Education Task Force
Mission Statement
The WaSP Education Task Force was created in 2005 to work directly with educational institutions to help raise awareness of Web standards and accessibility among instructors, administrators, and Web development teams.
Objectives
- Encourage instruction of Web standards and accessibility best practices in all Web design, interactive media, informational and computer science programs in order to prepare students for Web-related careers.
- Promote the creation of standards-compliant, accessible public Web sites and instructional tools. Understanding that legacy sites and tools exist, our goal is to help institutions aim for policies which, at a minimum, require that all new sites and instructional tools use valid, semantic markup and follow WAI Accessibility Guidelines.
- Liaise with educational institutions and related communities to promote and address the implementation of Web standards and accessibility best practices through discussion, Web standards users groups, and presentations as well as attendance and participation in industry events.
Discussion
The Education Task Force hosts a mailing list and has set up an IRC channel to encourage discussion among developers and educators working to promote Web standards in higher education.
Resources
We offer an expanding list of resources which includes a library of learning objects, archived presentations, white papers, and other resources helpful to those working with Web standards and education.
Interviews
Periodically, the Education Task force conducts interviews with those in higher education who are using Web standards, either in their curricula or in their projects. These interviews help provide information about the challenges faced and how changes are made.
Events
Find out about upcoming events such as: conferences, workshops, and webcasts. See reports from task members and others attending these events.
Examples
How institutions of higher ed are incorporating Web standards into their curricula or public sites.
We have more ideas, and would like to hear yours! Contact the WaSP Education Task Force.
The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.
Recent Task Force Buzz
Announcing the WaSP Curriculum Framework
By Steph Troeth | July 31st, 2008
Since March 2008, the WaSP Education Task Force has begun working on the WaSP Curriculum Framework, a collection of tools aiming to identify skill sets and competencies that aspiring Web professionals need to acquire to prepare them for their chosen careers, as well as resources that will help both educators and students.
In parallel to the wonderful work that Chris Mills and team are doing on the Opera Web Standards Curriculum, the Education Task Force has begun efforts since March this year on a complementary project: the WaSP Curriculum Framework. Our framework aims to identify the skill sets and competencies that aspiring Web professionals need to acquire to prepare them for their chosen careers.
In order to help educational institutions to identify and include material for these competencies, we are creating a set of foundation courses that can be readily adapted into an existing program at a college, school or university.
The framework will include a collection of tools:
- Course overviews
- Recommended course dependencies indicating what students will need to know before beginning each course
- Learning competencies describing what students must master in order to receive a passing grade
- Ideas for assignments and test questions that allow educators to measure a student’s mastery of each competency
- Recommended textbooks and readings, including articles from the Opera Web Standards Curriculum and other reputable sources
- A list of helpful resources, tools, and utilities specific to each course that will help both educators and students
Why is it called a framework? Given the velocity at which Web technology unravels, we recognize that required skill sets can change rapidly, and that the best way to keep this material useful is for the education community to enrich it with their expertise and experiences. In this way, the WaSP Curriculum Framework will be a “living curriculum” that we hope would be a knowledge base of required skills.
The framework will include guidelines to help educators around the world develop assignments and learning modules that address issues specific to their classrooms. These independently developed teaching materials can then be submitted back to the WaSP Curriculum Framework for review and potential inclusion in the project.
We are also actively working on connecting with other organizations and institutions to create as comprehensive a curriculum framework as possible.
We encourage everyone to get involved by contributing content to the framework upon its initial release in March 2009. In the meantime, join the WaSP Edu Facebook group to share your insights and participate in the discussion. Of course, there is always the WaSP EduTF public discussion list if Facebook isn’t your thing.
More Buzz articles
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Curriculum Survey Results | July 28th, 2008 |
| EduTF Report Highlights Curriculum Project | May 16th, 2008 |
| Education Task Force Curriculum Survey | June 13th, 2007 |
| Advocacy in Education | September 26th, 2006 |