If you’re currently selecting your September semester courses, why not start your upcoming school year with a new Athabasca course featuring website programming? With the ever-increasing popularity of the internet, or world wide web, you may have always wanted to design your own website, or have wondered how websites are made. Enrolling in Athabasca University’s newest course, Introduction to Web Programming (COMP 266), will provide you with a fantastic hands-on opportunity to gain amazing web programming know-how!
Scheduled to open September 2004, Introduction to Web Programming (COMP 266) is a three-credit computer science course from Athabasca University’s Centre for Computing and Information Systems. You can think of this course as a gateway to the computer or website programming world — in short, COMP 266 introduces you to the very essential “basics” of computer science.
The course begins with an introduction to the internet and computer networks; after all, you can’t attack the “meat” of the course without first getting past the necessary background “veggies”! Throughout the next 11 units, COMP 266 will teach you both HTML and JavaScript, two computer languages used for website design. Since HTML is studied first, you’ll have the opportunity to experiment with basic HTML, such as bolding or italicizing words or phrases, for example. Once you’ve mastered the essentials of HTML, you’ll progress onto the next HTML level — setting up frames and tables and… you name it!
In unit 5, it’s time to delve into the intricacies of JavaScript. As you work your way through the next units, you’ll discover the structures, arrays, functions and models used in JavaScript programming. Additionally, you’ll be able to program distinguishing features like colours, fonts, dropdown menus, forms, and animations into websites using JavaScript as well.
Another highlight of COMP 266 is its delivery method. It’s offered through individualized online study — in other words, it’s a non-paced online course. From my experience, online courses offer a greater dimension to your learning experience.
When you enroll in COMP 266, you course evaluation results from 4 assignments (3 of which are worth 15%, and 1 of which is 20%), in addition to a final exam (worth 35%). The assignments are both practical and hands-on, giving you added experience in the web programming field.
Course coordinator Richard Huntrods, BSc., MSc., is a graduate of both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. He has been teaching for the past 29 years, giving him excellent experience in the IT field. He has also published in several journals, and is a registered professional engineer as well.
Don’t miss the chance! Be the first student to enroll in Athabasca University’s newest course, Introduction to Web Programming (COMP 266) in its first offering, and register today for invaluable web programming experience.
You can visit the course syllabus at: http://www.athabascau.ca/html/syllabi/comp/comp266.htm
