e-commerce course brings internship experience to the classroom
October 26, 2010
Real life experience.
That’s why many students apply for internships or part-time jobs.
At Bradley, you can get the same type of experience in the classroom.
The e-commerce course led by Bradley professor Dr. Chuck West gives students a taste of the real world in a secure classroom setting.
“Real world experience is one of the best ways to prepare the student for a career,” West said.
To apply the concepts learned in class, students create functioning websites based on the criteria given from actual clients.
Typically, the class produces six or seven websites per semester.
Students start by matching the client’s business with a short list of applicable templates for the client to choose from, then the students use Expression Web – Microsoft web design software – to build a site that satisfies the needs of their clients.
West thinks working with real-world clients is a great learning experience for students.
“The student gets the opportunity to see how real businesses work and how they make decisions,” West said.
The aim of the course is to get students to learn technical skills while experimenting with their own original ideas.
Each person is required to design a personal website. This experience prepares students to design for clients, who need creative and professional sites.
The class also covers e-commerce business models and infrastructure, security systems, payment systems, ethics, social issues, and political issues that impact the web.
This e-commerce class satisfies a management information systems (MIS) requirement at Bradley.
To see a few of the students’ finished products from last semester, go to http://shopsentimentaljourney.com and http://mariasinwashington.com.
