Trends and innovations in web development course

Trends and Innovations in Web Development Course

Dr. Shikha MehtaCSE, JIIT Sec 62, Noida

Computer ScienceCurricula 2013

Curriculum Guidelines forUndergraduate Degree Programs

in Computer ScienceDecember 20, 2013

The Joint Task Force on Computing CurriculaAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)

IEEE Computer Society

PBD/Web Platforms• Topics:• • Web programming languages (e.g., HTML5, Java Script, PHP, CSS)• • Web platform constraints• • Software as a Service (SaaS)• • Web standards• Learning Outcomes:• 1. Design and Implement a simple web application. [Usage]• 2. Describe the constraints that the web puts on developers. [Familiarity]• 3. Compare and contrast web programming with general purpose programming.

[Assessment]• 4. Describe the differences between Software-as-a-Service and traditional software

products. [Familiarity]• 5. Discuss how web standards impact software development. [Familiarity]• 6. Review an existing web application against a current web standard. [Assessment]

The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum

• This study reports on the effort to define a philosophy for an applied web programming curriculum for an associate's degree in a computer and information technology

• Universities developing web programming courses and curriculums, often struggle with how to define such programs.

• Questions arise as to how web programming relates to traditional programming paradigms.

• Can it or should it be integrated into traditional programming coursework?

• A good philosophy for a web programming curriculum will need to bridge a foundations approach with an applied approach.

J. E. Courte, The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum, Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (ITCC’04)

Curriculum Design

The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum cont..

OUTCOMES:

Program must encompass the following elements to at least an introductory level. • Foundation elements in computer programming and problem solving• Basics of web page development directly using HTML/XHTML, JavaScript, etc.• Use of at least one web page production package, such as Multimedia Dreamweaver• Integration of purchased or pre-existing software into a cohesive client interface, such as integration

of a shopping cart or user forum into a web page• Production and/or integration of interactive media, such as flash animations, graphics, video, or

musical elements• Server-side application development, including scripting .• • Applets • Database fundamentals• • Web page design and usability concepts • Accessibility issues and alternatives• • Business knowledge in electronic commerce• and information management• • Information architecture and Web project • Web server administration and security

fundamentals management• • Awareness of standards, such as those • Cross-platform issues and moderated by W3C

alternatives• • Life cycle development processes from requirements gathering to design to implementation to

testing to releaseJ. E. Courte, The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum, Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (ITCC’04)

Curriculum Design

The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum cont..

• Set of courses to be added to a standard programming core curriculum that satisfy concentration requirements for an associate's degree in web programming. – Database Design and Development– Business and the Internet– Web client programming– Web server programming– Network administration and security– Web project management and advanced topics– Web site practicum

J. E. Courte, The Development of a Philosophy for an Applied Web Programming Curriculum, Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (ITCC’04)

Curriculum Design

A Holistic and Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Web Accessibility in an Undergraduate Web Design Course

• Web accessibility is a fundamental instrument to support the shift towards an inclusive cyberspace and a socially responsible society, and higher education plays an essential role in this effort .

• The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) defines Web accessibility as the ability for people with disabilities to use the Web.

• More specifically, “Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web”

• This study paper fills the gap of lacking literature by reporting an undergraduate Web design course that adopts a holistic and pragmatic approach to teaching Web accessibility and presenting the specific accessibility topics and techniques that are appropriate for the course scope and its assessment strategies.

• Instructional approach presented in the study proved beneficial to instructors facing similar demands and challenges in computing programs.

Y. D. Wang, A Holistic and Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Web Accessibility in an Undergraduate Web Design Course , SIGITE’12’

Curriculum Design


Course Contents:

Lecture 1: Introduction to Web Design and Multimedia

• Function and purpose of the W3C and the WAI • Importance of Web accessibility and valid

XHTML • Social responsibilities of various Web design

roles • Adobe Dreamweaver Accessibility: e.g.,

Accessibility Preferences options

Lecture 2: Web Development Process I: Information Design

• Conduct user needs assessment • Create liquid design with relative width • Home/underling pages: e.g., consistent

navigation • Splash page: e.g., provide link to skip or turn

off music • Accessibility guidelines for naming files and

folders Y. D. Wang, A Holistic and Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Web Accessibility in an Undergraduate Web Design Course , SIGITE’12’

Lecture 3: Web Development Process II: Interaction Design and Presentation Design

