Web Design Fun

I have the privilege of teaching Digital Media Technology (DMT) once a week to a group of grade 8 and 9 learners.

This is a subject, where there is no marks, or rigid program to follow, but I can decide what to complete with the learners. I generally discuss with the class at the beginning of the year what they are interested in, and put a program together that will be different for each class that I teach. 

One of my classes, is very strong academically, and really enjoy engaging with code and playing around two see what they can create. I spent a couple of weeks with them learning some basics using Codecademy. (https://www.codecademy.com) We then started working in blank notepad files.

This week we looked at adding audio tags to have music playing in the background (Such fun!) and customising the background. Instead of just using a background colour, we can use an image. It is a lot more fun, but presents problems they need to solve:

1. Image tiles across the screen - how to get it to stretch / resize the image
2. Cant read the text - either changing the colour of the text / lightening the colour of the image

I dont show them how to do this - they have to use the internet / each other to solve these problems, and I walk around and support where necessary / when frustration takes over.

The learners all agree that CSS really makes your web page rock - and never just want to use html. Next week we will be playing around with some Javascript code.

Web Design Project

The grade 11's have been busy learning about cyber crime. To make the lesson a bit different, I combined the theory section of the work with the practical section on Web Design (HTML / CSS / Javascript).

The learners were required to search and report on different topics that fall under the heading cyber crime. They had to create a functional website that consisted of a couple of webpages that are joined together.

I'm pretty impressed with the creativity and enthusiasm shown by the learners.
Here is a brief look at what has been created by one of my learners.

Motherboard Project

My Grade 10's have been busy learning about the Motherboard.
To make the learning a bit more fun, (and instead of them just writing down notes ), I created a project that would ultimately result in a motherboard cake being created. I walked around during the lesson, and the learners had to be prepared to answer any question I could ask them about the motherboard, such as:
What is a motherboard
Name and identify some of the components on the motherboard.

Some photos of what was produced.

ced.

Hi,

My name is Ché and this is my first blog post.
I'm not big on writing, but have been encouraged to keep a digital portfolio of what my students are doing and all the new technologies that I am using.

So just thought I would start out by introducing myself:

I am a CAT ( Computer Applications Technology) Teacher at Wynberg Girls' High School, in Cape Town, South Africa. A part of my job is as a Technology Integrator (Encouraging, Inspiring and enabling staff to interact with technology in the classroom in a way that will enhance the learning process)

I am a Certified Google Educator (Level 1 and 2) and am currently pursuing the Certified Trainer Qualification (as time allows). I have just been signed up to be a GEG leader for my suburb (Cape Town:Central).