One of the best web workers sites, A List Apart, has a post titled “Elevate Web Design at the University Level”.
It’s interesting becuase it speaks to one of my major concerns as a design instructor and employeer.
Connections between higher education and business have to be created, nurtured, and sustained. These relationships support the growth of educational institutions and the community’s desire to retain recent graduates who might otherwise leave the community. Partnering colleges and universities with local companies that provide career paths in web design and development allows recent graduates to see the community as a viable place to further their professional interests.
It goes on to try and address the needs of our industry…
When you drive, bike, or scooter to work each morning, do you pass a university? If so, contact the web educator at the university and see what you can do to help connect the school to you, your company, and your professional organizations. Does the educator need/want a guest lecturer to come to class and speak on your area of expertise? Yes, you are an expert on something and you should share your expertise with educators and their students.
Its an instrersting call to action for employeers out there. It seems as if for too long the responsability has been on the educator to reach out to the community. I agree. If we as employeers of web developers and designers want quality people to hire then we should be assisting in any way we can at the ground level.
Take some time to read the article while I go on to work on my next piece title “How To Fix Your Design Program”.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I love your comment, but I don't like tossing around words like "blame".
I do think there's much to be said about the web design community waiting for academia to come to us. It's just like a timid student sitting in the back of the class and not taking part in discussion, waiting for the instructor to make an effort to bring them in. Professionally, I find we have an amazing sense of community. We don't hesitate to reach out to each other, but somehow we don't extend that same courtesy to educators. Even those who are teaching students how to work on the web circa 1996 are at lest _trying_.
It would be great if all educators were also working professionals (as you seem to be), but that's not the reality we find ourselves in. I'd much rather find a way to act *now* rather than wait for reality to change in such a way to make it easier to act (such as suddenly web design curricula becoming as common as graphic design and comp sci programs).
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