• User-based and user-controlled navigation • Types of navigational elements o Hyperlinks: e.g.,

indicate in link text when the target attribute is used for the same resource

• Image maps: e.g., provide an alt attribute for each hot spot

• Navigation menus/bars/tabs: e.g., indicate current location

• Frames: e.g., provide a title attribute for each frame

• Site map, breadcrumb trials, search function • Accessibility guidelines for navigation design • Basic Web design principles: balance and

proximity; contrast and focus; unity and visual identity

• Tools and techniques for creating visual consistency

Curriculum Design


Lecture 4: Writing for Multimedia Web and Typography

• Web writing – Accuracy and currency – Scannability: e.g., use ol, ul and dl tags for lists

or groups of links; use em and strong tags instead of b and i tags for boldface and italics for highlighting purposes

– Organization: e.g., provide a descriptive top-level page heading; provide a page title using the title tag

• Typography – Fontface: e.g., present text in sans serif font – Font size: e.g., use relative-length units – Text block: e.g., avoid fully justified text; avoid

chunks of italic or uppercase text – Accessibility issues with converting text to

graphical typography • Use CSS for typography: e.g., leading, tracking,

kerning

Lecture 5: Color and Graphics • Accessibility guidelines for use of color and contrast o e.g., use complementary colors to create contrast • Web-safe colors and their hexadecimal values • Accessibility guidelines for scanning • Web-usable graphic types and optimization • Accessibility guidelines and techniques for graphics o e.g., use alt attributes on img tags; when to use null alt attributes o e.g., avoid the use of text in raster images o Accessible ways to add background image, side bar, and favicon


Curriculum Design


Lecture 7: Audio and Video • Accessibility guidelines for audio and video o e.g., apply audio descriptions or alternatives to video • Accessibility techniques for embedding audio and video into a Web page Lecture 8: Web Accessibility • Barriers and assistive technologies Initiatives and regulations o WAI and WCAG 2.0

– Section 508 and other US laws on Web accessibility • Types of disabilities and Adaptations in Web design

– Visual: e.g., blindness, low vision, color blindness Adaptations in Web design • Adobe Photoshop Accessibility: e.g., Soft Proof features

– Auditory: e.g., deaf, hard-of-hearing captioning tools – Physical: e.g., paralysis, poor motor skills Adaptations in Web design – Cognitive: e.g., learning disabilities, dyslexia Readability tests of Web content – Neurological: e.g., seizures Adaptations in Web design

• More accessibility techniques • Skip links • PDF files • Tables: e.g., use the caption tag and summary attribute to describe the table; use the scope attribute to

associate header cells and data cells • Access keys and tab index • Use CSS to hide text

• • Accessibility statement

• Y. D. Wang, A Holistic and Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Web Accessibility in an Undergraduate Web Design Course , SIGITE’12’

Curriculum Design


Lecture 9: Copyright & Fair Use • Creative Commons licenses and accessibility Lecture 10: Designing Static and Dynamic Web Sites • Provide client-side validation and alert Lecture 11: Testing, Publishing, Marketing & Maintaining a Web

Site • Examine a sample website consisting of bad accessibility

practices • Use Adobe Dreamweaver validation reports • Use W3C markup validation service • Target Audience Testing


Curriculum Design

Uncovering “Threshold Concepts” in Web Development: An Instructor Perspective

• Study focussed to uncover the existence of “threshold concepts” within Web development course which could offer a more promising avenue– to explore in curriculum design and the teaching of Web

development• Threshold concepts are the fundamental concepts which, once

mastered, allow a learner to progress to a deeper understanding of a subject.

• The study was guided by the following research questions:– RQ1: According to university instructors in the UK, what aspects of

Web development do students find challenging to understand?– RQ2: Do the challenging aspects of Web development highlighted in

RQ1 demonstrate the characteristics of “threshold concepts”?P. Alston, D. Walsh, and G. Westhead. 2015. Uncovering “threshold concepts” inWeb development: An instructor perspective. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 2 (March 2015),

Curriculum Design


Methodology • An online questionnaire was sent out to 24

instructors within UK higher education institutions who teach Web development subjects.

• Nine participants responded to the questionnaire and interviews were conducted with five to discuss and expand on the responses providedP. Alston, D. Walsh, and G. Westhead. 2015. Uncovering “threshold concepts” inWeb

development: An instructor perspective. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 2 (March 2015),

Curriculum Design


RQ1: According to university instructors in the UK, what aspects of Web development do students find challenging to understand?

