coding... for communicators?
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Coding… For Communicators?Cindy Royal, Ph.D.ProfessorSchool of Journalism and Mass CommunicationDirector, Media Innovation LabTexas State Universitycindyroyal.com@cindyroyal
Background• Teach web development, coding and digital concepts
at Texas State University• Digital Media Innovation Degree• Knight Fellowship at Stanford• CodeActually.com – tutorials and examples in a
communication context
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
Why?• It’s the language of the Web and mobile• It’s a problem-solving skill• You can use coding skills to tell stories• There is a range of programming expertise
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
Tweak content in CMS
Develop a special project site
Create a data-driven project
Work on a collaborative team on digital projects
Why?• New positions and roles• New opportunities in new industries• Every industry needs strong
communicators who are tech savvy• Other organizations are seizing the
opportunity to teach coding
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
What?• HTML/CSS• Responsive Design• Web Design and User Experience• Self-hosted Wordpress• Working with a framework, like Bootstrap• JavaScript/JQuery• Scraping and APIs – using tools and programming• Charting tools and libraries• Web development frameworks, like Rails, Django or Flask• Database management• Mobile development• Version control – Git and GitHub• Digital entrepreneurship Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
What?• The main point is that coding is a vast range of skills and
concepts that can become very complex, very quickly• These concepts are constantly evolving• New approaches to courses and curriculum are
necessary to provide students with the coding skills they need to be successful using them in their careers
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
How?
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
• Introduce HTML/CSS in fundamentals course
• Web Design • Coding and Data Skills • Advanced Code Camp• 1-credit-hour coding workshops• New major that immerses students
in digital literacy• Introduce data and programming
concepts across the curriculum• Invite guest speakers who work in
emerging roles• Hire people in these areas
Projects
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
Projects
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
Resources
Teaching Coding - @cindyroyal
• Lynda.com – video tutorials• Codecademy.com – interactive tutorials• Books - HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
by John Duckett• JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End
Development by John Duckett• Learning Web Design by Jennifer Robbins• CodeActually.com - designed for communicators to
learn to code (by me - Cindy Royal)• Can check out my sites: webdesign.cindyroyal.net,
coding.cindyroyal.net, summercodecamp.cindyroyal.net
• YouTube, Stack Overflow and GitHub