Interesting class today?!

So what did you think? Did today's class shake anyone up?! Do you think non-linear teaching techniques are effective. From my vantage point I think there were benefits to implementing this system: first, it was a great tool to use as a pre-test (now, I have a better understanding where people are at, what they know, how you work together, your willingness to trouble shoot and figure things out, etc.), I also think it was effective because it pushed you to analyze what you know and to try and figure out something that's a little complicated under a time constraint. However, the obvious draw backs to this type of instructional procedure is the chaos, confusion, and possible learning outliers (those who get it quick and don't feel empowered, and those who don't get it - due to lack of exposure, effort, etc.) I do feel coaching is a good approach if students are self-motivated and have some background.

In light of our experience today I think there were several of you who did grow and seemed to learn something, however, I don't know if that happened at an exponential rate for everyone (which really should be the goal.)

In an effort to better instruct you (now having taken you through the mud) we (the TAs and I) will re-visit website design and work on helping you acquire the skills to be able to build your own website. Everyone will need to download a freeware "Dreamweaver like" application titled: NVU (N-View). Here's the link. We will use this app. in an effort to help you learn and understand basic HTML and website layout. While we will use this app to help you gain a better understanding of HTML and website layout, I don't necessarily want you to use this app for your portfolio site, I would rather you use an app you foresee using in the future or feel has more affordances than others.