My own progress and development

To tie it all together from my perspective, this course has given me a glimpse into what is possible with web design, and where I might be able to fit web design into my future career. I've seen that web design has become an increasingly democratic medium: 10 years ago, really sophisticated design was only really possible for experienced designers, but in the intervening years software like Dreamweaver and Frontpage has really democratized the process, building on interfaces that resemble programs like Word that many people are already intimately familiar with. It makes the transition that much easier- certainly for me.

I'm already focused on adding to and improving the two sites that I now have online- I might really integrate the two eventually. I'm able to show my work online, and allow people fairly easy access to it without having to mail out demos. This has already made my life considerably easier. Likewise for teaching, moving many of the course materials online means savings in time and paper, and gives the students easy access to these materials at any time and from anywhere. I've already seen areas this semester during my student teaching where having a class website would have been useful (I wasn't really allowed to start one, and I'm not sure anyone would have been able to maintain it after I left). Nevertheless, any future position I have will include an online component, even if it is really only for supplementary materials. I can see including basic web design instruction in any music technology class I might teach in the future. I personally want to try to stay current with Flash and Dreamweaver, picking up as many new skills as I can. Whether this is in class, or simply through reading/researching, I'm not sure. I'll see this coming year. Most importantly, I want to really continue to grow as a web designer (even just for personal uses), and continue to explore the possibilities of combining my love of music with the online world.

Thanks for everything Chianan and Dr. Gilbert!

Kai