From Todd Mehrkens:

My original contract for grade stated: "I will attend a class, seminar, take an on-line course and/or read a book to improve my website-building skills in order to improve upon the current Goodhue County Extension website. I designed and maintain the current website, but it is quite basic and could use improvement in both design and content. I will also teach other staff in our office how to update our website. I will write a report and will have a "new and improved" website to submit."

As outlined above in the original contract for grade, I set out to complete this task with a very tangible goal - create a new website for our office - the University of Minnesota Extension Service, Goodhue County. On Friday, June 11, I posted the new web pages, successfully completing the main goal. The web pages can be viewed at www.extension.umn.edu/county/goodhue.

I had created the original pages on the Goodhue County website, and although significant learning was involved in producing them, the website was pretty basic and had some serious design flaws. I knew that in order to improve the website, I would need additional skills and knowledge in two areas. First of all I needed to learn about general website design and layout. Secondly, I needed to learn how to use the new software that would be needed to create a better website.

I started in January by attending the "1999 Minneapolis Web Design Conference". This was one of those conferences that most of us see advertised via those slick brochures mailed to our offices. I have always been skeptical that those conferences can really deliver something that is worthy of their registration fees. Although I dont feel that this one-day conference was worth the $200 registration fee, I did acquire some valuable information that I utilized in the creation of the new Goodhue County Extension website.

After acquiring basic web-design concepts at the conference, I needed to learn specific HTML skills. For this I decided that finding the right book would be helpful. My dad has often talked about a co-worker of his that taught himself HTML, and now does an excellent job of building web pages. Dad knew that he used a couple of books quite extensively, so asked if I could borrow them, which I did. There are tons of choices when it comes to computer books for learning on your own, but the ones I borrowed were excellent. I really appreciated the way this book was broken into 24 small chapters, each containing a single concept or group of related concepts. That way, I was able to focus on the ones that were more difficult for me, and move on quicker when I was able to more easily grasp the concept. It also made it easier to look back and review when I ran into a specific problem or question.

Each section also contained a little quiz and example section, which I skipped. If I would have had the luxury of time to go through each one, I would probably have learned more from the book. But I knew that I would be using the information in the near future, and that applying the new knowledge to a real life problem would probably be a better "test" than applying it to the book test.

Now that I had a better foundational knowledge of HTML, I started working with the new software that I would be using, Microsoft FrontPage 98. I chose FrontPage because it is related to other Microsoft software, meaning it has commands and menus that are already familiar to myself and the other staff. Nonetheless, FrontPage was a new computing environment to work in, with different functions to learn. In addition, FrontPage comes with an image editing program that was almost completely unlike anything I had worked with before.

I knew that I wanted a resource book that was specific to FrontPage, so I started browsing the bookstores. Initially I looked at the manual that shipped with the program, but felt that it focused too much on the "Microsoft philosophy" of computing and did not contain the practical information I was looking for. In the end, I chose a book that was written by the same authors as the HTML book that I used earlier. Again, it was broken into 24 small chapters. I quickly went through the book, not so much with a goal to acquire all the knowledge in the book, but rather to see what it contained and where to look for the different things I knew that I would be needing.

Although it took several months to work through this self-directed learning process, I dont feel that I spent very much total time learning. I fit the book reading into small chunks of time whenever I had a few free minutes. I had also played around in Front Page a bit, mostly exploring and getting a feel for what it could do. One suggestion from the first book about HTML that I read was to look at existing web pages. If I was browsing around the web, and had a few extra minutes, I would do this. When I saw a page or an element that I found interesting, I would take a moment and look at the HTML code that was used to create it. I also would open the page in FrontPage to see how it handled the code and get some ideas on how to create the different things I was seeing.

I was then ready to start the process of re-doing the Goodhue County Extension website. I started with the process of determining the content, which involved spending time with our whole staff. We went through some of the web-development processes that I gained from the formal web design conference. I then moved into the actual construction process. It was quite rewarding and fun to apply the new skills that I had gained. I also had the chance to apply my new skills to another website that I created for the Minnesota School Psychologists Association - www.mspaweb.org. They have since changed some of the content, but the basic design elements and layout are still being used.

In actual practice, I developed the pages using a combination of FrontPage skills and HTML skills. I found it very helpful to have learned both the FrontPage program as well as the underlying HTML code. I did run into a few problems that I did not know how to solve. But though a combination of looking through the books, applying the logic of HTML and tons of trial and error, I was able to solve every problem I encountered. In the end, I had created a set of web pages that were a huge improvement over the previous pages, and met the current goals of our office.

When I started my learning, I did not know the formal concept of self-directed learning, and yet now that I know more about self-directed learning, I can see many elements of self-directed learning in my quest to acquire the computer skills necessary to build a new website, including:

* - The initial need and motivation to learn a new skill - the need to be able to create a new website

* - Self-select the learning resources that I would use - looking for and finding the books I wanted to use

* - Setting my own pace - I went through the books faster or slower as I felt appropriate, plus, I was able to fit the learning into my own time schedule

* - Set the content - I decided what I wanted/needed to learn, and what to skip over

* - Problem solving - acquired the books and knew them well enough to be able to find the information when I had a question or problem

* - Evaluating the learning - was I actually able to create a new website?

* - One element that I did not have was a teacher/facilitator/resource person. Although such a person would have been a huge benefit, this project was small enough that I was able to act as my own facilitator.

In my original contract I indicated that I hoped to teach web page building to the other staff in our office. I have offered to do this, but the reality is that summer is way too busy and hectic to think about learning an additional skill. I am hoping that this fall and winter will provide more opportunities. However, one staff person in our office did start working on developing some web pages for her specific programs. I was able to help her get started, and now she has created a few pages of her own. I have found that one of the hardest parts of developing new pages is determining content. Right now she is working through that part of the process. As time goes by, I hope to be able to better enable her and the rest of the staff to develop their content into web pages.

Looking back, I found the experience stimulating and rewarding, and only wish that I had the time to learn more and find new website design challenges.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 1999