Outcomes of the StudyFour areas within Web development that instructors perceive as being difficult for

students to grasp: • interface and content design, • anatomy of a Web page,

– the separation of content (HTML), presentation (CSS), and behaviour (JavaScript)• Web programming,

– instructors identified a large number of code-based difficulties for students, with issues raised around PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript.

– These problems were symptomatic of issues around basic coding syntax, programming logic, and understanding the impact of interrelated disciplines

• managing the workflow.According to this study these challenging aspects identified by the instructors can be

considered “core concepts,”P. Alston, D. Walsh, and G. Westhead. 2015. Uncovering “threshold concepts” inWeb development: An instructor perspective. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 2 (March 2015),

Curriculum Design


• RQ2: Do the challenging aspects of Web development highlighted in RQ1 demonstrate the characteristics of “threshold concepts”?

• While most of the challenging aspects identified by the instructors can be considered “core concepts,”

• The participants made reference to two problematic areas that appear to be challenging for students

• Basic programming principles; and– A clearer understanding of syntax, algorithms, and programming logic was

needed for students to be able to write code “from scratch,” or to make use of the many additional libraries and extensions frequently used in Web development to customize or extend aspects of their code.

• Decomposition and abstraction– the relationship between HTML and CSS, or more formally, the separation of

content and presentationP. Alston, D. Walsh, and G. Westhead. 2015. Uncovering “threshold concepts” inWeb development: An instructor perspective. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 2 (March 2015),

Curriculum Design


• The literature identifies two motives for considering threshold concepts as the starting point for instructors:

– instructors can be more strategic in their time and energy devoted to course design and structure, and

– ensure that students are exposed to the concepts at multiple points in their program of study.

Thus designing a curriculum based on threshold concepts and less on the latest methods, tools, and techniques can go a long way in helping students to become experts in their chosen discipline.P. Alston, D. Walsh, and G. Westhead. 2015. Uncovering “threshold concepts” inWeb

development: An instructor perspective. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 2 (March 2015),

Curriculum Design

Work in Progress - Evaluation and Feedback for Web Programming Curriculum

• Leading any curriculum development is always difficult and challenging.

• Too often, improvements to courses come not through industry experts, but instead through what faculty feel is the best approach, which may or may not be correct.

• This study focused at evaluation of curriculum contents, down to project assignments and tools used, and the implementation of new content and objectives.

R. J. Glotzbach, L. A. Kocur, Work in Progress - Evaluation and Feedback for Web Programming Curriculum , 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2011

Curriculum Design

Work in Progress - Evaluation and Feedback for Web Programming Curriculum cont..

Methodology• Survey: In addition to gathering some demographic information

such as job title and location, the 72 questions in the survey ranged from – "How frequently do you or others in your company/organization

commonly use the following web technologies/languages?" to – "How important is teaching Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so that

students understand how to obtain better page listings?" to– "With the purpose of HTML5 being to reduce the amount of reliance on

RIAs and browser plug-ins like Flash, how important do you see Flash development being in the future?"

• Evaluation using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from Extremely Important to Not at all Important with an 8th option for Unsure or Unable to Answer


Curriculum Design

Work in Progress - Evaluation and Feedback for Web Programming Curriculum cont..

• The survey was designed to guide the person taking it through a series of five courses, asking questions about best practices and course objectives throughout.

The courses evaluated were– Internet Foundations, Technologies and Development,– Human Computer Interface Theory and Design,– Web Programming, Development, and Data Integration, – Principles of Interactive and Dynamic Media, and– Advanced Web Programming, Development, and Data

Integration. R. J. Glotzbach, L. A. Kocur, Work in Progress - Evaluation and Feedback for Web Programming Curriculum , 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2011

Curriculum Design


Results• Browsers: Firefox and Internet Explorer being the top two

and Chrome, Safari, and Opera coming in behind them. • IDEs used: Dreamweaver being the most frequently

chosen, followed by Visual Studio, Flash, then Eclipse, with a couple others trailing behind.

• The technologies and languages : JavaScript being the most frequently chosen, followed closely by PHP, jQuery, and Ajax, with ASP.NET C# and Flash coming in not far behind those. Several other technologies and languages were selected, but not nearly as frequently as those mentioned above.


