Calling web design & dev firms in Sheffield!

There’s an opportunity to shape and influence the Creative and Digital Media curriculum at the UTC Sheffield – Sheffield’s high-tech college for students aged 14 to 19.

The opportunity relates to the new Web Authoring and Design module which is being offered to Year 13 (post-16) students from this September. The curriculum team at the UTC have developed this module in response to feedback from local employers – it is the first of its kind and they have put a tremendous amount of work in to get it designed and accredited. The module is now being prepared for the new intake of students in September, and the curriculum director Victoria Allen and her team are hosting a lunchtime session on Tuesday the 18th August for employers to come and discuss the details of the course and ways for them to get involved.

This is a great opportunity to shape the kinds of skills that students will learn and practice, and provides a very cost-effective way to identify and develop local emerging web design talent.

The session is being held at the UTC on Tuesday the 18th August between 11.30am and 13.30pm. Lunch will be provided.

Read on for more details, or get in touch with Victoria (vallen@utcsheffield.org.uk) to register your interest.

The University Technical College (UTC) Sheffield is a school for 14 to 19 year olds that provides a specialist technical curriculum alongside the traditional ‘academic’ one. The existing UTC is sited on Shoreham Street in the Cultural Industries Quarter, and offers students the option of either Creative and Digital Media or Engineering for study. (A second UTC is currently being built at the Olympic Legacy Park which will offer the choice of Computing or Life Sciences).

The Web Authoring and Design module is a “Level 3 Technical Certificate”, certified by OCR (the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) awarding body. The 12 unit course that the UTC will run is equivalent to 2 A-Levels. It’s the first of its kind in the UK.

The four key aims of the module are that learners will be able to:

• Understand a range of contrasting commercial websites.
• Plan the development of a new multi-page website.
• Understand how to create a new website ready for user testing.
• Understand how to use user feedback gained from user testing.

There are a number of ways in which employers could be involved, some possibilities might be:

• Mentor individual students and their projects.
• Provide a one-off masterclass in a technical proficiency.
• Provide technical resources such as hosting or access to a usability lab.
• Help with assessment and end of year awards.

It would be great if at least some of the student projects surfaced useful information about Sheffield and made it available publicy, and we will be looking to develop collaborations between the students and the city council and other city institutions around content. The more the projects can reflect the real world, and provide genuine benefit to site visitors, the better.

It would be great if the local web community got behind the next generation of local design talent and helped to nurture them. Please let Victoria know if you’re interested by emailing her: vallen@utcsheffield.org.uk

You can read the module outline by downloading the pdf from this dropbox link.