Course
Outline

Description

Learn how to weave a range of online technologies into engaging interactive experiences. In this course, students will learn the basics of web technologies that are fundamental to building an online presence for any design project. Students will learn how to identify the current technologies underlying social media interfaces, mobile web applications that rely on browsers and apps. You will also gain an understanding of the fundamentals of markup languages (HTML, XML) as well as formatting (CSS) and client-side programming (JS). These basic skills will be contextualized within a basic overview of interface design. With the knowledge built in this course students will begin to understand how to create responsive web-based projects that adapt to different devices and develop strategies for creating screen-based interfaces. (OCAD U Course Catalog 2023)

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply the appropriate web technologies to effectively produce a design.
• Adhere to the latest standards in web formatting and programming.
• Learn how to research, determine and integrate various web-services.
• Produce a meaningful web-based experience that utilizes interactivity as the core concept.

Supplies

Make sure you bring your laptop to every class. It must have the following programs:

• VS Code (or equivalent text-editing program)
• Chrome (or another developer oriented browser)
• Github Desktop
• Figma

Student Preparation / Workload Expectations

Please allocate a minimum of 10 hours per week in order to complete this course. This includes scheduled class time and time outside of class to learn new skills and complete assignments. My recommendation is to stay on top by following tutorials on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that way you can focus on design and execution.

Teaching & Learning Methods

Studio work, seminars and lectures provide the foundation of this course. Students are expected to work on short workshop assignments and a larger, multi-week assignment.

Whenever possible, students are expected to attend a class having read/watched/listened to all of the assigned texts. With assigned texts, all responses must be uploaded before class on the due date. Be prepared to talk about them on that day.

This course will be a balance of coding, form, concept and theory. Individual, small-group and class-wide critiques will take place on a weekly basis. Students are expected to provide input and support on their peers work.

Class Schedule

View Schedule

Late Work

Deadlines are in place to help you move along the course and it can be easy to fall behind if you are not mindful of your time. If you do need an extension, please reach out in advance of deadlines so we can figure out a path forward together.

Grading Breakdown

Numerical grades may be translated into letter grades based upon the following scale:

Exceptional

90–100% A+
Demonstrated an exceptional degree of creative and/or logical thinking, a superior ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques, and exceptional skill in their application in satisfying the requirements of the course.

Excellent

80–84% = A−
85–89% = A
Demonstrated a high degree of creative and/or logical thinking, a superior ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, thorough knowledge of concepts and/or techniques, and a very high degree of skill in their application in satisfying the requirements of a course.

Good

70–73% = B−
74–76% = B
77–79% = B+
Demonstrated a good evidence of creative and/or logical thinking, a good ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, knowledge of concepts and/or techniques, and considerable skill in their application in satisfying the requirements of a course.

Satisfactory

60–63% = C−
64–66% = C
67–69% = C+
Demonstrated a satisfactory level of creative and/or logical thinking, a generally adequate grasp of the subject matter, knowledge of concepts and/or techniques and competence in their application in satisfying the requirements of a course.

Poor

50–53% = D−
54–56% = D
57–59% = D+
Demonstrated barely adequate knowledge and ability in creative and/or logical thinking and the application of concepts and/or techniques in satisfying the requirements of a course.Unsatisfactory 0-49% F Failed to meet minimum acceptable command of knowledge and ability in creative and/or logical thinking and the application of concepts and/or techniques in satisfying the requirements of a course; or failure to complete a course; or by sanction as permitted by the university’s academic misconduct policy.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a shared responsibility. All members of the OCAD University community are required to abide by the academic misconduct policy, breaches of which are considered a very serious offense. The University is committed to enforcing the policy and all allegations of academic misconduct will therefore be reported and investigated.The most common type of academic misconduct is plagiarism, that is, deliberately misrepresenting someone else’s words, ideas or original visual concepts as your own in written or visual work. Other examples of academic misconduct include misuse of written or visual sources (“unintentional plagiarism”), cheating during an examination or test, collaborating on assignments without permission, and submitting any work for evaluation that has previously been submitted in another course without prior approval. Read the Academic Misconduct policy to ensure you are well informed.

University Policies

As a student, you are responsible for being familiar with the academic policies, procedures and guidelines. University policies and procedures are subject to change and are not tied to a specific academic year, unless otherwise noted.

Please see the Policies & Resources page.

Production Materials Fees and Laptop Fees

In applicable courses, production materials fees cover the costs of materials consumed and/or incorporated in the making of student work in the shops and studios. Production materials fees are automatically added to your online fees account at the time of course registration, and are due in full by the first tuition payment deadline in August. Production materials fees are non-refundable after the last day to change courses with a 100% refund, as outlined in the Calendar.

Disclaimer Statement

This course outline may be amended as the course proceeds. The class will be notified and consulted about all changes. In keeping with the Grading Policy, once the course outline has been presented, no change in grade weighting may take place unless there is unanimous consent of all students present. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, notice must be given at a regularly scheduled class meeting previous to the class at which the issue is to be decided.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following people for providing resources and inspiration for this course syllabus:

• Ali S. Qadeer - Course lead outlining and providing the original course syllabus and content.
• Garry Ing - Previous instructor of this course who has made the course content accessible via GitHub.
• Aidan Quinlan- His published course Handmade Web inspired the structure for the exercises. In addition, seeing their site inspired me to do the same.
• Talia Cotton - Her Procrastination Station prompted me to do something similar where students can doodle on the site.