Education Task Force
Mission Statement
The WaSP Education Task Force was created in 2005 to work directly with institutions of higher education 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 institutions of higher education 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
Education Task Force Curriculum Survey
By Rob Dickerson | June 13th, 2007
The Web Standards Project Education Task Force has created a curriculum survey and seeks input from educational professionals.
A little over a year ago, WaSP member and Education Task Force Co-lead Holly Marie Koltz wrote “On Quality Education”. Holly wrote about the difficulty in finding quality programs in higher education that teach best practices. Students find that they have to learn best practices on their own. Unfortunately, this has not changed much in the past year. Institutions continue to teach outdated practices and students continue to learn bad practices. Other educators who propose classes in modern Web design and development often face opposition by colleagues in their program. While yet others are looking for guidance in the conversion of their program.
From time to time, the Task Force has been contacted by educational professionals who are teaching Web standards and best practices in their programs.
The WaSP Education Task Force and W3C Quality Assurance Interest Group propose the creation of a curriculum framework to help educators teach best practices in Web design and development more effectively. Upon completing modules in such a curriculum, a student should have sound knowledge of best practices and a solid foundation upon which to build.
If you are an educator or have influence over curriculum, we would like your input with regard to this subject. We have created a short survey as a first step to accomplish this task. The survey is brief and includes nine questions.
If you have additional comments or questions, please email us at edutfinfo@webstandards.org
More Buzz articles
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Advocacy in Education | September 26th, 2006 |
| Accessibility Webcast on Plone | September 2nd, 2006 |
| Back to School, Back to Reality | August 28th, 2006 |
| On Quality Education | May 24th, 2006 |