Curriculum Design


• Some important observations• “Currently, this class has students validate each page in order to prove that they have written

the code correctly. How important is it that these beginning web students validate each page/website against a strict DTD?”

• The preliminary results came back with 52% of the participants choosing a 1 or 2 out of 7 (extremely important or very important) and 88% of the participants choosing 1, 2, or 3 out of 7 (extremely important to somewhat important).

• “How important is it for a graduating student seeking a web programming job with your company to have experience using/interfacing with an API (perhaps something like Facebook API or Twitter API, but could be another API)?”

• The preliminary results came back as 51% saying it was either extremely important or very important (a 1 or 2 out of 7) and 86% saying it was a 1, 2, or 3 out of 7 (extremely important to somewhat important).

• “Given that Firefox, IE8, Safari, and Chrome (Opera is lagging behind) currently have some implementation of HTML5 (implementations vary by browser though), How long do you think it will be before your company/organization is creating HTML5 compliant web pages/applications?”

• The preliminary results have 25% already doing it, 15% implementing within 6 months, 26% within 6 months to 1 year, 25% within 1 to 2 years, and 10% more than 2 years out.

Curriculum Design

A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course

• To improve student web programming design ability, this study presented novel ideas of teaching reform on web programming course revolving around– student subject, especially stimulating student’s

study interest and confidence, enhancing the team learning ability.

– Through practical teaching, it has been observed that student plays very important role in teaching

Z. Qunyi, A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course, IEEE International Conference on Scalable Computing and Communications; The Eighth IEEE International Conference on Embedded Computing, 616-618, 2009

Teaching Methodology

A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course

• During practical teaching on web programmingcourse, it was observed that at least four kinds of problems haven’t been resolved well.– Some Students Are Lack of Interests on Web Programming– Some Students Are Lack of Confidence in Web

Programming– Many Students Are Lack of Good Documentation and

Expression Ability– Almost all of Students Are Lack of Good Team Learning

AbilityZ. Qunyi, A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course, IEEE International Conference on Scalable Computing and Communications; The Eighth IEEE International Conference on Embedded Computing, 616-618, 2009


A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course cont..

• TEACHING REFORM METHODS /Solutions

• Make Students Touch in Web Programming Course Early– we adjust the web programming course semester to the third

semester followed by database design course• High-grade Students Explain the Questions of Lowgrade Students• Encourage Students to Develop Original Website Software • Enhance the Teaching Procedure Supervision• Build Development Team Combined with High-gradeStudents and Low-grade Students

Z. Qunyi, A Novel Practical Teaching Reform on Web Programming Design Course, IEEE International Conference on Scalable Computing and Communications; The Eighth IEEE International Conference on Embedded Computing, 616-618, 2009


Investigating Essential Factors on Students’ PerceivedAccomplishment and Enjoyment and Intention to Learn

in Web Development

Research Question: What are the essential factors that can influence students’ perceived accomplishment and enjoyment and their intention to learn in the web development course?

• This study investigated both student-related and instructor-related factors.

Methodology• A research model was developed.• To empirically test the model and the hypotheses, the survey

method was used.

Y. Zhang and Y. Dang. 2015. Investigating essential factors on students’ perceived accomplishment and enjoyment and intention to learn in web development. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 3 (March 2015),


Investigating Essential Factors on Students’ Perceived Accomplishment and Enjoyment and Intention to Learn in

Web Development

• Student-related factors: perceived development efficacy and motivation of the student itself

• Hypothesis:• H1a:

– Students’ perceived web development efficacy will positively influence their perceived accomplishment in learning web development.

• H1b: – Students’ perceived web development efficacy will positively influence their perceived

enjoyment in learning web development• H2a:

– Students’ motivation will positively influence their perceived accomplishment in learning web development.

• H2b: – Students’ motivation will positively influence their perceived enjoyment in learning web

development




in Web Development

• In web development education, instructor characteristics also are expected to influence students’ perception on their accomplishment and enjoyment in learning. So,

• Hypothesis• H3a:

– Instructor characteristics will positively influence students’ perceived accomplishment in learning web development.

• H3b: – Instructor characteristics will positively influence students’ perceived enjoyment in

learning web development.• H4a:

– Teaching method will positively influence students’ perceived accomplishment in learning web development.

