Lessons > 1. Intro to the Course
Welcome to the course! COVID-19 edition. We’ll all be figuring this online situation out together – let’s help each other stay engaged, motivated, productive, and healthy!
The End Goal: By the end of this course, we want each of you to have designed and built website that means something to you. This could be a portfolio site, the start of a business, a community-based resource…whatever you want! To do this, you’re going to have to teach yourself the skills that you need to accomplish this goal by actively participating in the class. Active participation means (1) doing the readings, (2) watching the videos, (3) attending the lectures and tutorial sessions, and (4) doing the practice assignments. We also want you to discuss ideas / ask questions with your peers and with the course staff (Sarah, Anna, and Olivier).
Course Format
For the Monday and Wednesday class sessions, we will post, in advance (ideally), some slides, videos, coding activities, and / or readings that you will be expected to do on your own. Then, during the regularly scheduled class time, we will be discussing the concepts and ideas synchronously (i.e. live) on Zoom, doing Q&A, and doing activities. During Zoom lecture, we can go over anything you want, and I can do some live-coding activities and pause to make sure folks are getting their questions answered.
Today’s readings provide interesting background and context for the web / internet. You’re not going to be tested on them, but you should still do them in order to have a working knowledge of how the internet works. The readings shouldn’t take too long!
Review the Slides
Watch the Lecture Video(s)
- Intro to the Internet (pre-recorded)
- Intro to the Web (pre-recorded)
- Course Logistics (lecture recording)
Review / Study the Supplemental Materials
- Timothy B. Lee (2015). The Internet Explained.
- Timothy B. Lee (2014). 40 Maps That Explain the Internet.
- History of the Web. The World Wide Web Foundation