My "advanced Web Design Class!" Jokes!

[computermax2328]

Hey Everyone,

 

I have been dying to tell someone about this, but I feel that since my friends are not coders they wouldn't fully get how much my teacher aggravates me.

 

So, my minor is college is interactive digital design which is graphic and web design. This semester, my fall senior semester, I decided to take the "Advanced Web Design Class." I took the basic web design class my previous year, which was a breeze because I have been self taught in HTML and CSS for about four years and PHP and MYSQL for about a year.

 

I have this teacher who teaches "Advanced Web Design" and claims to have cooperate clients for web site development. I keep putting "Advanced Web Design" in quotes because this class is a JOKE! My so called teacher has said the following, which has had me banging my head on my keyboard during class:

 

"I don't like to code because I don't like to type."

 

"I don't like to code because I am a bad speller."

 

"Dreamweaver is better than coding." :'(

 

"I buy all of my form validation code."

 

"Spry bars are better."

 

"You shouldn't be using PHP in my class."

 

I asked her to show me some of her work and she showed me this stupid website she made about some female bulldog. I have no idea, Mrs. Something. I started to laugh and she was serious. She used like 20 JPEGS like puzzles pieces, so the site took a solid 5 minutes to load.

 

Here I was thinking I was going to get a class where I could practice PHP and javascript, but instead we are going over the basics of HTML and CSS. Today she taught us how to attach style sheets to our web pages, using Dreamweaver of course.

 

I tried to explain to her that she needs to at least teach her students the basics of coding, so they can debug their Dreamweaver code when it goes wrong. She told me to let her do her job. Then she spent the rest of the class helping everyone debug their Dreamweaver mistakes.

 

Glad I got that out!

Edited October 11, 2012 by computermax2328

[DarkerAngel]

Gee sounds like without that class you would have never learned to attach a CSS Style sheet to a document....again...

[computermax2328]

When they catch terrorists they send them to Guantanamo Bay. When they find criminal coders they send them to this class. What did I do wrong??

[kicken]

I never actually took the web development (html) class that was offered at my college but I did sit in on a couple days with a friend who was in it. From what I'd heard from my friend and observed those days, that class was a bit of a joke too. Pretty much everything was done in dreamweaver. They did at least try and teach the actual HTML codes but could have done way better.

 

Of the two days I was there, one was about how to use the <font> tag to style up your text (which they even used incorrectly). The other was all about how to use a table to create a layout. Now I gather one may want to note things like that as people may dealing with legacy code and all, but they were teaching it like it was the proper way to go about accomplishing those tasks.

 

I was able to at least straighten out my friend, teaching them better practices and filling in the gaps in their HTML knowledge but it made me feel sorry for all the other students.

[KevinM1]

On the one hand, classes like that produce people that ensure people like us will always be in high demand. On the other, someone teaching that Dreamweaver is the end-all, and that code is bad in 2012 is highly unqualified and out of touch. This isn't 2003.

 

I mean, I can understand if the class is more about the visual side of development since it's titled Advanced Web Design. Design and development are two sides of a coin. Design is really all about the UX - layout, user interaction, fancy pants Javascript, general aesthetics. But professionals still write code. Yeah, they may use libraries and frameworks, but they do more than blindly find 3rd party scripts and plug them in, hoping they'll work.

 

And, buying input validation? Really?

Edited October 11, 2012 by KevinM1

[Christian F.]

I'd lodge a formal complaint against the teacher, as she's clearly NOT competent enough to teach it.

Would be like having a maths teacher stating the he didn't like to use pen and paper, because it's too much work, and that he prefer to only use the calculator instead. That Pythagoras isn't something that you should use, but you should pull up the ruler instead.

[ignace]

I just want to add that these teachers were hired to teach the beginnings, yes, even the advanced classes, as advanced in this sense means the advanced introduction to Dreamweaver.

 

Many colleges are sponsored by Microsoft and Adobe so naturally all software related classes are taught in their software packages and the alternatives become not an option. Other technologies are "forbidden"/not taught. For example one of the college's I have attended did not teach Java at all as they were heavily sponsored by Microsoft and they required you to purchase the student license of Adobe for the entire Adobe Suite although we only used like 2 or 3 products of the entire suite.

 

Since these classes are too easy for you, you should re-evaluate your choice and join a University instead?

Edited October 13, 2012 by ignace

[computermax2328]

It is my minor, so there is really no real reason to re-evaluate the university. I guess it gives me some practice. I was just hoping to learn more than practice. It is just really hard to balance my school, with extracurricular, with learning code, so I was hoping to be placed in a class where I could learn more.