• H4b: – Teaching method will positively influence students’ perceived enjoyment in learning web

development.Y. Zhang and Y. Dang. 2015. Investigating essential factors on students’ perceived accomplishment and enjoyment and intention to learn in web development. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 15, 1, Article 3 (March 2015),



in Web Development• RESEARCH METHOD• Subjects were students enrolled in a junior/senior-level web development class at a major

public university located in the southwest United States. • The class was to teach students web development techniques using ASP.NET, C#, HTML, and

CSS.• The class was designed as half lectures and half labs.• Each week, the instructor met the students twice, one time in a regular classroom to teach

concepts and techniques in the format of lectures and the other time in a computer lab where students worked on hands-on exercises to practice the techniques they learned in that week.

• In addition to exams and weekly quizzes, students were also required to work on weekly individual lab assignments and form teams to complete a comprehensive, semester-long project.

• Thirty-seven students enrolled in the class. , 36 students participated in and completed the survey.

• Extra credit was provided as an incentive for students’ voluntary participation. • Each of them completed the survey with a set of in the 7-point Likert scale, with 1 being

strongly disagree and 7 being strongly agree.




in Web DevelopmentResults



in Web Development• Recommendations• Because of the difficult-to-learn nature of web development and a wide range of

techniques to be covered in the class, it is common to observe frustration among students in web development classes.

• Therefore, to help them keep a high level of learning intention, educators of web development should put more effort into checking and making sure that students enjoy the learning process and have a sense of accomplishment in learning.

• Based on the research findings of this study, to do this, educators need to encourage students to keep a high level of motivation and try to find ways to help students build a sense of self-efficacy gradually in web development.

• To motivate students, educators can keep emphasizing the importance of mastering web development skills and the long-term benefits it can bring to their careers.

• To help build their self-efficacy, educators can provide step-by-step practices to students and give them constructive feedback and comments on their gradual improvement over the semester.




in Web Development

• In addition, instructors also need to maintain certain characteristics, such as being enthusiastic, friendly, and active, and utilize effective teaching methods.

• Students won’t like the subject to learn (especially for difficult-to-learn subjects) unless they find that their instructors like it and are approachable when they need help.

• Effective teaching methods (such as providing hands-on exercises) also play an important role in influencing student learning of web development since they can better help students grasp and digest difficult concepts and techniques.



When Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect: Effects of Task Goals on Learning Computing Concepts

• This study explores the learning effects of different instructional strategies in the context of an introductory computing course

• Three instructional strategies were identified that potentially

support student understanding and lead to better performance on the path specification problems.– Practice Tasks. Students specify paths based on examples.– Conceptual Questions. Students answer conceptual questions based

on examples.• Conceptual questions are based on common errors that were identified in

the preparatory analysis.

– Self Study. Students are asked to study the examples with no other direction for preparing for the (scored) path questions

Miller, C. S. and Settle, A. 2011. When practice doesn’t make perfect: Effects of task goals on learning computing concepts. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 11, 4, Article 22 (November 2011),



• Methodology• Study participants were students enrolled in the Web development course (IT 130) at

DePaul University.• The exercise was completed by all students attending class. However, student

reponses were only analyzed for the study if they indicated agreement by checking one of two boxes at the beginning of the exercise.

• Of the 52 students from the Web development course, 44 agreed to have their answers analyzed for this study.

Materials• Three versions of the exercises were created to correspond to the three different

instructional strategies. • All versions presented the same HTML file structure, examples, and path problems.

Each version differed by the preparation presented before students were asked to complete the common path problems.

• All preparations referred to the previously presented examples.




• Results indicate that the self study of examples prepares students better than practice tasks for learning to specify HTML file references.

• These results are consistent with many other studies that reported superior learning for worked examples when compared to problem-solving tasks.

• The leading explanation for these results is cognitive load theory. • This theory asserts that problem-solving and other task-oriented

activity impede learning since this activity consumes cognitive resources that would otherwise be applied towards acquiring transferable, pedagogically relevant knowledge and skill.




• Problem-solving may be valuable for more advanced students. For example, Miller et al. [1999] found that strong students were less affected by the instructional condition.– There are several possible reasons. – First, stronger students may possess good study habits such as self-explanation

and reflecting on the example. – Second, strong students may have enough problem-solving practice so that

constructing a solution does not incur the cognitive load that detracts from the pedagogically targeted concepts.

