The web design class at Providence Day gives students an opportunity to build an authentic website for a potential client. Last semester, Director of Digital Integration and Innovation Matt Scully encouraged his students to find and meet with a client and then create a website based on that client’s needs.
Eighth graders Wes Taggart and Aron Woolcock decided to take on the challenge of building a website for their middle school gaming club, a site that is used this year to promote the club and share information. Aron says, “The basic assignment was to make something that lasts longer and makes an impact on something more than just our grade that could be used in other situations. [Wes and I] came up with the idea. We interviewed Dr. Fryer about what would be good to do and what we could add to the website. We started adding and thinking about the games and how the site would be laid out.”
Gaming club advisor and faculty member Dr. Wes Fryer says, “Ideally, it involves a client and someone who has a real purpose, like something they need, and so part of the process for them is to do the discovery interview and look through the eyes of the client. We want our students to understand the problem the client needs to solve. So they did the initial interview, and then they came back and showed me the prototype. I looked at it and gave them a couple of suggestions.”
Aron explains the website design felt different than a regular assignment because of its importance, “It actually meant I need to do this because it is affecting someone else’s experience. It helped with the gaming club, getting everything more organized. Other projects we do are more about learning the coding, making something work, and then submitting it for a grade.”
An important part of learning at Providence Day is giving students the aptitude to apply what they learn in the classroom and even in clubs. Dr. Wes Fryer says it has many real-world applications, “The idea of projects like this is to give students the opportunity to do authentic work. It hooks kids on the excitement of building, creating, and designing.”
The middle school gaming club meets in the IDEAS Exchange on the first and third Tuesday of the month during lunch and recess. The students in the club come up with ideas for what games they are going to try and play and vote on their selections. It is a combination of digital and analog games. Minecraft is a popular selection for both Dr. Fryer and the students because of the coding skills students learn while playing that game, skills that will be transferable to other classes and even jobs in the future. To visit Aron and Wyatt’s gaming club website, please click here.
