Teaching

Every now and again I go off on a tangent about the problems of learning, and teaching, web design. Recently I got an interesting email from a chap at Newcastle College and just a few weeks later I’ve now taken a couple of sessions with students studying web design.

I’m doing 4 hours a week, alongside the day job. 2 hours of theory and 2 hours of practice. Teaching everything from research techniques, wireframing and sitemaps to the first steps on the road to CSS and HTML mastery.

So far I’d like to think it’s going well (any students reading, please let me know if you think otherwise!) I thought a couple of observations would be handy at this stage, for those involved in doing the same, and for me looking back:

• For someone not trained as a teacher, it’s too easy to take what you know for granted and go too quickly.
• It’s often hard to get across to new professionals how important the groundwork and theory is. With students this is doubly so.
• More structured techniques are a good idea for newcomers.
• The new htmldog.com site is an excellent reference. Thanks Patrick.
• Enthusiasm is priceless. Seeing enthusiasm I think “maybe I’ll end up working with them one day”, without it all the technical skills in the world wont get me excited.

Anyone else with a decent amount of experience and a little free time I’d recommend trying to do something similar. Our industry experience is a massively important part of the next generations educational needs and these are the people you’ll end up working with or managing in the future.