 

And just for the record, all of my IDD class, whether it be webdesign or graphic design, we get taught by Lynda.com. Great resource, but it takes up sooooo much of my free time. They are like 3 or 4 hour classes outside of class.

 

So pretty much how class goes is the night before I will watch like 3 or 4 hours of Lynda.com and then do the exercise and then in my 3 and a half our class we look at everyone's stuff and tell them what they can do better.

 

I am definitely going to write a complaint to the chair of the department.

[.josh]

what's worse than a shitty class and shitty teacher is the real coder taking the class and giving the teacher a hard time for failing. Don't be that guy. If the class doesn't offer you anything, pick another class. Or if it's a hoop you have to jump through, consider it an easy hoop and concentrate on something else. Don't be that guy.

[Jessica]

I think shitty teachers should be called out on their shittyness. Not because I think the caller-outer js so great, but because a shitty teacher just breeds more shitty programmers.

Down with unions!!! Rabble rabble!!

[Pikachu2000]

There's a difference between a teacher who is trying to teach, but may not be very good, and one who simply doesn't care about teaching. This teacher sounds like she's in the latter category. She should quit this job and go find one she actually likes.

[Philip]

what's worse than a shitty class and shitty teacher is the real coder taking the class and giving the teacher a hard time for failing. Don't be that guy. If the class doesn't offer you anything, pick another class. Or if it's a hoop you have to jump through, consider it an easy hoop and concentrate on something else. Don't be that guy.

What's worse than a shitty class and shitty teacher? Is a real coder doing things correctly and gets failed because of negligence on the school's hiring process.

[.josh]

What's worse than a shitty class and shitty teacher? Is a real coder doing things correctly and gets failed because of negligence on the school's hiring process.

 

But you know how it goes in the "real" world Phil; very little doing things the "right" way, a whole lot of jumping through hoops and following orders. This applies to all jobs and systems, not just coding.

[JonnoTheDev]

I think the main problem is a lack of good teachers in the IT sector. It's a huge problem in the UK (unsure about the US) that the government are only just starting to recognise and act on, as a more and more programming, games development, and software engineering projects are being outsourced overseas due to a shortage of good programmers.

 

If it were myself doing this course I would raise concerns with the head teacher (or whatever you guys call it in the US) about the standard of the lessons and the teaching methods.

 

On another note, this brilliant device is what is going into schools in the UK for children of a really young age to learn programming skills. I think it is excellent.

 

http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

Edited October 16, 2012 by neil.johnson

[Philip]

But you know how it goes in the "real" world Phil; very little doing things the "right" way, a whole lot of jumping through hoops and following orders. This applies to all jobs and systems, not just coding.

I knew you were going to come back with that, and that is completely a fair point. You should be following directions, even if it isn't the right or best way to do it.

[Pikachu2000]

No, it really isn't a fair point. When I'm paying for a proper education, I expect to receive one. I don't expect some lazy-assed instructor who's supposed to be teaching me to code telling me to go buy code. Look at the syllabus for the course, and hold the instructor's feet to the fire.

[KevinM1]

I think the main problem is a lack of good teachers in the IT sector. It's a huge problem in the UK (unsure about the US) that the government are only just starting to recognise and act on, as a more and more programming, games development, and software engineering projects are being outsourced overseas due to a shortage of good programmers.

 

I think it's largely the same in the US. Universities focus more on the academic/theoretical side of CS. Community/technical colleges are geared towards actual employment, but the quality of their programs varies widely by school and instructor. There's also a glut of for-profit scams (both local and national) that offer certificate programs for thousands of dollars and 2-3 years worth of investment. The certificates come from those so-called 'schools' and are about on par with toilet paper. They exist solely to prey on those who don't understand how secondary education works, or don't have the money to go to a legit school.

 

There seems to be a movement in my area to improve the local tech school offerings across the board. Hardly surprising given the number of tech startups between Boston and Manchester, and the focus on education that area is known for in general. That said, I'm willing to bet that options aren't as rosey in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, or some place remote like North/South Dakota. There's still a lot of work to be done in order to give equal (for all intents and purposes) access to secondary education here.

[Jessica]

I think it's largely the same in the US. Universities focus more on the academic/theoretical side of CS.

 

It's a way broader problem than that.

 

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/its-not-just-writing-math-needs-a-revolution-too/263545/

Watch the video and try not to scream.

This stuff just affirms my decision to homeschool.

[KevinM1]

It's a way broader problem than that.

 

http://m.theatlantic...ion-too/263545/

Watch the video and try not to scream.

This stuff just affirms my decision to homeschool.

 

...wow.

 

[DarkerAngel]

It's a way broader problem than that.

 

http://m.theatlantic...ion-too/263545/

Watch the video and try not to scream.