• Finally, problem-solving activity can provide a sense of accomplishment and play a critical role for motivating students.

• For inadequately prepared students, problem-solving has the potential to frustrate students and dissuade them from further study.

• Findings nevertheless call for a more judicious use of practice tasks and problem-solving activities, particularly at the earlier stages of learning computing concepts. In their place, an instructor should consider replacing task-oriented activities with more examples, both with guided explanation and as part of self study.



A Skit-Based Approach to Teach Web Protocols

• Teaching web protocols is a challenging task. • Students find it difficult to visualize the

concepts and teachers find it difficult to explain protocols in a classroom environment.

• This study presents an innovative approach to teaching this topic using skits.

• Students enact skits, which illustrate the concept of web protocol very well.

Suthikshn Kumar, A Skit-Based Approach to Teach Web Protocols, acm Inroads, vol 2(4), 2011



• The following is a simple skit for enacting a HTTP protocol.• Four students take the roles of Sutradhar (narrator), client, server, messenger• Sutradhar speaks briefly and introduces the Client, Server,

Messenger• Client makes an HTTP request• Messenger takes it delivers it to server• The server sends the response through the• messenger• Messenger delivers it to the client.• The funny situations can be introduced such as a hacker trying to push the messenger, or a proxy who will redirect the messenger, or the response of the server which contains a joke

Suthikshn Kumar, A Skit-Based Approach to Teach Web Protocols, acm Inroads, vol 2(4), 2011



• The following is a simple skit for enacting web cookies.

• Four students take the roles Sutradhar (narrator), client, server and messenger

• Sutradhar introduces server, client, and messenger• Client sends an HTTP request• Messenger takes it and delivers to server• Server executes the CGI and creates a cookie• Messenger takes it and delivers to client • Client stores the cookie; he again makes a request

with cookie• Messenger delivers to server• Server again executes CGI and checks the cookie• Server does something funny to delight the old client

who has revisited him againSuthikshn Kumar, A Skit-Based Approach to Teach Web Protocols, acm Inroads, vol 2(4), 2011


What is the right age to start learning programming?

Equipping Upper Elementary Students with Web Skills to Advocate Programming Literacy

• The purpose of this study is to measure the ability of fourth, fifth and sixth grade elementary students to learn and apply concepts and skills related to web programming.

• A heterogeneous group of students between the ages of nine and eleven was chosen from three different schools in Lebanon.

• Students were given a crash course over the period of eight weeks where they learned three different programming technologies: HTML, SQL, and JavaScript to produce web applications.

• Training took place in a computer lab at Global University, a private university in Beirut.

A. HAMMOUD, N. ADADA, H. ABOU HARASH, Equipping Upper Elementary Students with Web & Mobile Skills to Advocate Programming Literacy, 2013 Fourth International Conference on e-Learning "Best Practices in Management, Design and Development of e-Courses: Standards of Excellence and Creativity


• At the end of the program, all participants were tested to assess their ability to apply the concepts they learned by producing web applications.

• Based on the findings of this study, the researchers believe that programming languages can be grouped under two categories:

• Static languages, such as HTML• Dynamic languages, such as JavaScript• A static language allows the student to easily link what he/she designed to its

direct output. This is to say that there is usually a one-to-one correspondence between the design and the output. For example, writing the following HTML statement inside a notepad file: <b>I love HTML</b> will result in a bold statement in the browser. The student can easily understand why.

• On the other hand, a “dynamic” language such as JavaScript requires the student to use his/her imagination to understand why three lines of code result in 100 lines of output

A. HAMMOUD, N. ADADA, H. ABOU HARASH, Equipping Upper Elementary Students with Web & Mobile Skills to Advocate Programming Literacy, 2013 Fourth International Conference on e-Learning "Best Practices in Management, Design and Development of e-Courses: Standards of Excellence and Creativity

• Results– Sixth graders were very successful in developing web

applications using “dynamic” languages such as JavaScript; – Fifth graders were partially successful in comprehending and

applying languages that are of “dynamic” nature. – Fourth graders were able to comprehend and apply any

command that represented a “static” language (like HTML) as well as successfully relate the design to its direct output.

• Recommendations included introducing programming using HTML, SQL, and a combination of HTML, SQL and JavaScript literacy to Fourth, Fifth and Sixth graders respectively.


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Trends and innovations in web development course

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