Service Learning Success Through Technology Tools

Standing out in the crowd is essential in a job interview. Employers will be judging you based on the content of your response, the design of your application materials, and the color of your wardrobe. Just like an interview situation, establishing a web presence and standing out with quality content, design, and color is key to attracting business. In my advanced web design class, students will be creating a website for Lakeshore Lanes, a local bowling alley, from scratch. Using basic design principles mastered in the introductory class and continuing to learn more HTML, CSS, and photo-editing techniques, each student will present a finished website to the owner by the end of the trimester. Using Flip cameras, students will capture footage of the bowling alley to create a photostory infomercial for customers to view on the site. The owner will decide which site will then be the new digital home of Lakeshore Lanes.

My current class consists of 25 junior and senior level students who all have been exposed to the introductory class. Advanced web design is 70 minutes in length. I find this lesson to be suitable for this group because of the sheer quality and work ethic found in previous assignments. For example, I currently have one Flip camera and my students love using it for their projects. It certainly is user-friendly and captures the desired scenes without hassle. In a class of 30, owning just one is difficult. Students are fighting for time to use it. Typically, I have to reduce project requirements as I cannot make it mandatory for students to access this one camera. Winning these cameras would be a blessing for my class. Everyone would have an opportunity to create an infomercial and less time would be spent juggling a camera around.

Essential questions: What is the purpose of an informercial? How does it differ from a traditional commercial? How can we combine the flip cameras and video software to create our commercial? What should the end product look like?