This stuff just affirms my decision to homeschool.

I remember learning like math in school like that, but they only did that to give an idea of numbers in a physical sense, I don't think they really expected me to literally draw out like that, especially just to get the sum of 3 numbers.

[ignace]

On another note, this brilliant device is what is going into schools in the UK for children of a really young age to learn programming skills. I think it is excellent.

 

http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

 

Not just for children of a young age also adults like myself like to toy with it. Linux Format dedicated a few issues to it showing me the ins and outs.

[Jessica]

The part that bothers me is when she says she's not allowed to do "stacking" in school. So how is she expected to do the problem?

 

If you look on youtube, you can see a lot of videos about this TERC Investigations thing.

Like the math tutor who has a 3rd grader she tutors in another district who did 18 long division problems for homework, and the tutor's own daughter had 3 word problems - addition. The next year's curriculum had no division either.

Schools do the same thing with writing. They talk about how kids will somehow pick up grammar, spelling and punctuation, so they don't teach it - it's like if you tried to teach someone OOP programming, how to create an MVC framework, and told them not to worry about basic syntax or spelling functions correctly. *headdesk*

I have a friend who is a middle school teacher and she's not allowed to correct the kids' spelling and grammar on their history papers, because they'll get upset and throw tantrums.

[KevinM1]

The part that bothers me is when she says she's not allowed to do "stacking" in school. So how is she expected to do the problem?

 

If you look on youtube, you can see a lot of videos about this TERC Investigations thing.

Like the math tutor who has a 3rd grader she tutors in another district who did 18 long division problems for homework, and the tutor's own daughter had 3 word problems - addition. The next year's curriculum had no division either.

Schools do the same thing with writing. They talk about how kids will somehow pick up grammar, spelling and punctuation, so they don't teach it - it's like if you tried to teach someone OOP programming, how to create an MVC framework, and told them not to worry about basic syntax or spelling functions correctly. *headdesk*

I have a friend who is a middle school teacher and she's not allowed to correct the kids' spelling and grammar on their history papers, because they'll get upset and throw tantrums.

 

Absolutely ridiculous.

 

To tie it back to something I've noticed on here, that style of 'learning' seems to be what members like justlukeyou and some others employ, where the absolute foundation (operators, user-defined functions, control structures, etc.) will eventually and subconsciously be absorbed while they attempt to solve a larger problem. And there's likely some truth to that idea. But I'm willing to bet that people who are taught/learn like that will be less proficient in whatever subject they're attempting to learn (math, English, science, programming, whatever) than those that learned in a more traditional way.

 

I'm trying to think back (waaaay back) to my first few years in school, and from what I can remember we learned how numbers actually worked. Yeah, the teacher would use props from time to time ("If I take two apples away from this pile, how many do I have left?"), but it was done to reinforce how the glyphs on paper/on the blackboard represented the mechanics of math. We learned the logical process. We certainly didn't replace numerical positions with shapes, and then recombine them.

 

I can only imagine the current crop of kids 15+ years from now. "Honey, did you withdraw 4 cubes, 2 cubes with a missing side, 56 curly braces, and 93 sperm from the bank?"

[computermax2328]

what's worse than a shitty class and shitty teacher is the real coder taking the class and giving the teacher a hard time for failing. Don't be that guy. If the class doesn't offer you anything, pick another class. Or if it's a hoop you have to jump through, consider it an easy hoop and concentrate on something else. Don't be that guy.

 

I do have to take the class, but like I said before it does give me some good basic coding and web design practice. Seriously though, it's is not just me. The class isn' the problem, I don't mind taking the class. I have been in plenty of classes where I already know what we are learn, like the basic web design class I had to take before this one. Just the teach saying those things that I had mentioned in my first post. My jaw hurts from how many times my jaw hit the table every time she said one of those quotes. SHE'S KILLING ME SMALLS!

 

Im in the class as I type!

 

That thing from the Atlantic is crazy. I didn't read the whole thing because I am in class, but I got the idea. Did you hear that they want to stop teaching cursive?? I had this conversation with some of my friends. I don't know when you guys took the SATs, but remember that disclaimer we had to rewrite in cursive? That was crazy! How are people going to sign signatures??

[Jessica]

How are people going to sign signatures??

 

With print? My signature is simply my first and last initial. I've only had someone challenge me on it once, and I showed them that's how it is on my driver's licence, which is what they compare it to for every other document. That person insisted I write my whole name, so I wrote it in print. I can't "SIGN" my name any other way than the way I do now, not if you want to use it to prove *I* signed it. That defeats the purpose. Any decent handwriting expert could compare my signature to someone trying to fake it, and still tell the difference, even though it's not my entire name.