BYU students creating class to help biz owners learn web design

BYU students creating class to help biz owners learn web design

It's a conundrum many new business owners face -- they want to get their business on the Internet, but lack the skills and know-how to make it happen, and don't have the money to pay someone else to do it.

It is a frustrating and daunting problem as the owner sometimes attempts to go it alone and design a site that is less than desirable and lacking in functionality.

This problem is the inspiration for a new business in Provo that is looking to teach the everyday person how to build a quality website.

Provo Web Academy creators Steven Dewey and Jared Rhodes are exactly those business owners.

They have business ideas they want to move forward with, but lack the knowledge needed to create a respectable website, so they looked for a teacher. The two BYU students sought out a friend who is an expert web designer who agreed to teach them, but they then realized there are probably other entrepreneurs like them who want to learn the ropes of website building, but lack the funds to take an expensive class because their money is tied up in their new business.

"We figure there are a lot of other business creators that are in our shoes," Dewey said.

John Woodruff, a lead web developer for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, is slated to teach the newly developed course. Rhodes explained the course will cover basic web design, and the objective is for each person to complete the class either creating a website for his or her own business, or help create a website for another company that has employed the services of the academy but isn't ready to create a site yet.

"I want them to be able to leave our class with a strong understanding and skill set of web

development fundamentals," Woodruff said. "The students who apply themselves will be able to have the qualifications to apply for entry-level web development positions, giving them a strong leg up on their resumes."

Woodruff noted the class may be beneficial to high school students. He said the course would give such students an advantage in looking for jobs once they graduate, and could also help the students stand out when they apply to college as they'll be able to list their new development skills on their college applications.

"We want them to be able to put on their resumes, at the end of the course, that they contributed to building a live website," Rhodes said.

The course will run for nine weeks and classes will be held three times per week. Rhodes and Dewey said the class will focus more on application of web design, while the homework from the courses will do the actual teaching of how to do it, to enhance hands-on learning for the class.

Rhodes and Dewey also plan to have students ready to take industry certification tests by the end of the course to enable them to list on a resume that they have obtained a particular level of web design aptitude upon completion of the class.

"We are really excited about this. We're excited about the opportunity," Rhodes said.

So far, the academy is offering a spring course that will begin toward the end of April, and a summer course that will start in June.

Enrollment is open to anyone, including students, who want to learn how to do web design.

More details can be found about the academy at www.provowebacademy.com.