There is something very satisfying about teaching. In my work I am often asked to help clients understand what we have built and deployed for them. Known as knowledge transfer, the process can be very rewarding and I often find that I learn just as much as my clients in the process. In the 90’s I used to teach a credit course in emerging technologies at St. Paul College and ever since that time I have had a little voice in my head telling me to do it again…so I am!
Providing instruction and mentoring to clients is great but I have been itching to do something more and specifically something in my community of Northfield, MN. When I was considering what to do I took a long look at my own experience as an internet user and small business person and came up with this course description: Planning and building your web presence.
The idea of the course is to help people who want to get on the web sort out the complexities of online services, terms, social networking, etc. Here is the official course description:
Whether starting your own business, taking your favorite hobby to the web or establishing your own blog getting started on the web takes thought and planning. This course will help you define your objectives, formulate your strategy and select the right suite of technologies to get your web initiative up and running on time and on budget.
You will learn how to use the many services and tools available on the web to help you build, maintain and promote your web site. Topics will include site hosting options, social networking tools, content management solutions and online promotion and marketing services. You will learn how to create a customized portfolio of technology solutions for your web project based on your clearly defined objectives.
I am structuring the course so that students are walked through the entire planning process and come out on the other end with a completed plan that they can put into action. Here is my course schedule by day:
Day 1 – Discovery & Requirements
Day one is all about identifying your objectives, setting goals and developing a clear mission statement. Defining your objectives before you start is vitally important to any successful project and we will walk you through the process. We start by taking a good look at what you think you want to accomplish and we break it down into a set of well defined objectives and requirements. These objectives will become the guiding principles of your web project and help to keep you on the right path as you progress toward your goal.Day 2 – Planning & Research
With your goals defined we will guide you through the planning process. What technologies are available that will help you meet the goals you defined on day 1? We will demystify the plethora of web terms and technologies and help you determine the right suite of technologies, services and options required to make your project a reality.Day 3 – Design & Build
How do you want your site to look? What is the message or mood you are trying to convey? At this stage we help you build a design brief that will capture your design values. The design brief is the ideal document to share with a designer should you decide to get help with your presentation. It’s also a great way to keep your design requirements front and center if you build it yourself. We will also cover many of the available hosted solutions on the web and talk about which ones might fit your needs.Day 4 – Market & Promote
So you built this great site. You have a documented plan, but what happens now? How do you drive customers or traffic from users who share your interests? On day four we will talk about your larger promotional strategy and the steps you can take to get the word out. Use social networking to make your site sticky, use online services to stay in email contact with your visitors, track your site usage and learn more about your users.
The course will be offered this summer as part of Northfield’s Community Education program and I could not be more excited to do it. If anyone has any comments or feedback on the outline I would love to hear them. I still have plenty of time to refine my content so let me know what you think!
I have put together a web page for the course here…
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