During my big hullabaloo adventure to get the workshop PDFs available, I realized that I am so glad I took two semesters of web coding in college. SO GLAD. Seriously, it was the best class I took in terms of relate-ability to my career. (Also maybe allllll those marketing classes and don't forget that semester of yoga.) Regardless, "speaking" HTML helps me do my job on the blog and helps me direct traffic to my shop.
I then started thinking about teaching my basic but effective web-design/coding to bloggers via an online workshop. I mentioned it on twitter, and got a pretty positive response. So I wanted to share it here to and let you know that I am really considering it. I have so many ideas floating around right now about how to make it an amazing class.
Things I know so far :
one : the class would be expensive, like $100. Why? Because this is a teach a man to fish situation. I am not designing your blog for you, I am teaching you how to design it and then giving you the ability to maintain it. Much better in the long run.
two : the class size would be small, like 20-30 people max. I want to be able to visit your sites and give feedback. This is also the reason the class would be expensive - there would be some one on one time. Of course, depending on interest and how things go I might re-run.
three : you could google most of the stuff I am going to tell you about. But it wouldn't be as well organized and you wouldn't be able to ask google follow up questions. Also, if I do my job right, this class will be much less frustrating.
four : there would be quizzes. Not quizzes I grade, but quizzes you take and then check your own answers. Web coding has to be annoyingly perfect and the quizzes will help you recognize common mistakes so you can later fix your own sites.
five : we'd talk a bit about other blog related things for example : editoral calendars, sponsors, affiliate programs & google analytics.
six : I am just a baby web designer compared to some people. But I have enough knowledge to do what you see on the blog here and I built this site and this site from scratch.
Things I don't know yet :
one : how it's possible to teach this for multiple platforms at the same time. I know typepad, of course, and am confident I could show you the ins and outs. But I don't yet know how to get blogger or wordpress to do what I want. That is a hold up.
two : how to film videos with my voice and the active computer screen. I am going to do some investigation and be sure I have a handle on this technology before the class runs.
More thoughts :
I really like how things are starting to shape up in my head. I am definitely hoping to make this class a reality.
*very rough. I am thinking outloud here obviously.
