I have a lot of respect for you and the other members of TechHui who are doing wonderful things despite not having government support.  That is why I am hoping we can continue to have discussions so that we can help each other out.

Anyway, I would be glad to hear what you folks think.  You need not limit your feedback to just web programming related issues.  For example, we believe that it is likely that in the near future our computer labs may consist of a number of docking stations (with a nice monitor and keyboard) and have the student just bring in their smart phone to plug in as their computer.  I don't know if such docking stations are available, but we would likely apply for a Perkins grant to replace some of our desktops in the lab if something suitable is around.  So, anything that you think would have a positive impact on teaching students about computer technology (with the hopes that some would work in your area(s)) would be valuable information.

Thanks,

Vern